Evaluations? Needed?

[Daniel Byrne]

How important are evaluations and studies to successful prevention? Are pre & post tests really valuable in evaluating your program? What do you use?

[LaFireEducator]

Absolutly critical.

I use primarily informal evaluation methods. As an example, the final (4th) lesson of my Grades 1-3 program involves showing the kids fire apparatus. The trick is that to see the compartment or have me explain the tool, the group must answer a question regarding the materials covered during the previous three lessons.

For 4th and 4th grade, I use a short post-test to evaluate the program about 2 weeks after my last lesson.