This is a summary of information presented in The Evaluation Guide for Tutoring Programs written by the National Dropout Prevention Center . Schools don't pilot anything. They just send ideas and innovations off and wave at them from the pier, never to be seen again. In education, we are often unaccustomed to carefully assessing new projects. Evaluation may seem like an expensive and time consuming add-on to a program, and not entirely necessary.
Evaluation can also provide data to outside funders about the effectiveness of the program.
Assessment is done throughout the process, not only at the completion of the project or school year. You will need to collect either qualitative or quantitative information or most generally a combination of the two. Qualitative information attempts to understand how program participants are thinking and feeling. Tools might include surveys of teachers, tutors, tutees and anecdotal records of several tutoring sessions. Quantitative data emphasizes numerical facts about program effectiveness such as percentage of children reading on grade level before and after tutoring.