Karen M. Although Extension professionals have been conducting parenting education programs for decades, there are new concerns among parents, greater diversity among families, and a need to learn how to plan for specific parent needs and evaluate the success of the parenting initiative. This article describes two Extension agents' efforts to apply the concepts of the NNFR framework to parenting education programs. What resulted from both programs were gain scores, reports of plans to use newly learned skills, positive comments about the planning process and involved parents willing to attend, learn, and to seek additional information at the completion of the program. As employees of a publicly-supported government entity, answerable to a variety of funders and stakeholders, Extension educators must demonstrate program effectiveness through performance resulting in positive outcomes. If a dollar figure can be placed on these outcomes, all the better.
Numbers make it easy to aggregate impact data and summarize accomplishments succinctly.
This article describes benefits of documenting program impact, components of high-quality impact statements, and specific programs and methods developed to document the economic impact of personal finance programs upon the lives of Extension clientele. Scott A needs assessment of beginning farmer education in Iowa with implications to Extension is described in this article. Beginning farmers viewed Extension as a major educational provider. These farmers rated experiential learning, problem solving, and critical thinking as important skills in the future. Using a variety of instructional techniques, including cutting-edge technologies, for program delivery were preferred.