Evaluation of School-Linked Services

Evaluation of school-linked service initiatives, which are characterized by great flexibility and variability, is challenging but also possible and desirable. Indeed, every school-linked service effort should undergo some level of evaluation, whether for the purpose of honing an existing program or for providing evidence of its effectiveness. Evaluations of previous school-linked service programs offer limited support for the school-linked service movement and indicate how complex programs placed in the schools can be evaluated with sensitivity and rigor. Evaluation can serve as a useful tool to program providers, policymakers, and funders, but each group must make significant commitments to ensure a meaningful and high-quality evaluation. Expensive, unevaluated programs that are continued year after year and that are based only on hunches or political winds can represent a waste of millions of dollars as well as lost opportunities to try what could well be more effective approaches.