SEA Webinar: Logic Models as Living Documents: Updating and Applying Tools

Resource Selection
Start Date
13 Apr, 2017
End Date
13 Apr, 2017

Facilitator: Alex Medler, Senior Director, National Charter Schools Resource Center

Presenters:

  • Sara Allender, WestEd
  • Amy Huber, U.S. Department of Education

This webinar is the second of a two-part series on Logic Models and Theories of Change. This second webinar addressed how to better streamline the logic model as a roadmap for CSP grant activities and the application of these tools.

Description: Many modern sources of funding, including the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Charter Schools Program (CSP), have required applicants to develop and submit a Logic Model and a Theory of Change as part of the grant applications. Once created, these tools might be ignored; if well designed, they can facilitate the successful administration, monitoring, reporting, and evaluation of complex programs.

These tools present concise, visual representations of the thinking behind a proposal and the work required to execute it. This second webinar continued the discussion started in the 2017 CSP SEA Meeting of Project Directors in a round-table format and covered issues such as:

  • Lessons learned in the development of these tools;
  • How to streamline the use of these tools to make them more meaningful to later work; and
  • An exploration of the underlying assumptions in the logic model and theory of change and discussion of what peers in other states have learned about the validity of their assumptions regarding work in the charter school sector.

Alex Medler, from the National Charter School Resource Center (NCSRC), presented background on these tools and their use. Sara Allender, from WestEd, shared the rubric that WestEd and expert evaluators created to analyze the logic models. She gave an overview of how to use the rubrics and some findings from analysis of state’s logic models. A member from ED’s CSP team discussed the elements of the logic models that should/can be updated and those that need to remain constant

At the end of the webinar, Alex and Sara engaged in a Q&A session. In closing, participants had an opportunity to discuss these issues with the presenters and their peers in a Q&A session.