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Using Logic Models to Bring Together Planning, Evaluation, and Action

Logic Model Development Guide

W.K. KELLOGG

FOUNDATION

To help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations.

Updated January 2004

W.K. Kellogg Foundation

One East Michigan Avenue East

Battle Creek, Michigan 49017-4058

www.wkkf.org

To receive additional copies of the Logic Model Development Guide,

please call 1/800/819-9997 and request item #1209.

Contents

Introduction

If you don’t know where you’re going, how are you gonna’ know when you get there?

–Yogi Berra

In line with its core mission – To help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations – the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has made program evaluation a priority. As our staff and grantees work on a spectrum of social improve- ment programs, the need for shaping and contributing to the body of knowledge regarding evaluation becomes increasingly clear. Our first guide, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Evaluation Handbook, was pub- lished in 1998, and has been made available to nearly 7,500 people. The Evaluation Handbook is a prac- tical, step-by-step manual for conducting evaluations. With the Handbook, we introduced the concept of the program logic model and the ways in which applying this concept has added value to our own work.

The program logic model is defined as a picture of how your organization does its work – the theory and assumptions underlying the program. A program logic model links outcomes (both short- and long-term) with program activities/processes and the theoretical assumptions/principles of the program.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide, a companion publication to the Evaluation Handbook, focuses on the development and use of the program logic model.We have found the logic model and its processes facilitate thinking, planning, and communications about program objectives and actual accomplishments.Through this guide, we hope to provide an orientation to the underlying prin- ciples and language of the program logic model so it can be effectively used in program planning, implementation, and dissemination of results.

The premise behind this guide – and our view of the role of evaluation in programming – is simple: Good evaluation reflects clear thinking and responsible program management. Over the years, our experience in using logic models in initiatives such as the Kellogg Youth Initiative Partnerships, Devolution, ENLACE (Engaging Latino Communities for Education), and the Native American Higher Education Initiative, to name just a few, has provided ample evidence of the effectiveness of these methods.

Learning and using tools like logic models can serve to increase the practitioner’s voice in the domains of planning, design, implementation, analysis, and knowledge generation.The process of developing the model is an opportunity to chart the course. It is a conscious process that creates an explicit under- standing of the challenges ahead, the resources available, and the timetable in which to hit the target. In addition, it helps keep a balanced focus on the big picture as well as the component parts.

In general, logic modeling can greatly enhance the participatory role and usefulness of evaluation as a management and learning tool. Developing and using logic models is an important step in building community capacity and strengthening community voice.The ability to identify outcomes and antici- pate ways to measure them provides all program participants with a clear map of the road ahead. Map in hand, participants are more confident of their place in the scheme of things, and hence, more likely to actively engage and less likely to stray from the course – and when they do, to do so consciously and intentionally. Because it is particularly amenable to visual depictions, program logic modeling can be a strong tool in communicating with diverse audiences – those who have varying world views and different levels of experience with program development and evaluation.

Introduction

The Logic Model Development Guide contains four chapters and two comprehensive appendices.

Chapter 1 presents a basic introduction to the logic model as an action-oriented tool for program planning and evaluation. It also offers an array of sample logic models.

Chapter 2 consists of exercises and examples focused on the development of a simple program logic model. Exercises include practical examples, checklists for reviewing content quality, and a template for developing a logic model.

Chapter 3 gives instructions on how to expand a basic logic model to explore and explain the theory- of-change that describes the rationale for your program. A template and checklist are provided.

Chapter 4 offers two exercises that afford the reader with an introduction to how the basic logic modeling techniques introduced in the previous chapters can be applied to inform thinking about what should be included in an evaluation plan. Templates and checklists are also provided.

The Resources Appendix provides logic model development resources – references and Web sites worth visiting.The Forms Appendix includes blank templates to copy when developing your own logic models.

Acknowledgements

This work builds on the experience of many at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation who pioneered the appli- cation of logic modeling to their initiatives. For example, logic models were first used with the Kellogg Youth Initiative Partnerships (KYIP). In this application, the models were instrumental in helping staff establish program direction, implementation, an evaluation framework, and outcomes across three sites. In KYIP, logic modeling was used to facilitate and guide the development of the specific assumptions and processes that ultimately led to the transition of the initiative from a WKKF-operated program to a community-owned program.WKKF program staff, including Tyrone Baines, Phyllis Meadows, Gerald Smith, Judy Watson Olson, Steve Peffers, Joyce Brown, and John Seita were instrumental in these efforts.

Our work in developing the Logic Model Development Guide began at the request of Kellogg Foundation Program Director Blas Santos who expressed a need for user-friendly tools and processes to support the work of grantees in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Logic Model Development Guide represents a collaborative effort.We particularly want to acknowl- edge the efforts of the Kellogg Foundation’s former director of evaluation, Ricardo Millett, and his team of evaluation managers, including Astrid Hendricks-Smith and Mark Lelle, who have since left the organization.Their tireless work among staff and grantees continues to promote the use of logic models to plan, design, and manage initiatives. Dale Hopkins and Karin Ladley were instrumental in bringing the material to print.We also wish to acknowledge the work of the Kellogg Foundation Vice Presidents of Programs Rick Foster, Gail McClure, Dan Moore, and Gloria Smith, along with Senior Vice President of Programs Anne Petersen, who have underscored the importance of evaluation, embraced the logic model approach, and adopted it as a valued program support tool.

Special thanks are extended to Cynthia Phillips, a primary writer and consultant throughout the development of this guide, and Work Volk Consultants, LLP, for formatting and editorial assistance. Thanks, also, to Beverly Parsons of In Sites; Andrew Hahn and the students at the Florence Heller Graduate School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare, Brandeis University; Marc Osten, Summit Consulting Collaborative; Sally Bond,The Program Evaluation Group; Joel Meister and Eva Moya, University of Arizona; Amy Coates-Madsen and staff at Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations; and Gail Randall, Greater Worchester Community Foundation.

–The Program Staff of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

The most basic logic model is a picture of how you believe your program will work. It uses words and/or pictures to describe the sequence of activities thought to bring about change and how these activities are linked to the results the program is expected to achieve.