Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health: A Checklist of Steps and Standards

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health in 1999 to aid in evaluation planning, implementation, and use of findings. The Framework summarizes the basic elements of program evaluation via interrelated steps and standards of practice (Figure 1).1 This checklist is a distillation of the content of the Framework with important clarifications or considerations for each of the steps. The purpose of the checklist is two-fold: (1) extract the core content from a forty- page publication and present the information in a format usable at the front lines of public health; and (2) enhance users ’ understanding of the essential content of the original publication. The only way in which the content of this checklist deviates from the original publication is the inclusion of the most recent addition to the Program Evaluation Standards: Evaluation Accountability.2 Users of this checklist can read the original Framework in its entirety at www.cdc.gov/eval/framework and access the Program Evaluation Standards at www.jcsee.org