Development and Implementation of an Evaluation Plan for the National Academic Centers of Excellence for Youth Violence Prevention

Background: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) funded eight National Academic Centers of Excellence (ACEs) on Youth Violence (YV) Prevention from 2005-2010. A web-based Information System (IS) was established to collect, document, and detail the variety and magnitude of ACE-related research and programmatic activities.

Methods: The ACE-IS was developed using key performance indicators aimed at assessing each ACE's ability to develop, implement, and evaluate their proposed YV prevention projects. ACEs were required to update the IS regularly with information relevant to each performance indicator. Given the abundance of data stored in the IS and its accessibility by DVP staff, it was established as the primary means of collecting data for an ACE Program evaluation. A protocol was developed to ensure consistent data collection across each ACE.

Results/Outcomes: DVP staff are currently compiling data from the IS, which will be used to construct a report of lessons learned from the ACE projects, impacts on YV prevention and reduction that have been identified, effects on policy, and ACE accomplishments from 2005-2010. Data will be used to provide CDC, NCIPC, Congress, communities, and key stakeholders information about what the ACEs have learned from their studies.

Conclusions: This presentation provides an example of an evaluation process for a large-scale, multi-faceted, and multi-center program. Additionally, the presentation demonstrates how an IS can be used to collect data from multiple sources in order to facilitate a program's final evaluation and to inform future program development and assessment processes.