Evaluate Your Programs

One of the biggest take-aways from the Census of Community-Based Outdoor and Environmental Learning was that Maine educators need to prioritize evaluation to iterate on and improve programming and better understand student outcomes. Evaluation of CBEL projects stayed the same between 2019 and 2022, which indicates more support is needed for evaluation in the sector. 

We’ve put together tools on this page to support continued learning and skill development for how to evaluate and assess the impacts of CBEL projects in Maine as well as how to incorporate that feedback into revising project design to supported continued project growth and improvement.

Evaluating our programs has helped us learn not only how we are currently having an impact on youth but also identify areas where we can make changes to improve student outcomes. Yes, evaluation helps us communicate to donors and grantors that we are worth funding, but using the results to evolve our practice is what really makes a difference for our students.
Photo of Jenn Page
Jenn Page
Director of Education, Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership

Why Evaluate?

To help us ‘grow forward’, we need a common language and a common set of measures or tools to assess and evaluate program outcomes to complement compelling classroom anecdotes.

Robust evaluation helps demonstrate the need for community-based environmental learning and helps convince funders and leaders that this type of education is worth supporting.

This is an ongoing need and a continuing conversation across the entire field of environmental education.

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