The Evaluation Readiness Assessment (ERA) tool is designed to help state workforce agencies develop a clear understanding of their readiness to conduct rigorous evaluation, identify their strengths and deficiencies, and establish feasible steps to improve evaluation capacity and meet WIOA evaluation requirements.

The practical format of the tool is intended to facilitate structured dialogue among policy, research and program staff along the following five evaluation readiness topic areas:

  1. Evaluation Culture and Awareness
  2. Funding Strategies
  3. Data Management
  4. Staff Skills, Capacity and Knowledge
  5. Strategic Planning

The ERA tool contains a separate section for each of the above topic areas. Each section begins with a general guiding question, which is followed by a series of more detailed statements aligned to the evaluation topic. Individuals completing the assessment are encouraged to assign a rating for each statement—on a scale of 1 to 5—to indicate how well their agency is doing, based on the information in the statement.  As applicable, each statement includes a reference to the relevant section of the Evaluation Toolkit where more detailed information and guidance can be found. 

To get the most of this tool, we recommend the following steps:

  1. Share with your staff and partners
  2. Independently complete the tool (no wrong answers)
  3. Meet to compare and explore responses
  4. Discuss next small and achievable steps

Be sure to check out the follow-up to this tool, the Evaluation Design Assessment Tool.