Section 326.7  Department Evaluation Responsibilities

a)         The Department will establish and conduct a program to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of its services.  Program Evaluation activities will include:

1)         periodic and systematic evaluation of direct and purchase of services programs to assess results and outcomes and to recommend plans of corrective action for service improvement;

2)         annual review of service programs to identify exceptional program deficiencies and outstanding achievements which require in-depth evaluation and analysis;

3)         monitoring to identify emerging service program deficiencies and problems in order to develop the basis for immediate and long-range plans of corrective action;

4)         development of program standards and performance indicators to evaluate the quality of programs, including service delivery.  Program standards and performance indicators will be applied both to services which are provided directly by the Department and which are purchased from other providers in order to evaluate their effectiveness and efficiency in achieving planned results;

5)         analyses of the projected benefits, problems, opportunities, and the efficiency and effectiveness of planned program initiatives in order to assist management in making decisions on resource allocation and service administration.

b)         The Department's evaluation program, program performance indicators, program standards, and major programmatic achievements will be discussed annually in the Human Services Plan.