Building the Evaluation Capacity of Yosemite National Institutes

Yosemite National Institutes runs a variety of outdoor 3-5 day environmental education (field science) programs for primary and secondary students. YNI hired LFA to enhance its capacity to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs. YNI seeks to understand how its programs affect a variety of outcomes for the students: learning of science content, ability to engage in scientific inquiry, and increases in environmentally responsible behavior. LFA will work with YNI to audit and upgrade its evaluation tools (indicators and analysis plans). Using the new tools, LFA will evaluate eight field science programs taking place in the first half of 2004.