Summative Evaluation

A neighborhood community center nears the end of a new music initiative aimed at kids and their grandparents, and sought to understand its impact. A summative evaluation was performed to find out which exhibit components provided the most enriching shared learning experiences and which revealed unexpected obstacles. With the results of the study, the center's staff was able to clearly articulate to their funders the impact of the music initiative.

Taking place near or at the end of a project, summative evaluations show you how well the learning goals of the project were met, and documents its impact and lessons learned. This new information can inform the planning of subsequent projects, saving your staff time and your organization money.

Examples of ILI summative evaluations include:

More than a Museum: Audience Engagement in the 21st Century - Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN. As part of a project funded by the Bush Foundation, the Walker engaged in an effort to re-evaluate artistic and educational programming designed to broaden, deepen, and diversify audience engagement with contemporary art. Through a combination of visitor tracking, observations and interviews, the supporting summative evaluation determined key findings of visitors' engagement with five interpretive experiences within the Walker's permanent collection.

Marine Park - Parks Canada, Montreal, Quebec ILI partnered with Parks Canada on their 2006 evaluation of two exhibitions and the virtual diving activity presented at the Marine Environment Discovery Centre of the Saguenay St. Lawrence Marine Park; exhibitions and the virtual diving activity. The project aimed to provide Parks Canada with information about visitors' learning, social interaction and engagement about the content of the exhibitions (The Discovery of the Lower Estuary) and the virtual diving activity, and determine their overall effectiveness.

High School Seminar - National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. A retrospective study on the Gallery's Seminar program and the impact on its participants since 1997. In particular, this the project assessed three main areas of impact: learning in and through the arts, involvement in the arts as it affected academic and career choices, and personal growth and social development.

Disney's Animal Kingdom - Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL. As part of several studies between Disney and ILI, the Institute conducted a summative evaluation on the Conservation Station at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The goal of the Conservation Station was to "to create personal experiences for our guests that celebrate wildlife, renew everyone's connections to the natural world, and inspire conservation action." ILI worked with Disney to assess the impact of a visit on the conservation knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of the general guest.

Dogs: Wolf, Myth, Hero & Friend - Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA. This exhibition explored the evolution, behavior, diversity and cultural significance of dogs. Using tracking and pre-post interviews, the summative evaluation was designed to measure learning outcomes identified by the exhibition team and to assess the effectiveness of the overall exhibition and selected elements in communicating the exhibition's goals.

PACTS Retrospective - The Franklin Institute Science Museum, Philadelphia, PA. Since its inception, Partnership for Achieving Careers in Technology and Science (PACTS) has engaged an estimated 1,200 Philadelphia youth in hands-on science workshops, field-based research, public speaking and other experiences designed to build confident, skillful, and productive adults. A summative evaluation was conducted for this program to determine its impact on current and graduate program participants.