A Penn State Applied Research Center

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Program Implementation Toolkit

The Clearinghouse has reviewed the latest research around evidence-based programs, implementation science, and military families to create evidence-informed, easy-to-use resources for professionals. Our tools and resources are designed to assist you through the program selection, implementation, and evaluation processes. You can use all of the tools and resources to help guide you through the entire process, or you can pick and choose the tools and resources that work best for your organization and the population you serve. All of our tools and resources are free of charge and available for download below.

Serving the Military Population

INFORMATIONAL SHEET: Understanding the Military and Military Families
Consider this a “fast facts” sheet to give you a basic overview of the military population. Demographics such as number of active-duty military, average age, length of service, marital status, and number of children are just a few topic areas covered.

Understanding the Military and Military Families

INFORMATIONAL SHEET: Serving the Military Population

Military families face a unique set of challenges and opportunities. In this document, we highlight some of the most common issues to military family life—relocation, deployment, and transition—to help you better understand service members, veterans, and their families.

Serving the Military Population

RESOURCE LIST: Serving the Military Population
Are you looking for resources for professionals working with military families or resources for military members and their families? This list provides descriptions on available tools and resources for professionals, military members, and military family members.

Serving Military Families: Resources and Tools

RESOURCE LIST: Serving Veterans
Are you looking for available resources for veterans and their families? This list connects veterans and their families to the most relevant resources during the transition from military to civilian life and after.

Serving Veterans: Resources and Tools

Getting Your Community Ready

Community readiness essentially provides a picture of the extent to which a community is prepared for the integration of a new program or initiative. We have developed several tools and resources to assist professionals through the process of identifying community needs, determining community readiness, and understanding areas of community strengths and improvement. Resources available to assist professionals in identifying community needs and readiness are also provided.

WORKSHEET: Community Needs Assessment Planning
Before selecting and delivering a program, it is important to identify the need or needs that are the most prominent challenges or issues in the community. With this worksheet, you will be able to plan for the steps that can assist you in identifying the most prominent needs in your community.

Community Needs Assessment Planning Worksheet

TOOL: Assessing Community Readiness
Have you identified a need in your community that should be addressed? Wondering if you are ready to implement a program? This assessment tool helps you determine whether or not your community is ready to move forward with delivering a program. If you find that your community is not ready, be sure to check out our Exploring Community Strengths and Needs Tool to create a plan to get there.

A Tool for Assessing Community Readiness

Reference List: Community Needs and Readiness

TOOL: Exploring Community Strengths and Needs
Is change needed in your community? This worksheet takes you through a step-by-step process of putting a change effort in place. From evaluating community strengths and weaknesses, to identifying stakeholders, to recognizing supports and barriers, this worksheet helps you understand what the community’s strengths are and what areas need to be improved before implementing a change effort.

A Tool for Exploring Community Strengths and Needs

Reference List: Community Needs and Readiness

RESOURCE LIST: Assessing Community Needs and Readiness
Are you looking for resources to assist in identifying your community’s needs and/or readiness for program implementation? This list provides descriptions of evidence-informed resources to help professionals through the process.

Resource List: Assessing Community Needs and Readiness

Choosing the Right Program

There are many areas to consider when selecting a program to implement. Using an evidence-based program increases the likelihood that a program’s outcomes will be achieved. However, you also want to consider a program that addresses the needs within your community, fits your budget and resources, and takes into consideration the organization with which you work. The following tools and resources are designed to provide professionals with an understanding of evidence-based programs, information on the program selection and implementation process, and steps on how to assess a program’s fit and feasibility in relation to your organization and target population.

INFORMATIONAL SHEET: Understanding Evidence-Based Programs

What is an “evidence-based program” and why choose one? This sheet gives you a clear breakdown on how we identify evidence-based programs, why we use them, and how you can find one.

Understanding Evidence-Based Programs

INFORMATIONAL SHEET: Program Selection and Implementation
Implementing a program can be costly, not only in money but also in time and resources. It is important to know that the program is set up to succeed. Does your program fit your target population? Does your community and/or organization have the capacity to implement a program? How can you plan for and manage the challenges that may occur during program implementation? This informational sheet highlights these key areas and provides resources that can help you through these steps.

Program Selection and Implementation

Reference List: Selecting Evidence-Based Programs

TOOL: Assessing Program Fit & Feasibility
You are ready to deliver a program. What’s your next step? Before getting started, you’ll want to make sure the program you choose is the right fit. You will want to find a program that addresses the needs you have identified in your community, fits your budget and resources, and takes into consideration the organization with which you work. This easy-to-use worksheet leads you through the entire process, step by step so you can achieve success.

A Tool for Assessing Fit and Feasibility

Implementing a Program with Success

In order to increase the chances of long-term success, it is important that a program is implemented with quality. Program fidelity is a key piece to implementation quality, and there are a number of factors that need to be considered when thinking about fidelity, such as program adherence, exposure, delivery, and participant responsiveness. We have developed a number of tools and resources to assist professionals through the program implementation process. We discuss information on implementation frameworks and models that are designed to assist professionals in achieving and measuring implementation quality. We have also developed informational sheets that provide program recruitment and retention strategies for participants, as well as information on the importance of understanding fidelity. A maintaining fidelity checklist is also available to assist professionals with assessing program fidelity factors.

INFORMATIONAL SHEET: Implementation Frameworks and Models
When you implement a program with quality, the chances of long-term success increase. What does that look like? In this informational sheet, we outline the basics of quality implementation—each stage and how to execute it. We’ve also included examples of successful implementation frameworks.

Implementation Frameworks and Models

INFORMATIONAL SHEET: Recruitment Strategies for Evidence-Based Programs
Need to start recruiting program participants, but not sure where to begin? We’ve identified a variety of recruitment strategies that can be tailored to your specific target population.

Recruitment Strategies for Evidence-Based Programs

INFORMATIONAL SHEET: Participant Retention Strategies
You have worked hard to recruit participants. Now how do you keep them? Communication, convenience, and appreciation are the best methods of retention. This informational document will give you a breakdown of how to use all three methods. We include practical examples that you can use today!

Participant Retention Strategies

Reference List: Participant Retention Strategies

INFORMATIONAL SHEET: Understanding Fidelity
Understanding how to deliver high-quality, evidence-based and evidence-informed programs is important to success. Here, we provide guidance and strategies on how to deliver a program with fidelity.

Understanding Fidelity

TOOL: Maintaining Fidelity Checklist
Fidelity refers to implementing a program with adherence to the program model that was designed by the developer. Why does fidelity matter? A number of research studies have clearly linked program fidelity with positive program outcomes. This tool is designed to help you improve the quality of your program by increasing program fidelity.

Maintaining Fidelity Checklist

Planning for Program Evaluation

Several items need to be considered when planning for a program evaluation, such as an organization’s culture and climate, the adequacy of a program’s design, and the available resources. The following tools and resources are designed to assist professionals in preparing for a program evaluation. A checklist is available to help organizations determine if they are ready to enter the evaluation process and an evaluation planning worksheet is available to assist professionals in preparing for an evaluation. Information on the phases of the evaluation process and available resources to assist professionals in preparing for and conducting an evaluation are also provided.

TOOL: Evaluability Checklist
Not sure whether the program you are delivering is ready to be evaluated? Several areas need to be considered—such as an organization’s culture and climate and the adequacy of a program’s design—before it is determined if a program can be evaluated. Use this checklist to assist you as you determine the strengths and weaknesses of a program and the organization before entering the evaluation process.

Program Evaluability Assessment Checklist

INFORMATIONAL SHEET: Types of Evaluation
When planning for an evaluation, it is important to consider the purpose of the evaluation. Understanding the goals of your evaluation will help to determine which type of evaluation will best fit your needs and guide your evaluation plan with your evaluation team. Here we describe the difference between a process and outcome evaluation.

Evaluation Types

INFORMATIONAL SHEET: Preparing for a Program Evaluation
The program evaluation process can be confusing and difficult. Understanding what to expect from a program evaluation can help you successfully navigate the evaluation process. Here, we list the different phases that are associated with conducting a program evaluation.

Preparing for a Program Evaluation

WORKSHEET: Evaluation Planning
Do you need assistance in planning for a program evaluation? Use this worksheet to prepare for an evaluation and generate dialogue among members of your evaluation team as you formulate your evaluation plan.

Evaluation Planning Worksheet

RESOURCE LIST: Program Evaluation

There are a number of resources available that can assist professionals with navigating the evaluation process. Here, we list resources that are designed to assist you in preparing for and conducting a program evaluation.

Program Evaluation Resources and Tools

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