Isaac Castillo - @Isaac_outcomes 1

Isaac’s Who Would You Fund Example

• Use this as an exercise to illustrate the importance of collecting outcomes.

• Also used as a way to emphasize the importance of comparison / contextual data.

• Based on real data I collected from two different schools running the same program during my time at LAYC.

January 28th 2015

Isaac Castillo - @Isaac_outcomes 2

How it Works• Share next slide with group and introduce exercise. • Audience is now a funder with the ability to write a single $1 million check to one of two

programs. • Assume everything is the same between two programs/organizations except what is

shared. • The second slide (with the data) has animation on it – the data points get shared one at

a time. • After each data point, presenter asks audience members who they would fund (who

gets their $1 million) and why. Should get answers from several different people. • Add next set of data points, and continue to ask who people fund and why. • Only last set of data includes outcome information. And by that point, the answer of

who to fund becomes clearer (but people may still disagree). • The last slide points out the importance of comparison information and context. The last

slide may or may not be used depending on time and sophistication level of the audience. The dotted lines are the comparison groups.

• The last slide also illustrates the importance of not overlooking programs that keep things stable – as the counterfactual or comparison condition may be that things would get worse without the program.

January 28th 2015

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Who Would You Fund?

• You have $1 million to provide funding to a tutoring program for “at-risk” youth.

• You need to pick one of two programs to fund – but you can only pick one!

• Assume everything else is equal aside from the information provided on the next page. – Same service population – Same areas of service– Same tutoring approach

February 2015 Isaac Castillo - @isaac_outcomes

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Which Program Would You Fund?

February 2015 Isaac Castillo - @isaac_outcomes

Program # 1 Program # 2

Served 500 “at-risk” youth Served 50 “at-risk” youth

Provided 2,500 total hours of tutoring

Provided 2,500 total hours of tutoring

Each youth received average of 5 hours of

tutoring

Each youth received average of 50 hours of

tutoring

5 % of youth showed improved math grades on

report cards

90 % of youth showed improved math grades on

report cards

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Does this Change Things?

February 2015 Isaac Castillo - @isaac_outcomes

Mat

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Time

Program 1 Comparison Group

Program 1

Mat

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Program 2 Comparison Group

Program 2

Time

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Isaac’s Contact Information

February 2015 @Isaac_outcomes

Isaac D. CastilloDeputy Director

DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative

On Twitter: @Isaac_outcomesEmail: Isaac.Castillo@dcpni.org