week 1 assignment program planning and evaluation paper 495479

Program Planning and Evaluation Paper Axia College Program Planning and Evaluation Paper The Santa Rosa Philharmonic Youth Symphony (SRPYS) is an organization which supports young people who love music, encourages quality musicianship, and advanced leadership skills through their program. Local elementary and middle schools have had to cut the music programs from their curriculum; parents, students, and community members are concerned that this lack of support from the education community will discourage talented individuals. SRPYS is an organization which has developed plans to educate and advance the skills of young musicians. Their program planning and evaluation techniques are established, but always open to change as the students and musical tastes vary from year to year. Program planning and evaluation are two different processes in any human services agency, but are related to each other in many ways. Program planning is a process through activities or interventions which address and facilitate changes in a specific problem or problems. (Terao & Yuen, 2003) Through this planning, new programs can be implemented which can more appropriately address the problem or add new aspects to an existing program. Program evaluation provides information about how well a program is meeting the needs of its clientele, staff, the community, and its mission. Ongoing assessments allow for changes which need to be made as participants change, needs change, or there are better ways to address a problem. As programs are developed, the tools for assessments and evaluations need to be put into place. These evaluative tools relate directly to the program because without them there would be no measure of whether it meets the needs of its clients or if the organization has strayed from its original mission, goals, and objectives; likewise, if there were no program, there would be no need for evaluation. The evaluations help to define the current direction, past performance, and…