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Using the CIPP Evaluation Model’s 26 Checklists to Plan and Guide Evaluations by Guili Zhang

Greetings everyone! I’m Guili Zhang, Department Chair and Professor of Research & Evaluation Methodology at East Carolina University. I am also honored to be

  • Co-Author (with Daniel Stufflebeam) of the CIPP Evaluation Model book,
  • Board of Directors member of the American Evaluation Association,  
  • Advisory Board member of the American Journal of Evaluation (AJE).

Over my 25 years of experience as an evaluator, and especially in the process of further developing the CIPP Evaluation Model in collaboration with Dr. Daniel Stufflebeam, I found the CIPP checklists to be highly useful tools in designing and conducting sound evaluations.

Previously, I regularly used the earlier 2007 version of the 10 CIPP checklists, which are still available today on the Western Michigan University Evaluation Center website. The 2007 checklists are succinct and serve well as general, broad-brush guides.  

The 2017 version of 26 full-length CIPP checklists included in the CIPP Evaluation Model book is the most up-to-date version and reflects eight years of collaborative refinement work of Dr. Stufflebeam and me between 2009-2017. These 26 CIPP checklists are very detailed and provide step-by-step guidance for planning, conducting, and reporting CIPP-based evaluations. The Program Evaluation Metaevaluation Checklist provides step-by-step guidance for assessing a program evaluation’s design and implementation, and ultimately, for judging the final evaluation report.

In recent years, I have been using the full-length CIPP Evaluation Model Checklist to facilitate collaboration between my evaluation clients and me in our individual and joint efforts to plan, carry through, and apply sound, effective evaluations. Especially in the early stages of planning an evaluation, both parties would walk through the checklist together as a guide for reviewing and fleshing out the evaluation’s initial evaluation design and, subsequently, for finalizing its budget and contract.

Moreover, throughout the evaluation process, both the evaluation clients and I found the checklist useful for uncovering and addressing problems that may have arisen. We found the checklist to be a useful, detailed guide for assuring the evaluation’s integrity, soundness, utility, and impact.

On December 6, during my AEA Eval21 Workshop on the CIPP Evaluation Model, I will share the 26 most up-to-date CIPP Model checklists, and provide hands-on experience for participants to expertly utilize the checklists to design an evaluation using a sample RFP. 

Rad Resources

  1. Guili Zhang, Co-Author of the CIPP Evaluation Model book, will be conducting the CIPP Evaluation Model Workshop (Register Here), on December 6, 2021, 12:00 pm (EST) – 3:00 pm (EST), via zoom, as part of Eval21 PD workshops. The workshop will provide participants an interactive way to learn to use the CIPP Model and its checklists to design and conduct sound evaluations that meet the professional evaluation standards.
  2. CIPP Model Checklist 2007 version on WMU Evaluation Center Website
  3. CIPP Model Checklist 2017 updated version available in the CIPP Evaluation Model book.
  4. A sample of the 26 reproducible 2017 version CIPP checklists can be found here.

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