An external evaluator's perspective on the CEFP

As the external evaluator of the Collaborative Evaluation Fellows Project (CEFP), the author describes how the CEFP model is applied to the program's own evaluation and presents early findings, mostly based on the 14 studies conducted in the first year of implementation. Outcomes, benefits, and design and implementation issues are examined. Early findings are that all of the basic premises of the CEFP model have proven feasible. The CEFP has been well received within the American Cancer Society and universities alike. The roles of the CEFP evaluation facilitator, evaluation faculty, and evaluation fellow have been assumed by appropriately qualified persons. The American Cancer Society staff and volunteers generally regard CEFP evaluations as trustworthy and useful, and, in most cases, they actually use them. Evaluation fellows place high value on the CEFP as a learning experience, and a surprising number pursue related careers. What was most feared at the CEFP planning stage--conflicts between the practical needs of the American Cancer Society and the academic orientations of its partners--have arisen much less than expected, probably because of careful provisions in the CEFP program design to guard against this.