Fish swimming up a fish latter with steps labeled 'request for proposal', 'proposal review', etc.

Final Report
Tip: Require the final evaluation report be included in the project final report.
Tip: Include in online reporting systems a form for evaluators to complete as part of the final report that includes the following required categories:
  • project results broken out by different demographic characteristics;
  • results provided to different stakeholders (i.e. funders, participants, project staff, others);
  • changes made in the project, based on evaluation findings; and
  • ways, if any, the evaluation differed from the original plan.
Tip: Require the final evaluation report include a summary that will be used in future proposals under the section “Results from Prior NSF Support”. The summary would include any comments the principal investigator wanted to add and any comments of the evaluation team.
Rationale: Program officer attention to evaluation efforts is key to improving the overall quality of evaluations and the degree to which evaluation results are used. However, attention is not enough. Along with paying attention, program officers need to provide project staff and evaluators feedback on the quality of the evaluation and the usefulness of the results, and the degree to which the results are used. An assessment of evaluation quality could help the report readers, the evaluators themselves, and funders.