New CAPRA 10

The skills to assess and evaluate are essential to compete successfully for external and internal resources, including monies for capital improvements and new programs, and for solicitation of corporate and foundation funding. It is also important for tracking and analyzing trends so that the agency can remain competitive in a changing environment. Evaluation, assessment or performance measurement, and research are systematic processes that park and recreation professionals use to better understand the impacts of their efforts on the communities they serve. What is learned through evaluation, assessment, and research is used to demonstrate the value of what is provided and to learn how to make improvements.

Establishing standards and measuring progress in attaining those standards is a basic business-planning tool. Analyses of reliable data and qualitative information are essential to track progress in implementing master plans and strategic initiatives. Products of evaluation, assessment, and research become important components to support planning, development and programming decisions. Agencies have limited resources to devote to evaluation and assessment. Therefore, it is important to decide how those resources can be most effectively and efficiently deployed. Agencies must be able to objectively determine which programs, services, and facilities need to be evaluated and what research, assessment and evaluation tools are best to use.

Benchmarking is the process of making comparisons to the processes, programs, and services of other providers. The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) developed Park Metrics, which is a tool to capture uniform data information on park and recreation agencies across the nation. Park Metrics is the only national benchmarking tool for the park and recreation profession. As such, it can be successful as a reliable research tool only with broad participation from park and recreation agencies.
There shall be a designated position (individual) or team responsible for the agency's Evaluation, Assessment, and Research. This person/team shall provide strategies and technical expertise in relation to research, data collection, data analysis, and the development of action plans from the data collected. The agency shall provide training on how to evaluate programs, services and facilities for personnel involved in managing facilities and delivering programs and services. Agencies shall review evaluations and make programmatic decisions based on evaluation results.

Required Evidence of Compliance

Provide the job description and relevant education/experience for the position(s) involved in evaluation, assessment, and research activities on behalf of the agency (municipal/agency staff and/or consultants).

Provide examples of recent evaluation, assessment and research training completed by the individual and agency, including curriculum content, training dates and participant lists.
Agencies cannot fully meet community needs without collecting data for programs, services and operations they manage. Data shall be collected that supports the day-to- day operational aspects of an agency (recreation, parks, aquatics, etc.) Data collected should be aligned with various planning documents such as the Recreation Programming Plan, Strategic Plan, or other Business/Operational plans.

Required Evidence of Compliance

Provide a description of recent needs assessments conducted (e.g., surveys, focus groups, stakeholder interviews).

Provide documentation and examples demonstrating that needs assessments are conducted on a routine basis.

Provide documentation of community demographic data and user population trends.

Provide an inventory of existing parks, facilities, and services (including those provided by partners).

Provide reports or tools used to track national and local recreation trends.
The agency shall at a minimum, no less than once every five years, evaluate needs assessment data with available assets (e.g. land, facilities, programs, funding), and trends, to identify existing and projected gaps in service or programming and determine/reassess priorities for land acquisition, facility development and service expansion.

When feasible, the agency should also benchmark its programs, services, and facilities using NRPA's Park Metrics database, comparing those benchmarks with community feedback, particularly in areas where gaps in service are present or perceived.

Required Evidence of Compliance

Provide benchmarking comparisons of the agency’s programs, services, and facilities with local community assets, when feasible, using NRPA’s Park Metrics.

Provide analysis or summary of service gaps based on collective data and community input and documentation of action steps taken in response to findings.

Provide prioritized list of improvements or investments based on gap analysis and an analysis of how these trends relate to the agency and its community (at minimum every five years).

Describe the identification of outcomes and evidence of improvements or

changes in service delivery made as a result of the needs-assessment and trends analysis process.

Provide at least one report that summarizes the data collected and action taken because of the results found, i.e., where action steps were considered, implemented, and documented for each project.

Provide evidence of presentation of at least one report to approving authority/policy body.

Provide evidence of evaluation process review to identify strengths and weaknesses of the process. Include documentation of the resulting action plan for improvement and status updates on improvements prescribed.
The agency shall conduct or participate in research projects that help develop, evaluate and test new programs, processes or facilities, or may collaborate with educational institutions (e.g., high schools, community colleges, universities, etc.) to advance the park and recreation profession through student-learning projects and/or evidence-based programs. Where feasible, agency decision-making shall be informed by results of the project or evidence-based program. This standard requires a project to be completed once every five (5) years.

Required Evidence of Compliance

The agency shall participate in at least one research or student-learning project within the past five (5) years. Summarize each investigation or project within the narrative.

Provide a report outlining the research or project goals, process, and outcomes for each investigation, project or evidence-based program.

Where feasible, data-informed decisions made by the agency shall be described. There should be some documented effort to examine the impacts of different levels of service across the community.