Establishing Goals and Objectives

ESTABLISHING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

A Framework for Program Design

Goals and objectives arise out of the needs assessment. These will determine many of the features of your program design and implementation. Clear goals and objectives are important to the entire process.

What Is a Goal?

A goal is a broad statement of purpose. It arises from the philosophy of your particular organization and its needs. It is not measurable, and it does not play a part in program evaluation. For example, a broad statement may be that you want your youth to remain in school through high school graduation. You may decide that you have more than one goal for your program. For each goal, you will need a series of objectives.

What Are Objectives?

Objectives state the specific intent. There should be a series of objectives for each goal. Objectives must include three elements:

Who: The specific people who will take whatever action is called for

What: The intent of the objective

When: Specific timelines for the who to accomplish the what

The elements listed above can be tracked and easily measured. Your objectives may include, for example, that by October the program director for mentoring will have recruited, screened and trained 12 mentors and will have matched them to work in your organizational environment with 12 youth.

Once you have established and written clear goals and objectives, the program design and implementation phases that follow will be easy to plan. Program design develops a framework for achieving the goals and meeting the objectives. In a sense, this is your program architecture. Here a program director deals with the day-to-day issues: Who will administer the program? How will the operations be organized? Where will the program be housed? What staff will be required to run the program adequately? How will finances be handled?

If yours is a school-based program, school board approval up front and an official, written policy statement will be...