The Evaluation Scale

You can use this evaluation scale for both the “Quick Look” and the “Look Under the Hood” as you seek to understand your situation

Evaluate each ministry on a scale from 1 to 10.

0 – Nothing is going on in this area at all

1 – Things are not going very well and have gotten worse

2 – Things are not going very well but are stable

3 – Things are not going very well but have been improving

4 – Things are going fairly well but have gotten worse

5 – Things are going fairly well but are stable

6 – Things are going fairly well but have been improving

7 – Things are going very well but have taken a turn downward

8 – Things are going very well and are stable

9 – Things are going very well and have been improving

10 – Things are almost perfect – no flaws that take away from effectiveness

When you evaluate each area, decide if it is almost perfect (10) or does not exist at all (0).  Most often it will fall between these two extremes.

Next, decide if the thing you are evaluating is “not doing very well” (2), “doing pretty good but needs some improvement” (5), or if it is “doing very good – even though it may need some attention” (8).

The next step is to determine if things have been about the same for a while or if it has shown some improvement or some decline.  Participation may be the thing you think about here -- or some other criteria may come to mind.  Make note of the criteria you use.  If things are stable you can leave the evaluation at the center point (2, 5 or 8).  If it has been improving, you can move it up one number (2, 6 or 9).  If things have been moving in a negative direction you can decrease the evaluation by one (1, 4 or 7).

If you are doing this as a planning group, add all of your evaluation numbers together and divide by the number of people doing the evaluation in order to get the average.

© Ed Handkin 2004