Did It Work? Reflections and Five Humble Questions to Guide Assessment

Assessments often fail to clearly answer whether a program “worked” or not. Here, I reflect on the broader purpose of assessment, and offer five questions to consider before undertaking an evaluation: Who are you trying to help? What is the intervention? How will you measure effects? Compared to What? and When will you measure effects? This reflection demonstrates that assessments can reveal more than whether a program worked and provides recommendations for making the most of assessment opportunities.