To create evidence of your program’s success, it helps to have a solid understanding of what the program is trying to accomplish and how you believe the program is achieving these goals.  Creating a logic model helps you articulate how the program is intended to work and choose on what to focus your program evaluation.

Table of Contents

What is a logic model?
Why should I develop a logic model?
What does a logic model look like?
How do I get started?

What is a logic model?

A logic model is a diagram that illustrates the rationale behind your program.  A logic model shows the relationships between the resources you invest, the activities you carry out, and the benefits you expect.  Logic models should be thought of as ever-evolving documents that are revised as a result of learning through evaluations, shifts in program goals or emphasis, program feedback, etc.  They are static illustrations of dynamic events - of programs that can change over time.

You can read a logic model as a series of if/then statements that connect the different components of your program.  For example:

• If we have these resources, we can carry out these activities.
  (e.g., If we have funding, teachers, and appropriate materials, we can carry out after school programs.)
  
• If we carry out these activities, we will deliver these services.
  (e.g., If we carry out after school programs, we will give children enjoyable and meaningful experiences.)
  
• If we deliver these services, we will create these changes in our participants.
  (e.g., If we give children enjoyable and meaningful experiences, their self-confidence and competence will increase.)
  

Why should I develop a logic model?

The primary purpose of a logic model is to display the logic underlying a program, and allow for its examination.  Evaluation, as such, is not a requirement of developing a logic model, however, a key benefit of such models is that they create an ideal framework for pursuing program evaluation at several levels.  A logic model provides a frame of reference for evaluation by identifying the outcomes you expect your program to achieve and the pathways to achieving them.  It is an appropriate starting-point for developing evaluation questions.  A logic model helps you define the focus of your evaluation because your evaluation will measure the components within your logic model.  It also provides a model of how your program should work, against which you can compare what really happens.

A logic model is therefore both a program management tool and evaluation tool that can help you:

• Create common language and reference points for everyone involved in the program;
• Identify gaps in your program’s offerings and aid in the planning of future program initiatives;
• Communicate to funders, staff, policymakers, and the media what your program does.

What does a logic model look like?

While there are many approaches to developing a logic model, almost all logic models include three common components – inputs, outputs, and outcomes. (Please click on the below logic model image for a larger view.)

Learning about Logic Models

• Usable Knowledge, LLC
  Beginner
  This 15-minute tutorial (with audio) walks users through the basic components of a logic model.
  

Examples of logic models from EE programs:

• Sustainable Schools Project Logic Model (.pdf)
  
• MEERA Logic Model
• CO-SEED Logic Model (.pdf)
  
  

Logic models

Specifically ones for small programs and ones that reflect a variety of EE programs.  Please forward your examples to zintmich@umich.edu

How do I get started?

The first step in developing a logic model is to set the parameters of what it should depict.  In this case, we are considering a logic model as a tool for evaluation.  In this context, consider questions such as:

• What is the scale of the program you are evaluating? Are you looking at a single focused activity such as an after-school program or are you evaluating several activities that fall under one broad program? 

• What do you want to know about your program? Are you concerned with how well the program is being implemented? Are you interested in knowing whether your program is changing participants’ attitudes about the environment and their intention to take actions to protect the environment? Or are you looking at the long-term impact your program has had over several years, such as the extent to which it has helped to improve environmental quality?

The answers to all of these questions will help you determine which components of your logic model require more attention and detail.  For example, if you are interested in program implementation and participant satisfaction (i.e., formative evaluation), you will most likely focus on the inputs and outputs sections of your model.  In contrast, a summative evaluation of a long-standing program might place greater emphasis on the relations between activities and intermediate-term outcomes. 

Once you have determined the focus of your logic model, the final step is to organize information in a way that allows you to see the connections between specific inputs, outputs, and outcomes. Remember that these connections are causal statements. 

You will have a stronger logic model if you read through each of these statements asking yourself why you believe your assumption to be true.  Do you have experience, research, or evidence suggesting that this activity will reach the people you intend it to reach, and will result in the changes you expect? (University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension, 2006). 

These resources provide guidance and tools for creating your logic model:

• Logic Model Template (.pdf)
  California Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET)
  Beginner Intermediate
  While the first template provided in this document is specific to the California B-WET Program (whose page discusses evaluation, including a section on logic models), the second template is an empty logic model template that can be used for any EE program.  It includes columns for objectives, resources, activities, outputs, short-term outcomes, and mid-to long-term outcomes and impacts.
  

• W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide (.pdf)
  W.K. Kellogg Foundation (2004).
  Beginner Intermediate
  This guide describes what a logic model is, how to create one, and how to use it to frame your evaluation questions.  The appendix offers logic model templates and checklists of important things to consider when constructing each part of the model.
• Enhancing Program Performance with Logic Models
  University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension
  

  Intermediate Advanced
  This self-paced tutorial combines audio and detailed text to offer an in-depth lesson on logic models.  Users are taken through the process of constructing and using a logic model.

• Logic Model Builder
  Innovation Network
  Advanced
  Visitors who register at the site (for free) gain access to Point K, a collection of web-based tools for planning evaluations, developing logic models, and creating surveys. Registered users are asked step-by-step questions about their program's goals, resources, intended outputs and outcomes. Point K then transforms that information to print-ready logic models and evaluation plans.