Logic Model Development Guide

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide, a companion publication to the Evaluation Handbook, focuses on the development and use of the program logic model.We have found the logic model and its processes facilitate thinking, planning, and communications about program objectives and actual accomplishments.Through this guide, we hope to provide an orientation to the underlying principles and language of the program logic model so it can be effectively used in program planning, implementation, and dissemination of results.

The premise behind this guide – and our view of the role of evaluation in programming – is simple: Good evaluation reflects clear thinking and responsible program management. Over the years, our experience in using logic models in initiatives such as the Kellogg Youth Initiative Partnerships, Devolution, ENLACE (Engaging Latino Communities for Education), and the Native American Higher Education Initiative, to name just a few, has provided ample evidence of the effectiveness of these methods.

Learning and using tools like logic models can serve to increase the practitioner’s voice in the domains of planning, design, implementation, analysis, and knowledge generation.The process of developing the model is an opportunity to chart the course. It is a conscious process that creates an explicit understanding of the challenges ahead, the resources available, and the timetable in which to hit the target. In addition, it helps keep a balanced focus on the big picture as well as the component parts.

In general, logic modeling can greatly enhance the participatory role and usefulness of evaluation as a management and learning tool. Developing and using logic models is an important step in building community capacity and strengthening community voice.The ability to identify outcomes and anticipate ways to measure them provides all program participants with a clear map of the road ahead. Map in hand, participants are more confident of their place in the scheme of things, and hence, more likely to actively engage and less likely to stray from the course – and when they do, to do so consciously and intentionally. Because it is particularly amenable to visual depictions, program logic modeling can be a strong tool in communicating with diverse audiences – those who have varying world views and different levels of experience with program development and evaluation.