Meet Sue Giancola, PhD, ACCEL’s Core Lead for Tracking and Evaluation. Dr. Giancola has over twenty years of experience in the field of evaluation. Beginning in July 2018, she joined the ACCEL team and has been working to restructure and refocus the evaluation. The ACCEL evaluation uses a theory-based approach, and is both stakeholder-driven and results-focused. Evaluation is built into the logic of the ACCEL Program, and is outcomes-oriented within a continuous improvement framework.
As the Core lead, there are three functional areas Dr. Giancola focuses on within the ACCEL Program. One is the tracking of key performance indicators, which includes defining metrics for each Core and building slide decks to monitor these indicators. Another functional area is giving direct support to each Core. She assists with evaluation planning, survey design, needs assessment, and data collection to support continuous improvement. The last functional area includes targeted studies to understand the impact of ACCEL; a study of the strategic area of Rehabilitation is currently in the planning stages. Dr. Giancola will be examining the impact in this area, as well as in Preventative Health and Behavioral and Mental Health.
When we asked Dr. Giancola what she enjoys most about working for the DE-CTR ACCEL Program, she said it is the challenge of evaluating such a large systemic change initiative. She believes that this is an important project in Delaware to better the health of Delawareans and is happy to be a part of it. ACCEL has also enabled her to meet many new colleagues and share strategies within the evaluation field at the American Evaluation Association annual meeting.
If you have more questions, please contact Dr. Giancola at giancola@udel.edu.