Developing and Articulating
the Public Value of
Extension Work
Nancy Franz
Iowa State University
Extension and Outreach
Who the Heck is Nancy?
• 31+ years with Extension in five states
– Agent, volunteer, department head, district
liaison, state specialist, project administrator,
graduate student, administrator
• Youth and adult education in all program
areas
• Research in TL and M&R engagement
Why Focus on Public Value?
The Push for Public Value
– NSF broader impacts
– Measuring Excellence databases
– Program planning and reporting
– Evidence-based movement
– Return on investment movement
– The political context-government relations
– Need more than feeling good about our work
Our Take Home Message
Evidence-based
+
ROI on funding
=
Public value movement
What is Public Value?
The value of a program to those
who do not directly benefit from the
program.
Laura Kalambokidis
University of Minnesota
Extension
What is Private Value?
Personal value derived directly from an
Extension educational opportunity.
Nancy Franz
ISUEO
Public Value Stories
• Teen court
− Private – youth stay out of court
− Public – reduced court and human
services costs
• Citizen’s leadership academy
− Private – gain public speaking skills
− Public – sustain civil society through
leadership development
Public Value Stories
• IPM
– Private – save $ by reducing use of pesticides
– Public – improve water quality
• Nutrition education
– Private – increase intake of fruits and
vegetables
– Public – decrease health care costs
A Taxpayer’s Story
Bruce Franz
Crane welder with P&H
Disliked taxes & bureaucracy
Opposed to public funding
of youth programs
4-H transforms views
Common Public Values
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Decrease health care costs
Decrease public costs related to risky behavior
Decrease public costs related to financial problems
Decrease public response costs to emergencies and
disasters
• Increase academic success for a highly qualified and
productive workforce
• Decrease public costs related to dependency on
local, state, and federal services
• Increase health and ability of public safety workers
Common Public Values
•
•
•
•
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Decrease lives lost
Increase quality jobs
Decrease the cost of consumer goods
Improve environmental quality
Increase global competitiveness
Increase civic engagement of citizens
Four Steps to Achieving Public
Value
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Map the program
Determine what impact to measure
Collect and analyze data
Tell the public value story – tied to
research and evidence
Common Public Value
Concerns
• Damage control for nontrainable decision
makers
• Fear of generalization
• Fixation on randomized control trails
• Lack of contributional data
• Fear of change
The Nontrainables
• ID who influences them
• ID their interests
• Match the public value message
accordingly
• Train clients to deliver messages(i.e.
voters)
• Pick your battles
Fear of Generalization
• Contribution towards vs. causation of
condition change
• Voting district key cases are valuable
• Provide a balance of qualitative and
quantitative evidence
• Clearly share any limitations of the data
Fixation on RCTs
• Focus is on program evaluation from a
public perspective not research
• Methodological diversity provides strong
data (case studies, observation, focus
groups/interviews, secondary data,
surveys)
• Documenting emotion around change is
important human science
Lack of Contributional Data
• Google scholar
• Reference librarians/reference websites
• Conduct your own (UWEX, Penn State,
Texas A&M)
• Use secondary data (JOE, Tufts, key
partners)
• Become literate with your literature
Fear of Change
• Put your head down & take what comes
OR
• Vote with your feet
OR
• Do what is right and sustain Extension
Public Movement Lessons
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Be proactive
Start with early adopters-forget resistors
Build urgency using real stories
Seek professional development
Select public value champions
Develop a wide variety of public value
examples
More Lessons
• Engage clientele
• Engage researchers
• Create a strong statistical and
qualitative data base
• Bridge public value groups using middle
managers and boundary spanners
• Be selective on programs to show PV
More Lessons
• Develop PV templates
• Use PV to integrate campus and field
perspectives
• Involve economists, program
evaluators, communications staff, and
stakeholders
• Reward those embracing the movement
4-H Public Value
4-H project work helps youth explore interests from
animal science to aerospace, resulting in increased
interest in science at a rate three times that of non-4-H
peers. Interest in science is a predictor for young people
to choose science-related careers. This interest in
science, along with 4-H members’ 70% greater
likelihood to go to college than youth participating in
other out-of-school programs, is helping grow future
scientists necessary for our state, national, and global
economy. (Lerner and Learner, Wave 6)
4-H Public Value
4-H had 3,666 4-H officers who were
seniors in the last year. They showed
gains in leadership skills while occupying
these leadership roles. At an average
salary of $45,400 annually for a public
leader this provides over $16 billion in
leadership services to communities in the
last year. (Texas agrilife extension)
Ag Public Value
As a result of pesticide certification training, 15,995
private applicators and 9,315 commercial applicators
store, handle, transport, and apply pesticides safely,
which benefits the citizens of the state and the
environment. The training directly results in jobs
retained or created with 9,315 commercial applicators
able to obtain jobs or continue working in their current
pesticide application position. At an average salary of
$45,000/year, this is worth new and retained
employment worth $420 million. (ISUEO)
Ag Public Value
The disposal of pesticide containers poses a significant
challenge to agricultural producers and other pesticide
users. Improperly rinsed containers are a public health and
financial threat. Many containers end up in local waste
systems. As a result of Extension’s pesticide container
recycling program, 853,730 properly rinsed plastic pesticide
containers properly were collected from farms, licensed
pesticide dealers and pest control companies, golf courses,
and homeowners. (VCE)
Communities Public Value
Extension’s community leadership program
reduces a community’s disaster recovery
period for businesses, schools, and
residents. This action saves lives and
countless dollars in emergency recovery
operations and avoids job loss. (UMES)
Communities Public Value
Over 100,000 people from 70% of counties in the state
participated in energy savings programs. 70% of the
participants indicated implementing one or more
recommended practices that will realize a projected
savings of $5 million each year of the program. This
benefits communities by decreasing reliance on public
assistance, keeps more money in communities, and
creates local jobs to meet energy retrofitting needs.
(CCE)
FCS Public Value
Parenting programs reduced public costs with
75% of families of children at risk of entering
foster care did not enter foster care within one
year of completing a parenting education
program and of those completing the Juvenile
Justice Parenting Program, 85% of their youth
did not acquire a criminal charge within one
year of the program. (VCE)
FCS Public Value
Nutrition education programs helped
109,000 Virginian’s stretch their food dollar
in the past year that reduces reliance on
pubic assistance. (VCE)
Public Value Story Template
• Success Story Title:(Issue being addressed - include public value
reference in title)
• Relevance:(Why is it important to address this issue with education?
Include research, statistics, and trends to support importance of
issue. What are the desired changes?)
• Response: (Outputs - Identify activities, # of clients reached,
publications, services, workshops, etc. used to address the issue.)
• Results: (Outcomes: Identify specific behavior and condition
changes, how outcomes were measured, and relevance to public
value)
Remember
Measure what you value and
others will value what you
measure
John Bare
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
Your public value adventure awaits!
Q&A