Findings Nobody Reads Change Nothing

Most evaluation reports get only a few minutes of a reader’s attention. A school leader may open one between meetings, scan the first page, and close it. A grant director may need a single finding for a board update. When findings sit inside pages of dense narrative, many readers never reach them. At Shaffer Evaluation Group, we judge a report by whether the people who need it can find and use what it says. That standard led us to overhaul how we report and to work with each client to choose the formats that fit their audiences.

We Rebuilt Our Reports So Readers Can Find the Findings

In recent years, SEG completed a major overhaul of how we write and design evaluation reports. Our reports for Department of War Education Activity (DoWEA) grants show the change most clearly. These grants support public school districts that serve military-connected students, and their reports reach funders, district leaders, principals, and teachers. Our DoWEA reports once relied on long narrative sections. Readers had to work through page after page to locate the results that mattered to them. The new format puts findings up front and organizes the report so readers can move straight to what they need. The full detail remains for readers who want it, but it no longer stands between a busy reader and the results.

Headings and Executive Summaries Now Tell the Story on Their Own

Our report headings now state the finding, not just the topic. A heading such as “Teacher Practice” tells readers where they are in the report. A heading such as “Teachers Used New Mathematics Strategies More Often Each Year” tells them what we learned. A reader with five minutes can skim the headings alone and leave with an accurate overview of the results. Letting headings carry the key messages is a widely recommended practice for accessible evaluation reporting (BetterEvaluation, 2014).

We also rebuilt our executive summaries so they stand alone. Each summary gives a complete picture of the project: its goals, what it accomplished, what the data show, and what comes next. Many readers will read only the summary, so it must work without the rest of the report. A district leader or board member should be able to read it and describe the project accurately to someone else.

We Work With Clients to Choose the Right Products

A full report serves as the official record of an evaluation, but it is rarely the best tool for every audience. SEG works with each client early in the project to decide which reporting products will serve them. We start with three questions: Who needs the findings? What decisions will they make? How much time will they have to read? This approach reflects a core principle of utilization-focused evaluation, which designs every step around the intended users and their intended uses (Patton, 2008). 

The answers shape a reporting plan that may include:

• One-page briefs for board members, community partners, and funders who need the main results at a glance.

• Slide summaries for leadership meetings and staff presentations.

• Dashboards for teams that want to follow their data during the year instead of waiting for an annual report.

• Full reports that document methods, findings, and limitations for funders and the project record.

Most clients choose a combination. A district might receive a full annual report for its funder, a one-page brief for its school board, and a slide summary for principals.

Survey Dashboards Put Results in Clients’ Hands

SEG builds survey dashboards that give clients a direct, visual view of their results. Program staff can open a dashboard, filter responses by group, and compare results without waiting for a written report. Dashboards work especially well for surveys that repeat each term or each year, because staff can see trends as they develop. They also help clients prepare for conversations with staff, partners, and leadership, since the data arrive already organized. We create these directly on SurveyMonkey.

Sensemaking Sessions Turn Findings Into Action

Data do not explain themselves. SEG conducts evaluation sensemaking sessions in which we bring preliminary findings to program staff and stakeholders and interpret them together. Participants review the results, discuss what surprised them, and offer explanations that the data alone cannot provide. We frame these sessions around three questions: What do the data show? Why does it matter? What should we do next?

These sessions improve both the evaluation and the program. Staff often know why a result looks the way it does, such as a scheduling change or a new curriculum, and that context sharpens our interpretation. Participants also leave with a shared understanding of the findings and a stronger commitment to act on them.

Reports Should Fit the People Who Use Them

An evaluation creates value only when people use what it finds. Clear headings, stand-alone summaries, audience-specific products, dashboards, and sensemaking sessions all serve that goal. Each one shortens the distance between a finding and a decision.

If your team wants reports that leadership, staff, and funders will read, contact SEG. We will work with you to build a reporting plan that fits your audiences from the start of the project.

References

BetterEvaluation. (2014, March 26). Week 13: Producing engaging and accessible evaluation reports. https://www.betterevaluation.org/blog/week-13-producing-engaging-accessible-evaluation-reports

National Sexual Violence Resource Center. (2026). Interpreting data. https://www.nsvrc.org/evaluation_tool_kit/interpreting-data/

Patton, M. Q. (2008). Utilization-focused evaluation (4th ed.). SAGE.