Accountability is central to the relevance of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. As a state agency who receives funding from federal, state, local, and grant/contract sources, we must be good stewards of the funding we receive.

Accountability of our programs is a high priority for everyone in Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. It allows us to tell our story as well as make corrections in educational programs. Interpreting evaluation results and marketing those results to stakeholders is very important. If not done, how will the community and stakeholders know the results of the program?

When interpreting program results, the Extension educator should address the “Three R’s”. These are: Relevance, Response, and Results.

Relevance – What was the relevance of the program?
Response – How did Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service respond to the relevant program?
Results – What are the reults? What happened as a results of the educational program?

Answering the “Three R’s” provides the stakeholder with sufficient background and evidence of what the program was, how it was addressed, and what happened as a result of the program. Typically, the Extension educator would develop a one or two page summary revealing the “Three R’s.” This is the time to be creative and do something exciting that will draw the stakeholder in. It is important to use table, graphs, and/or pictures to reveal the impact of the program.  The template all County Extension Agents should use for their in-depth summary and the county annual report can be found here.

Most organizations have numerous stakeholders. Extension educators must decide who they should market their results to. Some examples include:

General Points:

• The Community – through media outlets if possible.
• The County Committee
• Program participants
• Extension colleagues
• Commissioner’s court and county judge
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service administrators / County Directors / District Extension Administrators / Regional Program Leaders
• Community and state legislators

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