Taking the Evaluation Leap:
Lessons from Urban Alliance’s Six-
Year Randomized Controlled Trial
by Eshauna Smith
Fall 2017: Volume 24 Issue 3
Stories, especially transformational ones,
are a powerful tool for describing an
organization’s real-life impact, but another
valuable tool is objective proof. In summer
2017, Urban Alliance completed a six-year
randomized control trial (RCT)—the gold
standard of program evaluation—and in
the process were themselves tested. This
article describes the ups and downs of
this grueling process.