Facts In Action

A program logic model is a description of how the program works to achieve benefits for participants. A logic model is the sequence of changes that occur when you put something into your program (an input followed by an activity) and as a result you get something out (an output followed by an outcome). For example:

• if you have providers who are knowledgeable in early literacy and language development in children (the input),

• and staff engage in literacy-related projects with children in your program (the activity),

• and the children in your program participate in a certain number of these activities over time (the output),

• then, as a result, children will develop skills that lead to emerging literacy (the outcome).

Putting logic models into a flow chart (a series of boxes connected with arrows in the direction of change) is an easy way to think through the sequences of changes that lead to the outcome.

Logic models are useful because they can help you think through the steps of children's progress and develop a realistic picture of what your program can accomplish. Working through a logic model can also help you choose which of the outcomes in the logic model to measure.

Facts in Action, August 2000

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