Community Scale Document

A scale is simply a continuum which describes different states or conditions of status. It has a beginning point and an ending point, with increments in between to help us measure change. One example of a scaling tool we use daily is a thermometer. Inside a room, the thermometer is built into a thermostat to regulate temperature and therefore provide us with comfort. The scale begins at 50 degrees, ends at 90 degrees, with each increment of 1 degree marked in between. Although we could communicate with each other solely using the numerical indicators of degrees, we generally use words we have learned to associate with certain temperatures. Inside a house, 50 degrees is "cold," and 90 degrees is "hot." The number we associate with "comfortable" is generally around 70 degrees.

We can take the concept of scales and apply it within human services systems to help agencies get credit for what they are actually accomplishing. Scaling tools offer several unique advantages to the Community Action network.

First, scales can be used to measure concepts that are not easily quantified. Agencies are using scales to gauge progress toward economic self-sufficiency, degree of agency development, amount of community investment, and other concepts that are otherwise difficult to measure. Scales allow agencies to assign values to easily identified, discrete conditions, and to combine these values into a single measure of a complex idea like self-sufficiency. The experience of a number of agencies across the country demonstrates that scales are an efficient means of gathering data on program outcomes.

Second, scales allow agencies to measure intermediate steps. By comparing scale results taken at two different times, one can determine how much short-term progress has been made toward a long-term goal (such as self-sufficiency). Agencies using scales can demonstrate multiple interim successes even when the ultimate goal may not have been achieved. Agencies can build the celebration of interim success into their operations, thereby providing periodic motivation to all the stakeholders: the clients, the staff, and the funding sources.

Third, by using a common framework, scales can be aggregated. Aggregation is important because it allows agencies to present data on a number of clients, states to present uniform data on a number of agencies, and the Office of Community Services to present consistent nationwide information. In the tool proposed in Table 1 on page 7, the following words create a consistent continuum which could be used for aggregating each dimension: Thriving, Safe, Stable, Vulnerable, and In Crisis.