What is GTO and why is it valuable?

​Funders want to see that their financial resources are making an impact through high-quality outcomes. At the same time, practitioners and frontline providers face several challenges in implementing high-quality programs. While researchers often demonstrate the positive effects of prevention programs and interventions, the same level of outcomes are not as easily seen in practice. Whether an organization already has a specific program in mind or a need they want to address, they do not always have the knowledge or capacity in place to develop a strategic plan, implement with quality, and monitor and evaluate—all of which are important for getting to outcomes.

Getting To Outcomes® (GTO)—which was developed to help bridge the research to practice gap—is a 10-step accountability process to help communities and organizations plan, implement, and evaluate the impact of their programs. Drs. Abe Wandersman and Pam Imm of the Wandersman Center are two of the co-developers of GTO, which has earned international recognition.

GTO is a best practice process that is both prescriptive and flexible. Each of the 10 steps of GTO has been shown to make prevention programs successful and organizations to get results. GTO is also a capacity-building intervention that helps organizations incorporate the knowledge and skills of being strategic and data-informed into their routine practices.
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We provide GTO training, technical assistance, and GTO manual and tool development to help organizations reach their desired outcomes, helping demonstrate to funders and stakeholders that their work can make a positive impact.

Examples of projects we have used GTO include Developing comprehensive prevention with the US Air Force and developing a Comprehensive Sexual Assault Prevention System with DoD SAPRO (both with the Rand Corporation) and the Carolina Family Engagement. 

10 Accountability Questions

1. What are the underlying priority problems to address?
2. What are the goals, audiences, and specific outcomes?
3. Which evidence-based or best practices can be used to reach the goals?
4. What actions need to be taken so the selected prevention activity fits the context?
5. What actions need to be taken to build capacity to implement the prevention activity?
6. What is the plan for implementing and evaluating the prevention activity?​

Planning

Evaluation & Improvement

7. How was the quality of implementation? (Process Evaluation)
8. How well did the prevention activity work? (Outcome Evaluation)
9. How will continuous quality improvement strategies be incorporated?
10. If the prevention activity is successful, how will it be sustained?