In June 2007, the Ministry of Education contracted a team from Massey University to evaluate ‘tips for autism’ – a professional development programme for people who work with and/or care for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The evaluation spanned three years. During the first year, the evaluation was co-purchased by the Ministries of Education and Health and Child, Youth and Family (CYF), a service of the Ministry of Social Development. The focus in this first year was on 'tips extended', a pilot programme for those supporting children with ASD who were also in the care of CYF.
The purpose of the 'tips' evaluation was to inform the future development of this programme which has been running in New Zealand since 2001, and to provide lessons for other ASD professional development initiatives. To achieve the objectives, the evaluation team was required to address a series of ten questions developed and prioritised by the Ministries of Education, Health and CYF.