Abstract: With the continuous expansion of government-funded social work services, social work is emerging as a vital professional force in social governance, garnering increasing attention from both the government and society. A significant challenge confronting the field is how to evaluate the professionalism and effectiveness of its services scientifically. The CIPP model, known for its systematic, comprehensive, and improvement-oriented approach, is particularly suited for evaluating social work projects. This study employs the CIPP model to evaluate the rural childcare program of Institution H, integrating the Delphi method to construct an evaluation index system that supplements and optimizes the existing framework. Through assessments of the project’s context, input, process, and outcomes, the study provides improvement recommendations, such as increasing the budget for enhancing social workers’ professional capabilities, deepening needs assessments, prioritizing service quality, refining service plans, and improving supervision efficiency. To refine and optimize the social work evaluation system, it is crucial to establish a feedback-oriented evaluation mechanism, emphasize the professional development of social work, and shift from audit-focused evaluations to empowerment-based assessments. This approach ensures the dual objectives of performance evaluation and professional growth, ultimately achieving “improvement through evaluation” and “correction through evaluation.”

Key words: rural preschool children, childcare services, CIPP evaluation model, social work project evaluation