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Learning From Stakeholders: Using A Collaborative Evaluation Approach With Classroom Teachers to Investigate Cross-site Outcomes of a Screen Education Intervention
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| Presenter(s):
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| Karyl Askew,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
karyls@email.unc.edu
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| Rita O'Sullivan,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
ritao@email.unc.edu
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| Abstract:
This session presents the methodology of a collaborative evaluation commissioned by the American Film Institute (AFI) Screen Education Center, demonstrating how flexibility in outcome assessments for multi-site programs can yield important findings. AFI seeks to transform American education by supporting educators as they incorporate videography as a medium for instruction. In its fifth year of operation, the organization molded its Screen Education training specifically for educators working with English Language Learner (ELL). The evaluation was conducted to determine the extent to which the AFI Screen Education program was meeting the goals of 1) supporting ELL teachers integration of videography and 2) enhancing ELL students' literacy skills. Teachers from 13 elementary, middle, and high schools across North Carolina participated in this study. Evaluators will share overall evaluation findings and specifically demonstrate how collaborative design and implementation of custom site evaluation plans and performance measures improved the ability to report cross-site outcomes.
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Collaborative Evaluation of Superintendents' Attitudes Toward Leadership: A Qualitative Perspective
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| Presenter(s):
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| Rigoberto Rincones-Gomez,
MDC Inc,
rincones@mail.com
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| Liliana Rodriguez-Campos,
University of South Florida,
lrodriguez@coedu.usf.edu
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| Abstract:
This formative evaluation was designed and implemented using the Model for Collaborative Evaluations (MCE). The MCE establishes priorities in order to achieve a supportive evaluation environment (Rodriguez-Campos, 2005). Therefore, the model transformed this evaluation into a joint responsibility process allowing a more holistic understanding of the multiple leadership perceptions among school district superintendents collaborating in an educational initiative. Interviews, thinking-aloud, and journals were used in order to capture and better understand superintendents' approaches to leadership. Among others, the main evaluation findings were: First, the novice superintendents tended to use only elements from the democratic perspective. However, the experienced superintendent group used a combination of elements from the formal or structural, democratic, as well as the political leadership perspectives. Second, all participating superintendents demonstrated to share a set of common practices and approaches toward leadership perspectives.
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Using a Collaborative Approach in Evaluating the Impacts of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development Program (PDP) State Allocations
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| Presenter(s):
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| John O'Sullivan,
North Carolina A & T State University,
johno@ncat.edu
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| Rita O'Sullivan,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
ritao@unc.edu
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| Abstract:
Collaborative evaluation relies on the ability of key stakeholders to communicate in a common language about evaluation. When federal programs try to align their evaluation needs with regional, state, and grantee perspectives, the evaluation task of communicating with stakeholders to clarify the evaluation can become very challenging. The National Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Professional Development Program (SARE PDP), which provides approximately $3 million annually so that Extension and other agricultural educators would be trained in the principles and practices of sustainable agriculture requested assistance with the development of tools to help its four regional program office (North East, Southern, North Central and Western Regional SARE offices) better report program impacts. Preliminary discussions that the external evaluators conducted at the various levels of the SARE program revealed many differences among stakeholders' evaluation capacity. The evaluators used the “Model for Collaborative Evaluations” to bridge the communication gaps across the various stakeholders and move the evaluation forward. This paper presentation describes this process.
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Lessons Learned, Wisdom Gained: The Collaborative Evaluation of A College Access Initiative Comes Full Circle
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| Presenter(s):
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| Michelle Jay,
University of South Carolina,
mjay@sc.edu
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| Karyl Askew,
University of North Carolina,
karyls@email.unc.edu
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| Matthew McBee,
University of North Carolina,
mtm@northcarolina.edu
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| Rita O'Sullivan,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
ritao@unc.edu
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| Abstract:
This paper, which focuses on collaborative strategies used in the evaluation of GEAR UP North Carolina - a college-access initiative program, illustrates the key successes/challenges that arose during the evaluation (which took place during the last two years of the program's original six-year grant) and highlights the ways in which lessons learned from that evaluation have been incorporated into the collaborative strategies currently used to evaluate the program's second grant. The four critical elements unique to collaborative evaluations - collaborative planning, evaluation technical assistance, evaluation capacity building, and evaluation fairs - and their application in two successive GEAR UP evaluations are addressed. Further, examples of collaborative evaluation elements used including examples of school district evaluation plans, data collection strategies, and evaluation reporting formats are used to demonstrate collaborative evaluation praxis. The authors affirm the importance of the developmental process as a critical aspect of collaborative evaluations for both client and evaluator.
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Creating Observational Tools for the District Standards Support Review: Focusing a Formative Evaluation With a Collaborative Approach
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| Presenter(s):
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| Ranjana Damle,
Albuquerque Public Schools,
damle@aps.edu
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| Abstract:
An urban school district made a transition towards the standards-based education system that incorporated standards-based curriculum and assessment. The district developed many strategies to achieve successful standards implementation in classrooms. The district also informed the parents and community about the policy of standards-based education for educational success. The district, then, contemplated an objective appraisal of the standards implementation in the district’s 130-odd schools. As the district research/evaluation team took charge to design an evaluation, the district’s ‘site visits’ premise evolved into a full evaluation that defined goals, designed data collection and sampling strategies, and developed data analysis and reporting procedures. A critical component of the evaluation design was the development of observation tools. The evaluators collaborated with the instruction leaders with an expertise in standards-based education. The tools articulated the key components of the standards-based system in the most efficient manner, facilitating data collection on standards implementation.
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