|
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Academic Capital in Arts for Learning Programs
|
| Presenter(s):
|
| Gina Weisblat,
Cleveland State University,
boo500@aol.com
|
| Abstract:
Founded in 2004 with a grant from the Ford Foundation, the Art is Education initiative of the Cleveland Integrated Arts Collaborative initiative seeks to close the achievement gap by providing all students in Cleveland Metropolitan School District with experiences in the arts, everyday. Art is Education initiative plans evaluate the impact of this four year project, (beginning Fall 2008) using Academic Capital Theory. The central thesis of academic capital theory is that 'relationships and environment matter'. The fundamental idea is that social networks are a valuable asset, and that those networks coupled with an individual’s background and outlook help define one’s ability to succeed individually and contribute to the greater good and a community of academic learners. The components of academic capital are the critical factors that enable people to learn. Classroom observation, focus groups, formal assessment and interviews will be used to measure the effectiveness of this approach.
|
|
Fund-raising Effectiveness in the Nonprofit Lively Arts: Moral Hazard as an Unintended Outcome
|
| Presenter(s):
|
| Charles Gray,
University of St Thomas,
cmgray@stthomas.edu
|
| Abstract:
This research is designed to ascertain the relationships among government grants, private donations, and earned income for the lively or performing arts. The target organizational population is approximately 35 of the most significant (budgets ranging from under $100,000 to more than $41 million) performing arts (dance, theater, and music) organizations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.
In a predecessor project, a cross-section analysis of a single budget year indicates that, across all included organizations, the combination of $1 of private contributions and $1 of government grants crowds out $2.15 of earned revenues.
This paper expands the original project to include several years of budget data, permitting a panel study and exploration of lagged effects in support of evaluating development and marketing in the arts.
|
|
The Deconstruction of the Evaluation Report: Whose Policy is it Anyway?
|
| Presenter(s):
|
| A Rae Clementz,
University of Illinois,
clementz@uiuc.edu
|
| April Munson,
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,
amunson2@uiuc.edu
|
| Abstract:
The final evaluation report is a fixture of evaluation practice. Whether the format is mandated or simply expected, the structure of an evaluation report is a kind of evaluation policy. This paper deconstructs the implications of a reporting policy in a city-wide school-based arts initiative. David Easton described policy as "an authoritative allocation of values" (1954), but whose values are being represented? In this initiative, reporting policy had consequences on the question that could be asked, data collected, participant and community relations, even skewing the validity and usefulness of the results. We give particular emphasis to the imposition of a report structure on the multiple perspectives that exist in an evaluation, setting up a narrative that weights some values and silences others. Practical examples are presented of alternative methods for reporting evaluation results, with an emphasis on educative strategies and the potential offered by digital media, performance, and participation.
|
|
Formalizing Evaluation in an Arts Integration School/University Partnership (Project AIM Columbia College, Chicago): Building Policy and Practice
|
| Presenter(s):
|
| Vanessa McKendall Stephens,
Face Value Evaluation Consulting Inc,
vanessa@facevalu.org
|
| Cynthia Weiss,
Columbia College Chicago,
cweiss@colum.edu
|
| Mary Ellen Murphy,
Independent Consultant,
mesm2@msn.com
|
| Lara Pruitt,
Columbia College Chicago,
lkpruitt@yahoo.com
|
| Beverly Dretzke,
CARE,
dretz001@umn.edu
|
| Shawn Lent,
Columbia College Chicago,
slent@colum.edu
|
| Sadira Muhammad,
Columbia College Chicago,
smuhammad@colum.edu
|
| Abstract:
The paper presentation will discuss the results of the Arts Integration Mentorship Project’s (Project AIM) work with evaluators to develop a systematic approach to evaluating its efforts with selected Chicago and Evanston elementary and middle schools. As a school partnership of Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Community Arts Partnerships, AIM developed a participatory, reflective process to further clarify its model and engage participants in learning what works. The evaluation supported Project AIM’s ability to embed organizational practices and principles that guide inquiry related to the program theory and evaluation questions. Contextually specific evaluation policy was developed in partnership with teaching artists, classroom students and teachers, Project AIM and college personnel. Both evaluator and program staff perspectives will be presented along with useful tools. The program’s unique approach has been documented in the recently published book, AIMprint: New Relationships in the Arts and Learning, co-edited by Cynthia Weiss and Amanda Lichtenstein.
|
| | | |