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Valuing Idiosyncratic Program Outcomes and Individual Antecedent Contexts: Using In-Depth Phenomenological Interviewing in an Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Program Evaluation
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| Presenter(s):
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| Sally Galman,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
sally@educ.umass.edu
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| Abstract:
Recent policy shifts in early childhood education in Massachusetts resulted in a move toward a universal preschool model in the state. In anticipation of growing personnel needs statewide, many teacher education programs rapidly reconfigured their early childhood education teacher preparation (ECETP) program models. However, the highly individualized, complex field of variables involved and the idiosyncratic nature of program outcomes made it difficult to employ standard evaluation models. This study evaluated one such ECETE program using the goal-based Transaction Model of program evaluation (Madaus, Scriven & Stufflebeam, 1983), modified to include in-depth phenomenological interview methods. This technique focuses on illuminating individual stakeholders’ contemporary and antecedent contexts and meaning-making processes (Seidman, 1998), and in the course of this study served to fracture seeming uniformity of experience into concrete categories for analysis. Findings support recommendations for careful but effective use of the technique in a wide variety of evaluation work.
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Unraveling Evaluation Puzzles Through Qualitative Methods
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| Presenter(s):
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| Janet Usinger,
University of Nevada Reno,
usingerj@unr.edu
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| Bill Thornton,
University of Nevada Reno,
thorbill@unr.edu
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| Abstract:
Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) is a federally funded project that provides academic and financial support to first generation college-going students. Upon high school graduation and acceptance to a community college or university, students receive a scholarship for up to six years to complete up to a bachelor’s degree. Evaluation data reveal that of the 1086 students eligible to receive the GEAR UP scholarship, only 272 (25%) actually accessed it immediately following high school graduation. The question lingers, why? Using qualitative methods, a six year longitudinal study was conducted with 60 GEAR UP students from diverse communities to explore how students construct their career aspirations and the role education plays. The focus of this presentation will be on the analytic process used to identify and explore the students’ values and beliefs. This presentation will be relevant to evaluators who use qualitative methods in complex projects.
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"I'm Wasting My Time" Thinking: Factors Associated with Student Retention and Attrition at a Small, Public, Comprehensive College in the Northeast
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| Presenter(s):
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| Kathleen Greenberg,
University at Old Westbury - State University of New York,
greenbergk@oldwestbury.edu
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| Abstract:
Findings will be presented from a series of focus groups designed to explore the factors associated with student retention and attrition at a small, comprehensive, northeastern college. The groups were conducted as a preliminary step in the development of a college-wide survey that will be used to provide a statistically secure understanding of the characteristics of various segments of the student body – particularly those who attrite and those who do not – so that targeted retention strategies and a predictive model for identifying likely attritors may be developed. Findings suggested that there are conceptually consistent psychological differences between students who leave and students who consider leaving but stay, and that these differences may predispose students who leave to think they are wasting their time in college. If quantitatively confirmed, this hypothesis implies that efforts to improve retention should aim to reduce the frequency or likelihood of such "wasting my time" thinking.
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