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Communicating Versus Real work? The Communication Burden on Volunteer Board Members of Growing Evaluation Organizations
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| Presenter(s):
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| Williams Benita, Feedback Research & Analytics, bvanwyk@feedbackra.co.za
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| Abstract:
Evaluation associations are potentially important hubs for delivering on evaluation capacity building. Most evaluation associations rely on volunteer board members to provide oversight and operational management of the organizations, at least initially (Segone, & Ocampo, 2007). If evaluation associations are to grow successfully, it is imperative that association boards are effective in applying the available time of their volunteer board members (Herman & Renz, 1999). One strategy is to limit the number of projects that the organization engages in, and another is to involve the organization’s membership in some of the projects through building strong committees.
However, an often overlooked aspect of board participation is the burden of attending board meetings and reading and responding to board email communication (Weare, Loges & Oztas, 2007). This paper provides a quantitative oversight of email and meeting communication of two fledgling evaluation associations in Africa. It considers existing literature about optimising volunteer board effectiveness, and provides some recommendations.
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When a Program Evaluation Goes to a Small Town: Unique Opportunities in Communication, Accessibility, and Decision-Making
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| Presenter(s):
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| Ann G Bessell, University of Miami, agbessell@miami.edu
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| Valerntina I Kloosterman, University of Miami, vkloosterman@miami.edu
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| Sabrina Sembiante, University of Miami, s.sembiante@umiami.edu
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| Abstract:
Supporting poor, ethnically diverse at-risk students when they first arrive in kindergarten, before they fail, may be the best possible investment for our society. Hence, this two-year mixed-method program evaluation of a Kindergarten Support (K-Support) program implemented in four charter elementary schools located in a small central Florida town is the focus of this session. Both the program and its evaluation have distinctive characteristics. The K-Support educational program is innovative and one-of-a-kind; an intensive two-year program serving at-risk students in language and literacy. The evaluation enjoyed direct communication with and accessibility to the private funder and the highest levels in the educational hierarchy, including the superintendent and the charter school board. This resulted in efficient and non-bureaucratic decision-making that facilitated the evaluation process. We will describe the evaluation design, main findings and implications, and discuss the uniqueness of the communication and dynamic between the evaluators and the key stakeholders.
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