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Session Title: Collaborative Evaluation Meets YMCA Education Programs
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Panel Session 108 to be held in Conference Room 14 on Wednesday, Nov 2, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
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Sponsored by the Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Rita O'Sullivan, University of North Carolina, rjosull@mindspring.com
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| Discussant(s):
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| Rita O'Sullivan, University of North Carolina, rjosull@mindspring.com
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| Abstract:
This panel will present various aspects of collaborative evaluation from external evaluator, program staff, and meta-evaluation perspectives. First presenters will share the collaborative evaluation design of two evaluations that were conducted for YMCA USA. One of the programs worked with 40 sites across the country to help them evaluate their "Higher Education Services Projects." The other program worked with three sites in Springfield, MA; Pittsburgh, PA; and Minneapolis, MN that were developing community-based programs aimed at promoting educational achievment as the basis for increasing neighborhood stability and well-being. Next YMCA program staff will share reflections about how these two collaborative evaluation designs were introduced into their organization. Finally, the specific evalaution context will be compared with broader collaborative evaluation efforts.
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Collaborative Evaluation Design of the YMCA USA Educational Achievement Initiative
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| Alison Mendoza, University of North Carolina, a.mendoza.215@gmail.com
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| Johnavae Campbell, University of North Carolina, johnavae@email.unc.edu
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The Educational Achievement Initiative began in Fall 2010 to help promote educational achievement as the basis for increasing neighborhood stability and well-being. Three sites were selected for this work in YMCA affiliated programs in Springfield, MA; Pittburgh, PA; and Minneapolis, MN. Sites were expected to build 10-12 member volunteer Neighborhood Action Teams to assess community assets and plan programs. These programs will then be implemented and their results evaluated. The YMCA decided to work with Evaluation, Assessment, and Policy Connections (EvAP) at the University of North Carolina in concert with the AEA Graduate Education Diversity Internship Program as the external evalautor for this project. Together with the YMCA USA program staff EvAP designed a collaborative evaluation plan to support the program. This presentation will share the collaborative evaluation efforts of the first year of the project.
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Collaborative Evaluation Design of the Higher Education Service Project
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| Johnavae Campbell, University of North Carolina, johnavae@email.unc.edu
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| Dawn Henderson, North Carolina State University, dawn_henderson@ncsu.edu
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The Higher Education Service Project began in Fall 2010 to help YMCAs expand their higher education programming. Sites could work in the areas of college preparation with grades K-8; college access and transition programs (grades 9-12); non-traditional students, or some combination of participants. Forty sites received funding and were required to develop evaluation plans for their program. The YMCA decided to work with Evaluation, Assessment, and Policy Connections (EvAP) at the University of North Carolina in concert with the AEA Graduate Education Diversity Internship Program as the external evalautor for this project. Together with the YMCA USA program staff EvAP designed a collaborative evaluation plan to support the program. This presentation will share the collaborative evaluation efforts of the first year of the project.
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Collaborative Evaluation From the YMCA USA Perspective
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| Marcia Weston, YMCA USA, marcia.weston@ymca.net
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| Jarrett Royster, YMCA USA, arrett.Royster@ymca.net
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| Beth Salazar, YMCA USA, beth.salazar@ymca.net
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Faced with the need of implementing two new programs, YMCA USA decided to work with Evaluation, Assessment, and Policy Connections (EvAP) at the University of North Carolina in concert with the AEA Graduate Education Diversity Internship Program as the external evalautor for this project. As the program staff members were very interested in enhancing the evaluation capacity of their grantees as well as gathering process and outcome evidence for the funders of these programs, the program staff requested a collaborative approach to the evaluations. YMCA program staff were integrally engaged in the design and implementation of the evaluation, which included development of logic models, identification of common evaluation instruments, evalaution webinars, evaluation fairs, and cross site accomplishment summaries. Beyond that the two program evaluations introduced collaborative evaluation to the broader YMCA USA organization. This presentation will share the evaluation implementation from the program staff perspective.
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