| Session Title: Strengthening Values for Child Welfare Through Participatory Evaluation: Service Commitment, Job Expectations and Goals |
| Multipaper Session 896 to be held in Sunset on Saturday, Nov 5, 9:50 AM to 11:20 AM |
| Sponsored by the Human Services Evaluation TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Christine Mathias, University of California Berkeley, cmathias@berkeley.edu |
| Discussant(s): |
| Barrett Johnson, University of California Berkeley, barrettj@berkeley.edu |
| Abstract: Developing and implementing first, a statewide graduate school MSW program and, then a core curriculum for newly hired staff in the values-laden field of public child welfare services involved multi-level, multi-organizational and cross-institutional arrangements and many diverse stakeholders. The State legislation and federal regulations about child welfare training require program evaluation but are non-specific. Participatory evaluation was the method of choice for this evaluation. At first each part of the project was evaluated separately, but integrating the core evaluation with the title IV-E graduate school evaluation has improved our ability to systematically examine the effects of training and education. This session describes three aspects of the evaluation in detail: why we do it; how we involve stakeholders in the statewide evaluation of a standardized core curriculum; and building a chain of evidence, using the example of the examination of IV-E graduates' retention factors. |
| Developing a Participatory Training Evaluation for Child Welfare |
| Leslie Zeitler, University of California Berkeley, lzeitler@berkeley.edu |
| As part of a coordinated strategic plan to revise and improve standardized core training, active participation by a variety of university and agency stakeholders is necessary. This paper will show how regional training academy staff, trainers, county staff developers, curriculum writers, subject matter experts, trainees, and evaluation consultants all contribute to the improvement of standardized in-service training. Among ways these stakeholders participate are training pilots, quality assurance efforts, analyses of test data, use of trainer forums, and brief trainee focus groups. The design and decision-making roles of the Macro-Evaluation Committee will be presented. Consistent with an overall evaluation framework, trainee demographic and test data is analyzed for possible test item bias, aggregate performance, and potential demographic differences. We will describe the challenging process of coordinating participation by stakeholders in the curriculum in the test development/revision process. |
| Valuing Workers' Values: Helping Social Workers Stay in Child Welfare Service |
| Sherrill Clark, University of California Berkeley, sjclark@berkeley.edu |
| Research on the retention of public child welfare workers suggests that a service commitment is influential in attracting persons to the field. Thus, supporting this value may help to facilitate their long term worker retention in the profession. A qualitative data analysis of responses to a recent IV-E MSW graduate survey confirmed that helping others or making a difference in others' lives is a salient aspect of the job for new public child welfare social workers. This theme was present across all six years the survey was administered. In order to understand how to better foster the relationship between having a commitment to service and remaining in the child welfare field, the results of this analysis helped inform the focus of future evaluation of the factors that retain professional child welfare social workers. |
| Child Welfare Workers' Values: A Longitudinal Assessment of Job Expectations and Career Goals |
| Susan Jacquet, University of California, Berkeley, sjcaquet@berkeley.edu |
| Sherrill Clark, University of California Berkeley, sjclark@berkeley.edu |
| To evaluate the effects of educational and training programs on Title IV-E child welfare workers' values and career goals relative to their retention in the field, we have created a framework of questions focusing on service commitment, job/career expectations and goals which we ask at multiple points in the workers' careers. Cohorts are surveyed when newly graduated/hired, at 3 years post-graduation, and 5-years post-graduation. Telephone interviews involve graduates in the evaluation development by soliciting new focus areas to examine. The sequence of surveys occurs annually; each cohort is followed for at least five years. Comparisons between IV-E and non-IV-E new hires indicate there are differences between IV-E graduates and others, which we will report in this session. The information gathered in this evaluation along with the workers' retention status informs the evaluation of education and training programs as well as the agencies that hire them. |