Afterschool Program: Facilities Of A Local Elementary School - Case Study Example

Afterschool Program: Facilities Of A Local Elementary School Introduction: An after-school program located in an economically depressed area uses the facilities of a local elementary school to provide free after-school care from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. for the children of the neighborhood. The program goals are to provide a safe and supervised environment for latchkey children and to enhance their school performance through academic enrichment activities. Aim: To Provide some examples of evaluation questions that might provide answers to stakeholders in the program, and identify the data collection methods that would be appropriate for obtaining answers to the questions and to explain the rationale for choosing the questions. No data collection questions are required. Stake Holders: The stake holders in the program are : a. The participating Children as the result of this program affects them directly. b. The School Board, as it would be important for them that this program succeeds , because this would result in a better academic standing. c. The parents of the children , as they would want their children to do better in studies and also they would want a safe and healthy environment for their children even during after school , when the school staff is possibly reduced substantially. A Brief statement on After School Program: There has been some substantial research which has been done on After school programs. Benefit and Problems facing it are fairly well documented. According to one study “ Considerable government funds are being invested in after-school programming in the U.S. For example, Congress appropriated $993.5 million to support 6,800 21st Century Community Learning Centers in 2003. In addition to providing supervision of youths while parents are working, ASPs are often intended to improve academic performance and to alter related student behaviors (e.g., attendance, drug use, conduct). Research suggests that when ASPs serve high-risk youths in need of supervision and incorporate formal social skills training, they can have positive effects on student social adjustment. ASPs can also increase academic performance, but only when students attend the programs frequently, which is rare. ASPs generally offer a few specific benefits . They are: • A standardized social skills training curriculum aimed at reducing substance use; • A structured tutoring component aimed at increasing academic outcomes; and • An attendance incentive system that reinforces both school and ASP attendance.”i Evaluation Methodology “Initiating an evaluation requires a plan that includes a careful needs assessment and a clear set of objectives. This plan will help you determine what you need to know and how to get the information you need in order to draw conclusions and make vital decisions. The plan also acts as your project manager by keeping you and your team on track. Further, an evaluation should always be planned with utility in mind. If an evaluation’s results are not implemented, then the evaluation was a waste of time and money. Starting with the right questions can help you focus your evaluation, set objectives, anticipate problems, and manage your resources wisely. Questions to ask when starting an evaluation plan may include:”ii What question(s) is the research trying to answer? The most important things which have to come out of this research is whether the ASP will work. And that leads to other questions as to what will work. What cannot be done at home or during school hours which will be done at the ASP? What are the reasons for the underperformance of the students? How happy will the children be, if the ASP is cutting into their play time? Will the Children be motivated in the ASP, or will it be seen as the extension of School in general? Who are the stakeholders for this evaluation? Who will be affected by the results? Who will use the results?) Stake Holders have already been identified and stated earlier. What data do is needed in order to answer this question and how is the data going to be interpreted? The data required will include, the attendance of the students at the ASP, and the standardized tests to determine the improvement in the students and to correlate it to the attendance. Surveys of students, teachers and parents to determine their needs and their mindset would also be required. The data has to be analyzed in a multi regression model , to determine the deficiencies and the improvement requirements in the ASP. What obstacles will be encountered while collecting and analyzing the data? Surveys invariably have flaws of , the respondents answering what they feel is either what the interviewer wants to hear or what they think is the correct answer. The respondents must be made to feel comfortable and be told that it is important to have accurate answers to improve the situation. What is required is a snap shot as is , not as it can be. What financial and human resources can be brought to this evaluation and what methods should be used? Just two or three surveyors and one or two computer systems should be sufficient for the school. Techniques for evaluation include surveys, focus groups, candid data, contextual observation, mind maps, paper prototyping and microsurveys. What is going to be done with the results? Methods and ways to improve the ASP will be sought. Evaluation questions to be used: Evaluation questions will include: How they think that Student’s grades can improve? The rationale behind this is obvious. The teachers, parents and students all have their own idea of what is not working and what needs to be done. What is their favorite activity? This is directed toward the students. This is to find out what the motivation trigger points are for the students. This would increase the attendance of the ASP. What activities are done at home during an average week day? This is directed towards the parents, to see what might be lacking at home to aid the student in their studies. What are the areas of distraction, which could affect the student, during after hours of school? Things like drug use or anti social activities might be made clear. This is a question addressed to the parents and teachers. The rationale behind this is to see how the vacuum of the student free time is being filled up. Conclusion: Some of the evaluation questions will be very uncomfortable to the respondents, and there may be some answers which they would not feel comfortable sharing. So it is important that there is a correlation between numerical data and the evaluation questions. At the end of the research study there should be clear cut answers as to how to make the ASP more effective. Read More