Evaluation of the Learning for Students with Disabilities in High School - Essay Example

Program Evaluation The study conducted by Dymond et al (2007) aimed to evaluate a service-learning program for disabled in high schools, inorder to assess whether it was achieving the desired objective of inclusive learning. This study has carried out an effective evaluation process, through a process of comparison of outcomes as assessed from the feedback of students and coordinators, against the standards established in the literature review. In addition, it has also identified the areas where a shortfall may be present and whether further research may be required before the true efficacy of the program can be evaluated. The purpose of evaluation of a program is to “judge the merit or worth of the total program being evaluated, as well as the individual elements of that program." (Billings and Halstead, 2005, p. 543-544). In this instance, the program being evaluated was service learning programs, both for disabled and non disasbled students. The purpose of the evaluation carried out in this research study was therefore to evaluate whether or not the components and manner of instruction of the service programs were consistent with the requirements of good service programs as spelt out in the literature. At the outset, Dymond et al (2007) point out that service learning has been defined as “a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities”. (Dymond et al, 2007). The primary stakeholders in the service learning program are therefore the instructors and the students, although the ultimate beneficiary is the community because the program produces students capable of interacting effectively in a work related context, even if they are disabled. The authors have sought to determine the efficacy of the service learning program by eliciting the views of service learning coordinators from each of the nominated schools that were participants in the study. The schools were also selected very carefully, and the service coordinators were interviewed to determine whether the school met the criteria for selection. These interviews with the coordinators also elicited information on which students participated in the high school service learning programs and how the contents of the program were also made available to disabled students. In addition, the study also included focus groups from each school in which three ot six students participated and provided their feedback. The kind of students included in the focus groups were those who had extensive knowledge and experience with the program and were therefore best qualified to provide relevant feedback. The learning processes and activities must be continuously assessed through data collection and the plans and activities must be revised as necessary, if they are falling short of the desired objectives (Kelly Thomas, 1998). By gaining feedback from coordinators and students well versed in all aspects of the program, Dymod et al (2007) have therefore allowed for the highest levels of accuracy and comprehensive feedback through their selection of participants in their study. Educational evaluation programs must first gather information on the specific problems and questions that must be addressed through the program implementation. (Patton, 1997, p 31). The literature review conducted prior to implementation of this study identified positive changes in the attitudes of high school students towards students with severe disabilities during the process of service based learning. Similarly, the attitudes of severely disabled students towards non disabled students was improved through service programs. Based on the study of the available literature on the subject of service learning, programs, the authors have identified twelve essential elements of service learning which contribute to the achievement of good outcomes, including elements such as administrative support, funding, professional development and funding. Feedback was obtained from the participants on each of these twelve elements. The study by Dymond et al (2007) has applied the approach suggested by Patton, i.e, the specific problems pertaining to inclusion of disabled students was evaluated and the results in the study suggest that additional research on course performance by students, attendance, engagement and self esteem may all need to be investigated in future evaluation programs. Measuring learning outcomes is also an important part of the evaluation process, to quantify individual learner performance, through designing of appropriate tests. Through the evaluation process, it then becomes possible to determine whether the educational program in question has been able to successfully generate the desired learning outcomes through the use of objective measurement criteria (Menix, 2007). In this instance, the findings by Dymod et al (2007) that more research into performance of disabled students may be necessary, suggests that better tests may need to be designed to measure learning outcomes from the high school learning service programs. During the course of the study, the authors found that the focus groups expressed the opinion that while the content of the service programs needed to be oriented within an academic format, it was also important for the program to develop in students life and work skills as well. The desired outcome of this program is to enable disabled students to function efectively in society, therefore it appears that service learning programs may need to be more efficiently targeted at achieving these objectives, through better assessment measures being implemented to determine learning outcomes. Another area where a possible shortfall could exist in the service program was identified by these authors as being in terms of measurement of long term learning. Since disabled students require repeated opportunities to practice new skills in order to be able to perform them independently, it is important for any service program to be able to assess long term impact on the students. It is only then that the ability of the program to achieve the definition of service learning spelt out in the study can be evaluated. In conclusion, it may be stated that the objective of the study by Dymod et al (2007) was to measure the efficacy of the high school service learning program for disabled students. The authors have used standards established by other experts as pointed out in their literature review, upon which to base their findings, in order to compare whether the service programs they evaluated measured up to the desired standards. In addition, since the program in question was an educational one, the authors have also examined the extent to which the program may be falling short of the desired objectives (Kelly Thomas, 1998). They point out the need for further research to examine long term impact of the program, as well as further research which may be needed to measure specific educational outcomes such as student engagement with the learning process and performance on tests to measure extent of learning. Bibliography: * Dymond, Stacy K, Renzaglia, Adelle and Chun. Euljung, 2007. “Elements of effective High school service learning programs that include students with and without disabilities”, Remedial and Special Education, 28(4): 227-244 * Kelly-Thomas, K. J, 1998. “Clinical and nursing staff development: Current competence, future focus”, (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott.; cited in: Menix, K d, 2007. “Evaluation of Learning and Program Effectiveness”, The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 38(5): 201-208. * Patton, Michael Quinn, 1997. “Utilization focused evaluation: The new century Text”, Sage Read More