HP3C: Health Program Evaluation of After School Programs - Essay Example

Evaluation should be regularly performed to ensure that the program maintains the quality standards expected of it (NAEYC and NAECS/SDE, 2003). Formative evaluation Formative evaluation asks whether the program is relevant, its goals are clearly stated, and there are improvements in its design. However, this type of evaluation is usually done before the implementation of a program, and so will not be included in this particular evaluation (Metcalfe, Aitken & Gaff, 2008). Process evaluation On the other hand, process evaluation looks into how the program is being implemented and operated.

Taking the after-school program as an example, the questions for this evaluation can be ‘Is the after-school program being implemented as planned?’, ‘Are the goals being modified in the process of implementation?’, ‘Is the program reaching the latchkey students?’ (Metcalfe, Aitken & Gaff, 2008). To get the answers to these questions, the facilitators of the program can be asked using a questionnaire. A Likert scale of agreement will be used to quantify their responses. The number of enrollees and the program’s attendance can be also looked into to determine whether the program is reaching the target subjects (Metcalfe, Aitken & Gaff, 2008). . An easier approach will be to assess the participants before and after the program.

However, the observed changes may be caused by time than the program. After identifying significant changes because of the program, it can be compared with other programs that have similar goals and target audience (Metcalfe, Aitken & Gaff, 2008). Knowing these requirements, we can ask these questions for the summative evaluation of the after-school program: (1) Does the implementation of the program lessen the children involved in crimes and accidents around the community? and (2) Are the enrolled children performing better academically because of the program?. The first question assesses whether the first goal of providing a safe and supervised environment for the participants is achieved, and the second one determines whether the second objective of enhancing school performance is obtained.

For the data collection procedure, it is imperative that the short- and long-term effects of the program be evaluated. Data sampling should thus be done at different times and compared to one another (Metcalfe, Aitken & Gaff, 2008). In addition, the effectiveness of the program can only be assessed using the improvements in the participating children, and their evaluation should be done in a real-world environment (NAEYC and NAECS/SDE, 2003). In this case, their activities in the community, home and classroom will be looked into.

The first question can be answered by getting the statistics of the crimes and accidents involving school-age children before, one month, six months and a year after implementation of the program. This can be obtained from the police and fire