Assignment #3

Planning a Program Evaluation for the LKR Lunch Program

Engage Stakeholders:

·         Who should be involved?

o   LKR Staff Members:

§  Principal, Vice Principal, All Lunch Room Supervisors

·         How might they be engaged?

o   All stakeholders acknowledge that the LKR Lunch Program is not perfect.  I believe that they will be willing to discuss their experiences and ideas when they learn I am investigating the program and possibilities for changes.

Focus the Evaluation

·         What are you going to evaluate?  Describe program (logic model).

o   Currently, there are 3 separate lunch areas for students.  The students in grades 1-3 eat their lunches while seated on the floor of the small gym.  There are usually 3 supervisors for those students.  The students in grades 4 and 5 eat in the art room, but the art room is far too small to house them all, so about 1/2 of the students sit in the art room at tables and counters, and 1/2 of the students sit on the floor in the hallway to eat.  Two supervisors are assigned to these students.  There are approximately 100 grade 4 and 5 students who stay for lunch regularly.  The grade 6-8 students eat in the science lab, but once again the room is far too small for the number of students who attend.  About 30-40 students eat at the tables and benches, and around 70-95 eat their lunch on the floor of the hallway.  There is always 1 supervisor, and often 2 for this area, and between 100-125 students who regularly stay. 

o   Program Goal:  To provide all students at LKR School with a safe place to eat their lunch.

o   Program Objectives:   

§  To keep all students safe as they eat lunch

§  To allow the students to socialize with people of their choosing over the lunch hour. 

§  To have the lunch program not infringe on the school’s ability to provide a varied extra-curricular program during the lunch hour

o   Program Activities:

§  To determine what facilities within the school would hold what  number of students.

§  To determine what options exist for how we could split students up to put them into rooms eat their lunches.

§  To determine how to split children so that they have appropriate socializing time but, if possible, minimize behavior problems.

o   Program Outputs:

§  An analysis of the different facilities in the school and what their capacities are, including the pros and cons of using the facility as a lunch room.

§  An analysis of the number of students in each grade who usually stay for lunch to determine how they could be effectively split up.

§  An analysis of with whom children socialize and when behavior problems become an issue over the lunch hour.

o   Program Outcomes:

§  Students will all be safe as they eat lunch.

§  Students will be in an optimal arrangement while they eat their lunch.

§  Students will be allowed to socialize with people of their choosing over the lunch hour.

§  The varied extra-curricular program will continue to run over the lunch hour. 

o   Program Impacts:

§  The LKR lunch program will be run in an optimal way that ensures the safety and socializing time of all students, and allows an active ad varied extra-curricular program to be run over the noon hour. 

What is the purpose of the evaluation?

·         The purpose of the evaluation is to analyze the program, and determine if there is a better way to meet the needs of the students and staff at the school.

Who will use the evaluation?  How will they use it?

Who / users	How will they use the information?
Administration	To either continue the lunch program as it is, or make changes to it, based on my recommendations.

What question will the evaluation seek to answer?

·         Is the current LKR Lunch Program the most effective that we can implement, or would it be better to change it?

What information do you need to answer the question?

What I wish to know	Indicators – How will I know it?
Is there another space (logistically) in the school that will accommodate the number of students that we will have staying for lunch?	Count the students that stay and analyze the rooms that are available, as well as the money available for lunch supervisors.
Will that space have a negative impact on the extra-curricular programs running in the school?	List all programs that run over the lunch room, and consider where they can occur without decreasing the integrity of the program.
Would the benefits of changing the program outweigh the drawbacks that a new format would create?	Discuss different formats with lunch supervisors and administration and discuss implications of a change of format.

When is the evaluation needed?

·         The evaluation should be completed by June 2011 in order for implementation to begin with the start of the new school year in September.

What evaluation design will you use?

·         The evaluation will be internal investigation as I am the principle evaluator and I work at the school, as well as being a lunch room supervisor.

·         The evaluation will be formative.

·         Collection of data will be systemic.  I will observe each of the lunch rooms first.  Then I will have questionnaire that asks lunch room supervisors and administrators to identify their main problems with the current lunch program.  Ideally, there would be a follow-up interview where people could clarify thoughts that might be more easily said aloud than written.

What sources of information and collection methods will you use?

·         I will observe the lunch rooms first-hand to see what the current conditions are

·         I will have lunch room supervisors and administrators to complete a questionnaire that asks them to identify what they feel are the strengths and weaknesses of the current lunch program.  Also, I will allow them to provide suggestions of other ways they feel the lunch program could be run. 

·         I will have a follow-up interview the lunch room supervisors and administrators to allow them to clarify any thoughts that lend themselves better to conversation than writing, or any thoughts they had that weren’t addressed in the questionnaire.

·         The administration will give me a copy of the extra-curricular schedule and I will speak to the leaders of each activity to determine what room they require for each activity.

Instrumentation: What is needed to record the information?

·         I’ll make notes using a pencil and paper, or on the computer using Word.

When will you collect data for each method you’ve chosen?                       

Method	Before Program	During  Program	Immediately After	Later
Observation		Two different days of the week in each lunch room
Questionnaire				X
Interview				X
Extra-curricular Schedule			X

Will a sample be used?

·         I will ask all adults who work in any of the lunch rooms to participate in the questionnaire and follow-up interview.  I presume that most, if not all, will be eager to participate, as many have discussed the challenges of the program with me before.

Pilot testing:  when, where, how?

·         Routine is very important in a school, and changing the lunch room for the period of a week or two to do a pilot test would not be ideal.  Rather, I would ask that my recommendations be put into place in the new school year for a period of time.  I have confidence that the thoughts and analysis of the lunch room supervisors, administrators, or I will identify any perceivable problems, and find a way to avoid any that are avoidable. 

ANALYZE AND INTERPRET

How will the data be analyzed?

·         Data analysis methods:  I will read my notes from my own observations, the questionnaire, and from the interviews with each lunch room supervisor, and will look for emergent patters.

·         Who is responsible?  I will be.

How will the information be interpreted – by whom?

·         I will discuss the findings of my observations and my interviews of other lunch room supervisors with my administration.  I will make my recommendations, but the final decision on how to act will rest with the administration.

What did you learn?  What are the limitations?

·         Presumably, I will have learned the limitations of a program evaluation in deciding how things should be changed.  I believe that the evaluation will show significant problems with our current lunch program, but that to run it in a different way will cause a new set of problems, and the benefits will not outweigh the drawbacks. 

USE THE INFORMATION

How will the evaluation be communicated and shared?

To whom	When/where/how to present
My administration	In a meeting following conclusion of the evaluation
Lunch Room Supervisors / Staff / Students	The dissemination of my findings will be at the discretion of the administration in the school

·         Ordinarily, those who run the program would have asked for the evaluation to be completed.  In that case, I would share the results of my evaluation.  In this case, I will not share the results with anyone who was not part of the evaluation.  There will be no expectation that my recommendations be followed, as the evaluation was my idea and not the idea of those running the program.