Assignment #5

My original survey, concerning physical activity and reasons why people are not physically active, consists of eight questions. The first, fifth and seventh questions are categorical, meaning that the person taking the survey must fall into either one or the other category. (i.e. they are either male or female). The second question is a multiple choice question where more than one answer can be chosen. The third question is a scale-rating question in which the person taking the survey can show how active they personally feel they are on a scale of 1 - 5. The fourth question is multiple choice. The sixth question is a numerical question in which participants simply provide the year they were born and the eighth question is an open-ended question which encourages participants to explain what they like and why.



Original Survey

Physical Activity Survey

1. Since this time last year, have you participated in any athletic, fitness or sports activities?
_ Yes _ No

(If you answered NO to question 1, please answer the following question. Otherwise, please go to question 3)

2. Please choose the reasons that apply to why you do not participate in physical activities. Check all that apply.

_ It takes too much time
_ The program I am interested in is not offered
_ I do not have the physical ability
_ Participating would interfere with my studies
_ Participating would interfere with my job
_ I am concerned about physical injuries
_ Financial constraints
_ I have a disability or medical condition that would limit my participation
_ I am too old to participate
_ I am not interested in athletics or fitness activities
_ I do not have the energy for athletics or fitness activites
_ Participating would interfere with my family
_ Other (please specify)



3. How active would you say you are in a typical week on a scale of 1 to 5 (where 1 = not active at all and 5 = extremely active)? Please circle a number.
-1---2---3---4---5-



4. How much time, weekly, would you say you currently spend being physically active?
_ None _ 1-3 hours _ 4-6 hours _ 7-9 hours _ 10+ hours



5. What is your gender?
_ Male _ Female



6. In what year were you born? _______________



7. Do you have any physical or mental conditions that limit your daily activities in any way?
_ Yes _ No



8. What is your favorite form of physical activity? Why?














In evaluating my original survey I discovered that it was too short. The survey is very general and does not ask enough questions to get an idea of the attitudes people have towards physical activities. The survey was also biased to people who do participate in physical activies regularly. Although I did include a question that could be used to determine why people are not physically active, I did make the assumption that most people were at least a little bit active.

My participants commented that they thought the survey may only be directed to younger people (twenties) and that they weren't sure what the reason for conducting the survey was. I explained to them that I was looking at why people may not be active as well as how active people were if they participated in any fitness activities. One of my participants asked if being on his feet for 8 hours a day at work would count towards the question asking how much time he spends being physically active. I was forced to answer no, because technically a typical job does not fall into the category of being a physical activity. In my modified survey I created a question that incorporated if one's employment was physically demanding and how physically demanding it was. I did this because some people work ten hour days on their feet and simply do not have the energy left at the end of the day to participate in physical activities.

In modifying my survey I would keep all original questions and add a few more to make it more thorough.

Modified Survey

Physical Activity Survey

1. Since this time last year, hae you participated in any athletic, fitness or sports activities?
_ Yes _ No

(If you answered NO to question 1, please answer the following question, otherwise, please go to question 3)


2. Please choose the reasons that apply to why you do not participate in physical activities. Check all that apply.

_ It takes too much time
_ The program I'm interested in is not offered
_ I do not have the physical abitlity
_ Participating would interfere with my studies
_ Participating would interfere with my job
_ I am concerned about physical injuries
_ Financial constraints
_ I have a disability or medical condition that would limit my participation
_ I am too old to participate
_ I am not interested in athletics or fitness activities
_ Participating would interfere with my family
_Other (Please specify)

3. How active would you say you are in a typical week on a scale of 1 to 5 (where 1 = not active at all and 5 = extremely active)? Please circle a number.
-1---2---3---4---5-


4. How much time, weekly, would you say you currently spend being physically active outside of your employment?
_ None _ 1-3 hours _ 4-6 hours _ 7-9 hours _ 10+ hours


5. Is your current employment physically demanding?
_ Yes _ No


6. How physically demanding is your current employment? (1=not at all physically demanding, 5 = extremely physically demanding). Please circle a number.
-1---2---3---4---5-


7. When you are not at your place of employment, do you find you still have a sufficient amount of energy to be used towards physical activities?
_Yes _No


8. What is your gender?
_Male _Female


9. In what year were you born? ______


10. Do you have any physical or mental conditions that limits your daily activites in any way?
_ Yes _ No


11. What is your favorite form of physical activity? Why? If not currently physically active, What was your favorite form of physical activity in the past? Why?

Assignment #3

Name of Organization: KCC – Speech Department

Name of Program: Summer Language Interaction Program (SLIP)

What are you going to evaluate? Describe program (logic model):
Summer Language Interaction Program (SLIP). The SLIP program is a four-week program that runs four days a week (Monday-Thursday). It has approximately 16 participants between the ages of 4 and 5. The SLIP program strives to improve client`s language and social interaction skills through various group activities that are designed to fit certain weekly themes (i.e. playground/picnic, shopping/fast food, camping, growing). These themes were chosen as they are relevant to a young child’s life, therefore, the child is more likely to remember and use the information that has been learned.

What is the purpose of the evaluation?
The purpose of the evaluation is to determine whether or not the program was effective in increasing the participant’s language and social interaction skills. In learning whether or not the program was effective towards these goals, it will be possible to increase the awareness of this program and perhaps receive more funding for the program in the future. With more funding, KCC will be able to hire more support staff and thereby increase the amount of children that are able to attend the camp each year.

Who should be involved? (Stakeholders)
Organizers of the program (Speech Language Pathologists), Supervisor of speech department, manager of the Kinsmen Children’s Centre, Student Speech Language Pathologists, Support staff, volunteers

Who will use the evaluation? How will they use it?
-Clientele/Parents of clientele will use the evaluation to decide whether or not their children should take part within future SLIP sessions.
-Organizers of SLIP program will use the evaluation to see where improvements are needed within the program and to see what worked well with each child as well as all the children as a group.
-Management at KCC will use this evaluation to assist in funding for future sessions of SLIP.


What questions will the evaluation seek to answer?
1) Did the language skills of participants increase or improve?
a) were improvements seen overall in all or most of the children?
b) what other individual improvements were seen in particular children?
2) Were improvements in participant`s social interaction skills seen?
a) were children able to wait their turn in turn-taking tasks?
b) did children learn the names of other children?

What information do you need to answer the questions?
What I wish to know Indicators – How will I know it?
-Did the language skills of participants imcrease or improve?: Survey's given to all involved in the SLIP program as well as parents of clients will indicate if an improvement was present or not. Interviews with the SLIP staff will also be used in order to receive a more opinionated perspective on the specific aspects of the improvement of the children in the program.
-Were improvements in participants social interaction skills seen?: See above

What evaluation design will you use?
Goal-based evaluation. In using a goal-based evaluation I will be able to determine if the predetermined goals of the SLIP program were met. Did the language and social interaction skills of children in the program increase? In answering this question I will need to collect information regarding how the goals were decided upon, if the timeline of the program was a suitable length to achieve the goals, if the goals need to be altered in the future and if so, how?

Where should information be collected from?
Staff, Clients, Parents/guardians of clients, volunteers

What data collection method(s) will you use?
I will be using surveys and interviews as a data collection method. In using these two methods I hope to achieve a good overall and specific view of the types of improvement seen within the children who took part in SLIP.

Instrumentation: What is needed to record the information?
A survey which will indicate the client`s improvement in the SLIP program. I will also be using short interviews with the people who worked with the children in order to gain an opinionated perspective on the childrens improvement. The short interview will consist of approximately 4 -6 questions regarding each individual childs improvement.

Assignment #2

I believe that the process evaluation approach would be the most appropriate approach to evaluate the ECS Programing for Children with Severe Disabilities. Using a process evaluation would help assure that the funding provided for the program is being utilized in the expected manner. In other words, using a process evaluation would give surety to those funding the program that all children taking part meet the necessary requirements for the program. Using a process evaluation would also ensure that the children’s individual needs are being met as the program implements program plans made by each teacher to address each child’s goals and objectives. A process evaluation would demonstrate that the program is employed properly and provides the intended services. In employing a process evaluation for this program, how the ECS Programing for Children with Severe Disabilities functions and how systematic the programs is would be demonstrated.

Another approach that could be taken in evaluating the ECS Programming for Children with Severe Disabilities would be the goals-oriented approach. Had the program description provided more detail on the specific purpose of the program, perhaps the goals-oriented approach would have been the primary model of choice. However, in utilizing a goals-oriented approach, it would be possible to view the effectiveness of current goals and make sufficient changes to assist in making the program stronger in the future. Taking note of the children’s progress throughout the program or doing a pre-test and then post-test would be an effective way to determine if the program was achieving its goals. Verifying whether or not the ECS Programming for Children with Severe Disabilities makes a difference in these children’s lives would be critical in evaluating this program. Therefore, if clear goals were defined, I believe a goals-oriented approach would be very effective in evaluating this program.

Assignment #1

Assignment #1 – Carmel Hill Fund Education Program http://www.carmelhill.org/images/Carmel%20Hill%20Final.pdf

The Carmel Hill Fund Education Program introduced Renaissance Learning’s Accelerated Reader reading management software into disadvantaged schools across Harlem, Denver, and Louisiana in hopes of increasing reading levels. The Accelerated Reader program allows users to complete quizzes on books and other materials and immediately view their results after completion. Teachers are also able to create individual student goals based on reading and comprehension level though the Accelerated Reader program.

What model was used?
The evaluation of the Carmel Hill Fund Education Program utilized a summative model. The evaluators took a large sample size, 10,617 students from 43 schools across Denver, Louisiana, and Harlem, and tracked their reading achievement at the end of the 2005-2006 school year. The goal of the Accelerated Reader program was to increase reading achievement. According to the evaluator’s findings, the program was effective in doing so. The evaluators used multiple measures to reach their findings. In Colorado the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) was used to determine where students were scoring as compared to state standards. In Louisiana, LEAP(Louisiana Educational Assessment Program) tests were used to compare to state standards.

What are the strengths of this evaluation?
A major strength of this evaluation was the effective demonstration of how successful the Accelerated Reader program was. Statistically, it was shown that there was an improvement of 4 percentiles overall of reading achievement. Through the use of the STAR Reading program, which tracks reading achievement, the evaluators were able to determine gain in achievement at every grade level. Another strength of this evaluation was the use of multiple measures to determine results. Not only were scores within the Accelerated Reading program analyzed, scores from the STAR Reading program as well as the CSAP and the LEAP tests were also analyzed and compared to state standards.

In using a summative approach to evaluating the Carmel Hill Fund Education Program, the evaluators efficiently demonstrated the effectiveness of this program. Using a quantitative approach, the reading achievement of over 10,000 students was successfully assessed.

What are the weaknesses of this evaluation?
A weakness of this evaluation was seen in the findings that very high and high comprehension level readers achieved more than those who read more poorly. No suggestions were made as to why the poor readers were not improving as much or what could be done to help these readers. Perhaps in the future, students could be separated into levels based on reading ability and comprehension. Through this, it may be possible to adjust the Accelerated reader program to assist lower reading levels better. Another weakness of this evaluation was that not all teachers had to or did become certified in using the Accelerated Reader program. Evaluators stated that students who learn from teachers who have been certified in the Accelerated Reader program perform better than those students in classes with uncertified teachers. In having mandatory certification it is possible that more achievement would be seen in student overall.