The National Evaluation Team (NET) of MANILA Consulting Group, Inc., and its partners RMC Research Corporation and Battelle Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation, are conducting a cross-site evaluation of the SS/HS Initiative. This evaluation examines the following issues:
1. The extent to which this unique multiagency collaborative initiative is associated with project-wide improvements over 3 years in the following outcome categories:
- Reduced frequency of violent incidents in schools,
- Reduced rates of current alcohol, drug, and tobacco use among middle and secondary school students,
- Greater access to mental health services among youth,
- Reduced absenteeism among students,
- Improved school climate, defined as an environment favorable to learning and positive child development, and
- Evidence of comprehensive project-wide improvement likely to be sustained after the end of the grant.
2. The extent to which the planning and implementation processes affect the success of the project in achieving the desired objectives. Areas of interest include:
- Characteristics of the needs assessment,
- Involvement of partners in planning decisions,
- Adoption of evidence-based practices,
- Formal versus informal consultative structures among stakeholders,
- Diffusion of system change to individual schools,
- Characteristics of implementation feedback process,
- Characteristics of implementation decisionmaking,
- Plans for financing improvements following the grants,
- Commitment to supporting infrastructure changes.
The evaluation will integrate process data (program activities implemented, services received, extent to which collaborative structures and evidence-based programs have been implemented) with outcome data (effects on students and schools, and qualitative effects on community conditions). The NET is dedicated to empowering local evaluators to provide outcome data needed both for the individual grants and for the cross-site evaluation. This approach avoids the often-sensitive situation of outside researchers placing extensive demands for data on local school systems already burdened by State and community mandates for surveys, etc.
Here are some tools that might be helpful:
- The five National Evaluation questionnaires
- Project Level Survey (word) updated 5/8/07
- Optional School Climate Survey for Parents (word)
- Optional School Climate Survey for Students (word)
- School Climate Survey for Staff (word)
- School Level Survey for 2006 Cohort (word) updated 4/2/07
- School Level Survey for 2005 Cohort (word) updated 4/2/07
- National Evaluation Team 2007 cohort site visit calendar updated 3/17/07
- National Evaluation Team presentation from the 2006 Evaluation Training (powerpoint)
- The Year 1 site visit data collection guide and schedule (word)
- Suggested GPRA measures chart (word)
- Frequently Asked Questions about the National Evaluation Team (pdf)
