1. How does the program assist students in achieving higher standardized test scores?

One of the goals of the program is to achieve higher standardized test scores. 

What is the program providing for the students to ensure this goal is achieved? 

There is tutoring available for students in various academic areas if needed. 

The activities designed for the program should enrich and enlighten in science, 

technology, and math; but do these program provide support to prepare 

the participants in taking standardized tests? We would collect data from the school archives

and look at scores prior to the program and after the program. It could then be 

determined if there was any change after there was exposure to the program.

Interviews with the STEM staff and participants could provide information to 

confirm what activities where done to prepare them for testing.  

2. How does the program steer the participants to fields in science, mathematics, and technology?

One of the goals of the program is to encourage participants to further themselves in fields of 

science, math, and technology. To determine the success of this goal, there will need to be a survey 

completed by senior high school students, who participated in the program. The information will be 

confirmed by archival data, obtained by historical records from the school

district to determine where they attended post high school and their major. There will also need to

be interviews with students who participated in the program to determine what activities were

offered to expose them to these fields.

3.Have completion of homework assignments improved for participants while attending the program? Another goal of the program is to offer assistance to students to ensure homework  assignments are completed in a timely manner. In order to confirm that this is taking  place, there would need to be interviews with the classroom education teachers to  confirm if homework is being turned in. And what measures are being taken to make sure this is happening. Are the STEM teachers and classroom teachers communicating  on a daily or weekly basis? How is the system being monitored and by whom? There would need to be a log to confirm what communication is being done therefore telling us if this part of the program is successful. This would require interviews with the classroom teacher and the STEM teachers. This would confirm that there is communication between the teachers. There would also need to be a survey to determine the how much homework was done prior to the program and after the program. This could be obtained by school records if homework was included as a grade. It could also be determined by a survey given to the classroom teacher.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) was developed after the No Child Left Behind Act. 

STEM is a program run through Pennsylvania 21st Century Community Learning Centers. The after school program 

was created to assist students academically in various ways. It offers tutoring and homework assistance. 

It exposes the participants in the growing fields of science, technology, and mathematics. Students have several 

hours after school to work with certified teachers to help them with their homework and then 

the teachers will work with them in the areas of science, mathematics, and technology. 

It is provided through a grant which must be applied for every three years.

This looks like a good start -- the only issue I see is that I know they are going to want to see some specifics about your data collection ideas for each of the essential questions. I think they are also looking for some information about how you plan to analyze and interpret the data once you collect it.

Maybe you could take each of the questions and give a little explanation of how you plan to collect the data -- what are your tools going to look like, how will you actually get the information, etc.

You might also want to look at a pre/post test model for question three, to see if there was any growth or improvement in participating students over time.

~ Andy

participants as well as the teachers. The archival records

for grades will need to be retrieved from the school district. 

These surveys will allow us to determine how the program is

helping the participants and what improvement has occured with

the students and their homework.

a description of your stakeholders and talk about the "purpose of the evaluation" in the introduction.  Although I have not included it on my wall yet, you may want to include possible challenges to the evaluation.  I  did notice that you explained the data collection methods, under the key questions. You may want to put the explanations in the "Data collection" method box.  I really liked the way you worded question one. This was an eye opener to one of my questions, which I think needs to be reworded.

Participants

School District

Government