PROGRAM EVALUATOR

Effective program evaluator in promoting systemic change

Assessed a local CT middle school’s reading intervention program identifying shortcomings and offering solutions to improve effectiveness across the system.

Alongside a colleague, I assessed and offered solutions for a local middle school’s reading intervention program so that the program can be more effective and intentional in the future. It required me to evaluate the performance of the program, summarize and communicate the findings, offer suggestions to ameliorate some of its problems, and fill in the gaps of their assessment plan.

Importance
This demographic of learners, struggling middle school readers, were not being served effectively because the reading intervention program was implementing solutions and collecting data without having a clear set of goals, student learner outcomes, vision, or mission. They were unable to meet their goals because their goals were undefined at worst and ambiguous at best. They were collecting data but had no plan so the data became meaningless.

Skills Gained

• Systems thinker, looks for patterns and makes connections

• Oral and written communication

• Skills evaluating program performance, summarizing findings, communicating results, and forming an action plan

Impact
This project affected the program’s teachers and students by showing where the deficiencies lay, but also by giving suggestions to help ameliorate those problems. Personally, it was an unsubtle reminder that assessment and data collection can become meaningless if there is not a clearly defined program in place.

Work Sample
I have included a narrated presentation of this assessment hosted on Voicethread here and a PDF of the presentation without narration here.