8084 Module 3 Discussion: How to Engage All Stakeholders in Program Evaluation

Stakeholder involvement and buy-in are arguably among the most important aspects of program evaluation. Without involvement and buy-in, evaluation efforts will fall short of its goals as comprehensive data collection will be invalid, or even worse, unobtainable.

What can you do as a leader to not only engage all stakeholders, but to help them to understand the importance of their active involvement?

In this Discussion, you revisit the in-service training at Connor Street Early Childhood Program.

The stakeholder discussion had been a lively one, and by the end, Sabrina and her colleagues were able to use the unique traits of each stakeholder group to create brief profiles:

To prepare

Watch the media presentations in which presenters share how stakeholders were impacted by accreditation and evaluation processes. Then—with the Connor Street scenario in mind—review "Chapter 36, Section 3" and "Chapter 27, Section 1" of the Community Tool Box series. Though written in a community health context, consider how the interests and needs of all stakeholders are taken into account when designing and implementing evaluations. As an early childhood leader, how can you build upon this best practice to engage early childhood professionals, staff, and families in the evaluation process? Furthermore, how might you ensure that engagement efforts are culturally and linguistically responsive?

Assignment Task Part 1

Post the following: Briefly explain in 1 ½ pg how you might engage each of the stakeholder groups presented in the scenario. Then, explain which stakeholder groups might be the most difficult to engage and why. Describe potential barriers that might prevent effective engagement. Support your response with in-text citations and references from the required readings and viewings by following the APA style guide.

Read selections of your colleagues' postings.

Assignment Task Part 2

Respond to two of your colleagues' postings in 125 words each in the following way:

1. For each response, propose a solution for overcoming one or more engagement barriers identified in colleagues' posts. 

2. For each response, explain how the proposed solution takes into account cultural and linguistic abilities of all stakeholder groups.

3. Note what you have learned and/or any insights you have gained as a result of the comments your colleagues made and the connections you have made with the Learning Resources.

4.

Cite appropriate references in APA format to substantiate your thinking.

,

5

Respond to two of your colleagues' postings in 125 words each in the following way:

· For each response, propose a solution for overcoming one or more engagement barriers identified in colleagues' posts. 

· For each response, explain how the proposed solution takes into account cultural and linguistic abilities of all stakeholder groups.

· Note what you have learned and/or any insights you have gained as a result of the comments your colleagues made and the connections you have made with the Learning Resources.

Cite appropriate references in APA format to substantiate your thinking.

Extend your responses  - Note: Throughout the week, continue professional dialogue with colleagues by answering questions colleagues have asked. Demonstrate your personal learning as a result of collegial interaction.

.

Colleague #1

Katheryn Gonzales 

RE: Discussion – Module 3

COLLAPSE

Top of Form

To engage the stakeholder groups in this scenario, I would begin by considering each group's interests (Work Group for Community Health and Development,2016f). Understanding stakeholders' interests will allow me to engage each group effectively because I will be answering questions and offering information to each stakeholder group that is important to them.

For example, when engaging teachers, I will specifically address the areas of concern they have regarding assessment. Teachers already feel overwhelmed by assessment, which means for teachers to buy into the accreditation process, I must engage them by helping them understand why program evaluation is essential and how it will benefit them. Also, it is crucial to make the program evaluation process as seamless as possible, which means the admin will make sure to have all documentation organized for teachers with timelines and deadlines marked, explaining precisely what and when things need to be completed for the evaluation. Another interest teachers have is their time. I will address this issue by offering teachers time to complete aspects of the evaluation that do not infringe on breaks, planning, or lunch. Protecting teachers' time is essential to engaging them in the evaluation process (Walden University, LLC, 2016f).

The next group of stakeholders that I will engage is families. To engage families, I will need to communicate with them to understand their unique interests. In the case of Connor Street Early Childhood Program, kindergarten readiness and having a safe place for their children to attend is the primary focus. To engage families, I will need to offer multi-lingual surveys and communications to make receiving feedback easier. The goal is to make participation as easy as possible because the families at Connor Street work long days outside of the home away from their families. Communication is key. Once families understand that the evaluation process is vital to reach high-quality standards that align with their interests, they may be more engaged in the process. To encourage communication and relationship building, we will offer parent-teacher committees where parents and teachers can discuss the curriculum and parents can offer feedback regarding budgets and overall engagement opportunities (Walden University, LLC, 2016f).

Support Staff is an essential aspect of the evaluation process. Based on the feedback from Connor Street, it appears that the support staff wears many hats. For example, the health assistant takes care of health needs, assists the front desk, and counsels students daily. To engage the support staff, I would ensure they understood that the work they are doing is already meeting the criteria necessary for the evaluation, so they do not feel like more is added to their plate. I would also engage them by offering leadership roles that would allow for decision-making input in the process of evaluation (Walden University, LLC, 2016f).

Undergoing the self-evaluation process is essential when engaging the accrediting agency. Acknowledging that Connor Street is self-evaluating where it needs to improve or is already meeting standards is encouraging to the accrediting agency (Walden University, LLC, 2016f).

Engaging the community begins by understanding the culture of the community. In the case of Connor Street, the community is built up of working-class and low-income families. The community is mainly residential and holds free events throughout the year. To engage the community, it is crucial to understand who the leaders are in the community. Leaders in a social community can motivate and network with other leaders to bring the community together. Once the community has a social network, community involvement may occur outside of business. Instead, it may begin through churches and local organizations throughout the community (Work Group for Community Health and Development, 2016d).

In the case of Connor Street, the most challenging stakeholders to engage may be the families and the community, which may be due to a lack of time and resources. Language may be a barrier that is difficult to overcome. Another barrier may be the lack of home visits. It appears that the home-school liaison cannot visit many families, and when she does, she is not spending much time in the homes. The barrier, in this case, could be that families work outside the home and cannot meet with the home-school liaison, and when they are home, they may rush the visit due to other obligations.

References

Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2016f). Voices from the field: The accreditation process

[Audio file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Work Group for Community Health and Development. (2016d). Chapter 27, Section 10:

Understanding culture, social organization, and leadership engagement. Community Tool Box. http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-competence/understand-culture-social-organization/main

Work Group for Community Health and Development. (2016f). Chapter 36, Section 3:

Understanding community leadership, evaluators, and funders: What are their interests? Community Tool Box. http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluation/interests-of-leaders-evaluators-funders/main

Colleague #2

Allison VanHorn 

RE: Discussion – Module 3

COLLAPSE

Top of Form

Program evaluation for accreditation can be a difficult sell when there are various stakeholders involved in the evaluation process. It can be overwhelming and daunting for many of the groups, as well as the participants. There is a lot of work involved and documentation that must be recorded and then ultimately used to improve the program. The stakeholders involved in this program evaluation are, the teachers, families, support staff, accrediting agency, and the community.

The teachers have expressed that they are already doing a lot of program evaluations for the students in their classrooms on academia and emotional development, and adding another evaluation will be difficult due to time constraints. I would engage the teachers on how accreditation is beneficial to their students. This is by eliminating the need for other evaluations during and after the accreditation process since many of the evaluations may be redundant or will need to be completed less frequently due to the type of evaluation completed. I would also state that I understand the frustration, but that the benefits outweigh the work in the end (Cabell, Jacbos, & Zucker, 2021).

Families also have the task of being directly involved with the accreditation process through home evaluations and surveys collected. This can become an issue since more families are working longer hours and there are more English as a second language households. I would present the families with materials in their native languages, as well as provide more time to complete the information needed from the family, or extended family who work with the children could also fill out the information needed. This allows for the entire family to feel engaged the child’s performance at school (Barrett, 2001).

The support staff are the backbone to schools providing assistance whenever there is a need for someone to fill in at the program. Adding an extra workload on top of the evaluations that are already being completed can be frustrating and stressful for many of the staff. I would explain the benefits of possible more funding for the current support staff and the hope of hiring more staff to assist. I would also explain that the current evaluations being completed by the staff could coincide with the new evaluations and could be completed simultaneously.

Accrediting agencies would be advised of the current standards and evaluations Connor Street is conducting. There should not be a need to enhance or add too many more evaluations to what the program is already performing.

The community offers a lot of resources and support for the families in care at Connor Street, and to ask for more may be a difficult conversation. One way I would engage the community is by offering a give and take relationship by creating partnerships between the school, families, and the community. There could be fundraisers for the community through bake sales, car washes, and other trades and services where both the community and the school would benefit (Children’s Bureau, 2018).

The most difficult stakeholders to engage would be the families and the support staff. The families have very little time to assist in the program evaluation, as well as many of the families do not speak English, which can create barriers between the staff and the families conducting the assessments. The support staff are stretched thin and adding more on their already heavy schedules may create tension and stress. The barriers may be that the support staff do not want to continue being the backbone of the school and find positions that are less stressful at other programs.

  References:

Barrett, Paula. (2001, June). Evaluation of anxiety-prevention and positive coping for children and

adolescents of non-english speaking background. file:///C:/Users/Allison%20Van%20Horn/Downloads/FRIENDSculturallydiversegroups.pdf

Cabell, Sonia, Jacbos, Erin, & Zucker, Tricia. (2021, January 5). Exploring barriers to early childhood      teachers’ implementation of a supplemental academic language curriculum.

 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10409289.2020.1839288

Children’s Bureau. (2018, March 2). Benefit of community involvement in early childhood.

            https://www.all4kids.org/news/blog/benefits-of-community-involvement-in-early-childhood/

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