Approaches to the Development of Character Proceedings of a Workshop (2017) / Chapter Skim
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4 Investing in Implementation and Evaluation
4 Investing in Implementation and Evaluation
Pages 39-50
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From page 39... ...
provided input and perspectives from the practitioner perspective. ESSENTIALS OF PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION Durlak focused on the opportunities and challenges in program implementation he has identified in research focused on out-of-school settings, and he began with the simple message that "unless you attend carefully to effective program implementation, you will probably be wasting valuable time, effort, and resources on new programs that are unlikely to be successful." Durlak defined implementation as "the ways a program is put into practice and delivered to participants," and he noted that a strong litera 1 See, e.g., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://www.cdc.gov/ violenceprevention/pdf/hapter1-a.pdf [December 2016]
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From page 40... ...
The results researchers quantify, he added, rarely translate into comparable degrees of effectiveness when the ideas are put into practice. There has been little incentive for researchers to offer practitioners concrete assistance in implementing their programs, he added, but a focus on implementation can be a "bridge between research and practice." Often, he added, when researchers and practitioners collaborate in focusing on effective implementation, programs turn out to be even more effective than researchers had been able to show on their own.
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Guidance and consultation in securing finding, planning for implementation, securing and training staff, and other challenges help leaders implement the program effectively. Strong leaders can also help to motivate staff, delegate authority, and negotiate challenges that arise, he added.
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From page 42... ...
Coordination across all the entities involved, including local or state agencies or other governmental bodies, is also valuable, Durlak pointed out. Character education programs are usually components of policies intended to affect more than a single program, so the way the policy is implemented is just as important as the implementation of a particular program or practice.
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From page 43... ...
The reason in his view is that "we don't have the time and resources to invest in evaluation." It is often one of the lowest priorities within organizations, and few have staff with the expertise to conduct sound evaluations, he said. He collaborated with workshop steering committee member Jennifer Brown Urban to apply findings from recent scholarship linking evaluation in other fields to the character education context (Trochim and Urban, 2016)
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Charles Darwin's purpose in exploring the way organisms develop, Trochim continued, actually grew out of an interest in artificial selection, the breeding of plants and animals to produce new ones that have desired traits. Trying to develop character using various interventions, he suggested, is another form of artificial selection.
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From page 45... ...
For example, practitioners may focus on engaging individual young people, while a funder may focus on broad societal goals. Applying These Ideas to Character Development Evaluation Building evaluation into the culture of all the relevant systems is the key to making it effective, Trochim explained, and he reviewed ideas that apply at the organization and program levels.
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From page 46... ...
Doing this requires people to expand their views of what evaluation encompasses and to keep the priority on the goals of the program. PERSPECTIVES FROM PRACTICE Mike Surbaugh and Donald Floyd offered two perspectives based on their experiences as leaders of national youth organizations.
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From page 47... ...
For example, many young children enjoy organized sports, which are time consuming and may crowd out other activities, but tend to drop out by middle school. At this stage it can be late to engage the child in a positive youth-development activity that fosters core values, Surbaugh noted.
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From page 48... ...
For example, the leaders wanted transparency to be part of the project but they found that they had to give their local affiliates formal permission to collaborate and share resources with other organizations. Finally, Floyd noted that the rich workshop discussion presented a complicated array of ideas, and he worried about "overcomplicating" the task for leaders and practitioners.
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From page 49... ...
The large national organizations can also play a leadership role, as the discussions of 4-H and the Boy Scouts illustrated, noted another. The true competitors for youth organizations are not other youth organizations, another person commented, but video games, smart phones, and the many other kinds of activities that occupy young people's time.
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