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I. Assessment &
Feedback
1. Overview
As a participating campus in the Bonner Scholars Program
your program must develop an assessment and evaluation
strategy for measuring progress towards meeting your
program’s stated campus infrastructure, student
development, and community partnership goals. The Foundation
will require your school to report on specific activities
in your program (see "Reporting Section" above
and the "Reporting Checklist" in the attachments
section).
Your assessment and feedback strategy should intentionally
and systematically involve your primary stakeholders
in the process, including site supervisors and relevant
community members (including service recipients), campus
staff, and faculty.
The Bonner Foundation, in conjunction with technical
and training experts, will assist your program as you
develop your assessment and feedback strategy.
2. Rationale
The Bonner Foundation’s assessment model is based
on the principle of self-determination, which we define
as the ability to chart one’s own course in life.
In our efforts, this translate into the collective ability
to:
- identify and express needs;
- establish goals or expectations;
- chart a plan to achieve them;
- identify resources;
- make rational choices from various alternative courses
of action;
- take appropriate steps to pursue objectives;
- evaluate short and long term results, including
the process itself; and,
- take the necessary action to continue in the pursuit
of these agreed upon goals.
There are a host of values that the Bonner Foundation
maintains are intrinsic to these processes:
- The most meaningful changes are those that occur
in the people themselves and that reflect and increased
capacity for initiating or carrying out change;
- Change occurs best when greater emphasis is placed
on the process for change and on the results for change;
- The definition of human capacity is more concerned
with self-sufficiency, self-determination, and empowerment
than with changes that can be statistically measured;
and,
- Success is identified by the extent to which people
(campus leaders, community members, participants)
are able to identify their own problems and form consensus
to propose appropriate solutions.
From these mores about our process emerge these realizations
about service:
- It is something ordinary people can do;
- It is guided by six key terms: utilization, participatory,
empowerment, systematic, intentional, and user friendly;
- It should strive to show key issues, not prove
previous assumptions;
- Knowledge that transfers benefits from one situation
to another can described in simple “lessons-learned”
statements; and,
- People (campus staff, community members, and students)
have a stake in their own development.
3. Campus-based Assessment Strategies
& Tools
The Bonner Foundation has developed or adapted the
following tools and strategies to help your program
and its participants achieve a stronger program and
become more accountable to your campus and community
partners. We hope to develop or identify other tools
that will assist you in understanding other dimensions
of your program, especially community impact.
(a) Meeting Process
Though not the first strategy that comes to most
people’s mind, meetings are an essential part
of any program’s assessment and feedback process.
The meeting process is imperative because it creates
the energy and synergy that allows a project to
move forward. This is where relationships develop
and trust is built, critical features of your program’s
culture that will ultimately allow the stakeholders
to be supportive and critical, reflecting on the
successes and challenges in reaching community and
program member’s goals. This is the only way
that improvement will occur. Well organized meeting
processes offer your members the opportunity to
take part in self assessments, receive feedback
from others, and to offer feedback on the team's
work as a whole. The following help to create effective
meeting time:
- Key members/stake holders should be present.
- A high quality of preparation for the meeting
should be expected (e.g., an agenda, good space).
- Open discussion is imperative.
- There should be a set schedule for process.
(b) Campus Inventory
This instrument was designed to profile a campus-based
service program's infrastructure and to determine
what important components exist or do not exist
and how it compares with other campuses within or
outside the Bonner Scholar Program network. The
Bonner Foundation administers the campus inventory
every two or three years. A copy of the questions
from the last survey can be found on the Foundation’s
web site (www.bonner.org).
(c) Student Evaluation of Program
An effective practice is to administer a Bonner
Scholar evaluation of the program annually. The
Student’s evaluation of the Bonner Scholars
Program generally, and their service experience
specifically, is part of a process that can help
improve communication within the the program, and
ensure shared responsibility in the program’s
operations.
(d) Student Impact Surveys
For the last three years, the Bonner Foundation
has worked with Jim and Cheryl Keen from Antioch
College to measure the impact of the Bonner Scholars
Program on students using the Student
Impact Survey that is administered by Bonner
Directors to entering Freshman, Juniors in their
first semester, graduating Seniors in the last semester,
and beginning in Fall 2001 to Bonner Scholar Alumni.
This longitudinal assessment project allows the
campuses and the Bonner Foundation to examine the
level of impact on those involved in the program
before, during, and after the program began. Secondly,
it allows us to make comparisons between program
participants. Finally, when it is coupled with the
other assesment instruments it allows us a more
comprehensive picture of what we have or have not
accomplished and help us understand why those outcomes
have been achieved.
(e) Community Impact
Other than isolated efforts, the Bonner Scholar
Program network — indeed, the campus community
service field at large — has yet to put into
place an adequate process for assessing the impact
of our efforts in meeting community identified needs.
However, several related efforts are underway on
Bonner campuses in this area. First, most Bonner
campuses have begun to recruit and support some
of their faculty to incorporate community-based
research components into academic courses. Through
this process, faculty and student teams work collaboratively
with local community groups to conduct research
projects that address questions posed by the community
groups themselves. Many of these research projects
are focused on assessing community needs and assets,
as well as program evaluations. Ideally, one goal
of this collaborative process is the transfer of
research skills to the community partners so that
their capacity is increased.
Second, the Community Learning Agreement contains
a section where every Bonner Scholar and Bonner
Leader must state their (measurable) service objectives.
Defining those service objectives will require the
student to work with their site supervisors (which
hopefully includes a student project coordinator)
to determine (a) the goals of the service project,
(b) the particular role the student will play in
that project (as described initially in the Service
Opportunity job description), and finally (c) the
means and standard by which they will measure their
progress towards meeting specific objectives. This
expectation is by far the most challenging aspect
of the comprehensive placement process, and one
that we believe will take a number of years to refine
and fully implement. The community-based research
projects described above should become a major resource
in this effort.
4. Sources
- Hatten, Regina, et.al. "Action Research: Comparison
with the Concepts of the ‘Reflective Practitioner’
and ‘Quality Assurance’". Action
Research Electronic Reader, 1997.
- Fetterman, David M., et.al.Empowerment Evaluation:
Knowledge and Tools for Self-Assessment and Accountability.
Sage Publications, 1996.
- Fleenor, John W. & Prince, Jeffrey Michael.Using
360-Degree Feedback in Organizations: An Annotated
Bibliography. Center for Creative Leadership,
1997.
- Quinn-Patton, Michael.Utilization-Focused Evaluation,
3rd Edition. Sage Publications, 1996.
Resource Documents
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