| CAPE
is a suite of resources, tools, and professional development
activities designed to assist program and project leaders
in collecting and analyzing data they can use in making
decisions about the implementation of their projects.
CAPE is grounded in the belief that if school systems
and individual schools have the capacity to plan and
implement good evaluations, they will get the most out
of their projects—to the ultimate benefit of students.
CAPE
breaks the complex evaluation process into manageable
steps, through the use of an evaluation framework, a
collection of resources that support project evaluation
planning and implementation, and a comprehensive professional
development model that blends face-to-face and web-mediated
activities. Educators can flexibly access CAPE resources
and services to support a variety of district or school
needs:
-
A school technology committee that is planning to
update their technology plan, and wants to include
data on the current status of technology in their
school, might be interested in using some of the CAPE
instruments, such as the School Technology Needs Assessment
(STNA) and the Looking for Technology Integration
(LoFTI) observation protocol.
- A
team of educators who are working on a grant proposal
and realize their proposal will be more appealing
if it includes a project logic map and a good evaluation
plan should take a look at the CAPE resources for
logic maps and the evaluation plan worksheets.
- District
or school leaders who recognize the importance of
evaluating educational programs, but don’t have
the resources to hire professional evaluators, can
access CAPE resources at no cost from the SERVE website.
They might also participate in one or more of the
workshops that SERVE staff offer at state and national
conferences.
- Education
leaders in state departments of education who want
to increase the capacity of their districts for planning
and implementing project and program evaluation can
contact SERVE to see how to partner in a full-scale
CAPE professional development program.
Capacity
for Evaluation
CAPE
assists schools and districts in developing the capacity,
i.e., the organizational wherewithal, to plan and conduct
evaluations of their projects and programs. CAPE was
originally designed to provide a forum where technology
project leaders can work together in developing the
knowledge, acquiring the skills, adopting the attitudes,
and using the resources that help them evaluate their
technology projects, but the evaluation framework and
professional development model are equally useful for
any educational project or program. Project teams who
participate in CAPE professional development over time
build their district’s or school’s capacity
for evaluation as they learn how to
- Develop
and share a common understanding of the purpose(s)
of their project;
- Illustrate
how their project works, i.e., the connections between
the project’s activities and the desired outcomes;
- Ask
pertinent questions about the implementation and impact
of project activities;
- Collect,
analyze, and interpret data that help answer the questions;
- Share
evaluation findings with stakeholders, e.g., teachers,
central office, school board; and
- Use
the findings to make informed decisions for improving
the project.
The
CAPE Evaluation Framework
Because
state agencies, districts, and schools have varying
needs and interests for project evaluation, they can
access and use the CAPE framework and resources in a
variety of ways. If, for example, they already have
an evaluation plan in place and mainly need some good
instruments for data collection, they can use any of
the CAPE instruments, such as the School Technology
Needs Assessment or the Looking for Technology Integration
classroom observation protocol. On the other hand, if
they want to really understand how well their projects
and programs are working, especially in terms of teaching
and learning, they could use the complete CAPE framework
and work toward developing the capacity for planning
and conducting comprehensive project evaluations.
Using
the CAPE framework to develop an evaluation plan involves
three steps. First, a project team develops a logic
map, i.e., a graphic representation of how their particular
project works. Then, using a set of worksheets, teams
outline evaluation questions, methods and measures for
collecting data; benchmarks to use in gauging progress;
and anticipated uses of the findings from the evaluation.
With these in hand, the team outlines management and
communication plans for the evaluation, showing what
evaluation activities will occur, when they will take
place, who will be responsible, and how information
will be shared.
The CAPE evaluation framework is organized into the
following components:
-
Introduction: How to Use These Resources
- Overview:
The CAPE Framework
- Theory:
Explaining How your Project Works
- Outcomes:
Goals and Objectives, and their Relationship to Strategies
- The
Plan: Basic Components
- Data
Sources: Some Examples
- Implementation:
Putting the Evaluation to Work
- The
Report: Communicating the Results
- Examples:
Real Evaluation Plans and Reports
- Resources:
Index of Materials Supporting Evaluation
Educators
who are primarily interested in collecting data for
their technology projects might be especially interested
in the CAPE compendium of instruments that allow them
to collect essential data for effectively evaluating
the implementation and impact of technology projects
in schools: staff needs, teacher reflections, technology
use for teaching and learning, participants’ satisfaction
with professional development events, technology incorporation
into lesson plans, the quality of student projects,
and the quality of family and community partnerships.
- School
Technology Needs Assessment online survey;
- Looking
for Technology Integration classroom observation protocol;
- School-Family-Community
Partnership Survey;
- Professional
development questionnaire;
- Rubrics
for reviewing teachers’ lesson plans and student
products.
Professional
Development for Capacity Building in Evaluation
The
CAPE Professional Development model is based on national
standards and best practices of professional development
for educators (National Staff Development Council, 2001)
and is consistent with the guidelines of the Partnership
for 21st Century Learning (2006). SERVE staff work closely
with state education agency (SEA) staff to determine
how the CAPE framework can best be tailored to the needs
and contexts of the district and school teams. SERVE
then designs a targeted evaluation support program based
on those identified needs (Speck & Knipe, 2001).
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