The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.
Volume XI, Number 3, Fall 2005
Issue Topic: Democratic Evaluation
New & Noteworthy: Expanded Web Only Version
The New & Noteworthy section features an annotated list of papers, organizations, initiatives, and other resources related to the issue's theme.
Adato, M. (2000). The impact of PROGRESA on community social relationships. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. This report examines whether a program intended to meet the education, health, and nutrition needs of Mexican families living in extreme poverty contributes to or detracts from the building of social capital. It describes both the social divisions and the strengthening of social relationships created by the program's use of beneficiary and non-beneficiary households. www.ifpri.org
Billig, S., Root, S., & Jesse, D. (2005). Impact of participation in service-learning on high school students' civic engagement. Denver, CO: RMC Research Corporation. This study compares high school students who participated in service-learning programs with those who did not participate. The study suggests that service learning is effective when implemented well but that it is no more effective than conventional classes when conditions are not optimal. www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/WorkingPapers/WP33Billig.pdf
Bollen, K., Paxton, P., & Morishima, R. (2005). Assessing international evaluations: An example from USAID's Democracy and Governance Program. American Journal of Evaluation, 26(2), 189–203. This article reviews a sample of evaluations of the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) Democracy and Governance Program. The authors find that the evaluations commissioned by USAID need major improvement. The authors consider barriers to obtaining high quality international evaluations and provide recommendations for improvements. aje.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/26/2/189
Boston, B. O. (2005). Restoring the balance between academics and civic engagement in public schools. Washington, DC: American Youth Policy Forum. This report investigates how the current focus on core academic subjects may come at the expense of the equally important task of preparing students to be civically engaged. The report includes a seven-step action plan to help schools refocus on the goal of creating both academically proficient and civically engaged citizens. www.aypf.org/pressreleases/pr28.htm
California Tomorrow. (2005). Pursuing the promise: Tools for addressing equity and diversity in after school and youth programs. Oakland, CA: Author. Drawing on California Tomorrow's research, this tool kit includes a set of tools and assessments for a broad range of stakeholders to address access, equity, and diversity in youth programs. www.californiatomorrow.org/resources/publications/index.php?cat_id=3&pub_id=31
Checkoway, B., Allison, T., & Montoya, C. (2005). Youth participation in public policy at the municipal level. Children and Youth Services Review, 27(10), 1149–1162. This paper looks at the San Francisco Youth Commission as an example of youth participation, including the commission's origins, goals, activities, strengths, barriers, effects, and lessons learned. The authors suggest that more knowledge of youth participation will contribute to the growth of the youth participation field. www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01907409
Checkoway, B., & Richards-Schuster, K. (2005). Participatory evaluation with young people. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan School of Social Work, Program for Youth and Community. This workbook for young people provides practical tools for participatory evaluation, including evaluation questions, steps in the process, methods of gathering information, and strategies for creating change. The workbook includes a variety of learning activities geared towards small-group learning. A facilitator's guide is also available. www.youthandcommunity.org
Coalition of African, Asian, European and Latino Immigrants of Illinois. (n.d.) English language, civics and citizenship teacher's toolbox. Chicago: Author. The Teacher's Toolbox integrates components of English language learning with activities to promote student involvement in communities at the local, state, and national levels. The curriculum includes 20 lessons that can be easily adapted for a range of classes. www.caaelii.org/teachers_toolbox.htm
Davies, R., & Dart, J. (2005). The 'Most Significant Change' (MSC) technique: A guide to its use. Cambridge, UK: MandE NEWS. This participatory evaluation tool uses “significant change stories” from key stakeholder groups to draw lessons about program impact directly from the field. www.mande.co.uk/docs/MSCGuide.htm
Dorn, C. (2005). Evaluating democracy: The 1946 U.S. education mission to Germany. American Journal of Evaluation, 26(2), 267–277. This article, which analyzes the 1946 Report of the United States Education Mission to Germany, presents a historical case study of the challenges and successes of one attempt to evaluate efforts to infuse educational institutions in a fallen totalitarian state with democratic values. aje.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/26/2/267
Faust, J., & Gutiérrez, M. (2004). Governance questionnaire—An instrument for analysing political environments. Eschborn, Germany: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Techische Zusammenarbeit. The Governance Questionnaire was developed as a practical tool to identify ways to improve governance. It promotes an analysis of formal and informal institutions of power in societies and encourages a sustained reflection on a country's political environment.
Fraser, H. (2005). Four different approaches to community participation. Community Development Journal, 40(3), 286–300. This paper explores the political dynamics of community work by examining four basic community participation approaches. Written for the lay community, the paper clarifies some of the differences in participation project design and stimulates discussion about community participation. cdj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/40/3/286?etoc
The Forum for Education and Democracy. This website focuses on education policies practices that promote students' civic engagement. www.forumforeducation.org/index.php
Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. (2005). The GLSEN lunchbox 2, revised edition: A comprehensive training program for ending anti-LGBT bias in schools. New York: Author. Created by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), this tool kit helps educators and community members make schools safe, affirming, and inclusive places for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students. The tool kit includes an in-depth evaluation and analysis of how to change policies and curriculum in order to foster anti-bias environments. www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/educator/library/record/1748.html
Goldwasser, M. (2004). A guide to facilitating action research for youth. Philadelphia: Research for Action. This guide takes an experiential learning approach to teaching youth action research skills. It is designed to guide facilitators working with young people as they introduce the different skills needed to help students carry out action research projects. The guide is divided into the three major stages of an action research project: “What?”: choosing a research topic and collecting data; “So What?”: analyzing and interpreting the findings; and “Now What?”: making use of your study's findings. www.researchforaction.org/publication/details/107
The Innovation Center. (2005). Learning and leading: A tool kit for youth development and civic activism. Takoma Park, MD: Author. This tool kit leads organizations to create and sustain programs that build youth leadership and civic engagement. It focuses on engaging young people's organizational leadership abilities on three levels: personal leadership, organizational leadership, and community leadership. www.theinnovationcenter.org/r_ydev_civeng.asp
The Innovation Center. (2005). Reflect and improve: A tool kit for engaging youth and adults as partners in program evaluation. Takoma Park, MD: Author. This evaluation tool kit provides participatory and empowerment-oriented tools to engage young people and adults in the evaluation of community-building initiatives. The tool kit includes interactive activities and real-world case studies from community organizations. www.theinnovationcenter.org/r_planning.asp?prod=prod015&qty=1
Moore, K. A., & Lippman, L. (Eds.). (2005). What do children need to flourish? Conceptualizing and measuring indicators of positive development. New York: Springer Publishing. This volume for researchers and practitioners focuses on how scholars and practitioners can begin to build rigorous measures of the positive behaviors and attitudes that result in positive outcomes for youth. www.springer.com/0-387-23061-0
Rose, P. M., & King, K. (2005). International and national targets for education: Help or hindrance? [Special issue]. International Journal of Educational Development, 25(4). This issue focuses on the ways education targets and goals impact education content and quality on the local, national, and global level. www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/07380593
Seattle Young People's Project. This organization trains and supports young people to become active political participants and community organizers, with a special focus on training young women to be community leaders. www.sypp.org
Southern Echo, Inc. (n.d.). Justice funding: Experimenting with the language of struggle to clarify policy and strategy choices. Jackson, MS: Author. This working paper explores the concept of “justice funding.” Based on the values of the civil rights movement, justice funding looks at adequate educational funding and educational equity through the lens of the historical context, policy development, and decision making at the state and local school district levels and at the delivery of education at the school district level. www.southernecho.org/downloads/justicefunding.doc
Convio, Inc. (2005). Using the Internet for effective grassroots advocacy: Strategies, tools and approaches for inspiring constituents to take action. Austin, TX: Author. This guide covers the key topics for planning or improving an online advocacy program. Topics include trends in online advocacy, building an email list, creating online advocacy campaigns, and measuring online program results. www.mrss.com/Convio_guide.pdf
New Resources From HFRPThe Family Involvement Network of Educators (FINE) has added two new resources to the FINE website: • Taking a Closer Look: A Guide to Online Resources on Family Involvement compiles and categorizes family involvement resources available online to make them easier to access and use. It contains Web links to research, information, programs, and tools from over 100 national organizations. • The family involvement teaching case, After School for Cindy, explores the role of schools in linking children to community programs. Expert commentaries by Melody Brazo, Cathy Duffy, and Mary Larner accompany the case. Our out-of-school time (OST) team has added seven new profiles of OST program evaluations to the Out-of-School Time Program Evaluation Database, and they have updated the profile of the After School Corporation (TASC) evaluation. They have also added 25 new citations of OST program evaluation reports to our Out-of-School Time Program Evaluation Bibliography and updated 15 of the citations already in the bibliography. |
* Because of limitations on space, we were unable to include as many new and noteworthy resources as we would have liked in the print version of this issue. This online version includes all citations listed in the print version along with several others. To be notified of any Web-only content in the future you can sign up to receive the electronic version of The Evaluation Exchange by email.