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> Evaluation #2 (2001-2002): Phase 2
A Profile of the Evaluation of Capital Kids
Profile Information
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Program Description
| Overview | Located in Columbus, Ohio, and initiated by the city of Columbus’ Mayor’s Office of Education, Capital Kids’ mission is to: (1) provide a safe, caring, and enriching environment for children during nonschool hours; (2) provide places where children can increase their academic, interpersonal, and social skills; (3) involve families in planning and participating in activities; and (4) foster positive connections between family, school, and community. (Capital Kids was known as Cap City Kids [CCK] at the time of the evaluations in this profile and therefore is referred to by that name.) |
| Start Date | summer 2000 |
| Scope | local |
| Type | after school |
| Location | urban |
| Setting | public school, recreation center |
| Participants | kindergarten through middle school students |
| Number of Sites/Grantees | five sites (four recreation centers and one charter school) in 2000–2001 and 35 sites in 2001–2002 |
| Number Served | 240 students in 2000–2001 and over 1,000 students in 2001–2002 |
| Components | CCK has five main components, which illustrate its beliefs about quality after school programs.
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| Funding Level | Total CCK funding for 2001–2002 is $1.2 million. |
| Funding Sources | Funding comes from multiple sources, including the City of Columbus general fund, City of Columbus Community Development Block Grant funding, local foundations, United Way of Central Ohio, and corporate sponsors. |
Evaluation
| Overview | CCK’s 2001 evaluation consisted of two phases. Phase one consisted of a formative process evaluation. Phase two consisted of a summative outcomes evaluation. An evaluation report also was completed in February 2003 which overviews findings from 2001–2002 academic school year. This report contains evaluation findings from a study of 24 after school programs in Columbus, Ohio, about 50% of which are partially funded through CCK. In addition to these evaluation findings, the report extends the quasi-experimental evaluation of the four pilot CCK sites evaluated in the 2000–2001 school year. Only this latter portion of the report is profiled here. |
| Evaluator | Dr. Dawn Anderson-Butcher, Ohio State University |
| Evaluations Profiled | An Evaluation Report for the Cap City Kids Program: Phase One (2001) An Evaluation Report for the Cap City Kids Program: Phase Two (2002) Youth Development Programs in Central Ohio: An Evaluation Report for the City of Columbus and United Way of Central Ohio (2003) |
| Evaluations Planned | Data are currently being collected for a third year of evaluation (2002–2003 academic school year). Focus has moved toward using the data generated from the evaluations to guide professional development opportunities for program leaders/staff. Thus, the evaluation’s primary purpose now involves total continuous improvement efforts. |
| Report Availability | Anderson-Butcher, D. (2001). An evaluation report for the Cap City Kids program: Phase one. Columbus: Center for Learning Excellence, Ohio State University. Anderson-Butcher, D. (2002). An evaluation report for the Cap City Kids program: Phase two. Columbus: Center for Learning Excellence, Ohio State University. Anderson-Butcher, D. D., Midle, T., Fallara, L., Hansford, C., Uchida, K., Grotevant, S., et al. (2003). Youth development programs in central Ohio: An evaluation report for the City of Columbus and United Way of Central Ohio. Columbus: Center for Learning Excellence, Ohio State University. |
Contacts
| Evaluation | Dawn Anderson-Butcher, Ph.D., LISW College of Social Work and the Center for Learning Excellence, John Glenn Policy Institute The Ohio State University 325D Stillman Hall 1947 College Road Columbus, OH 43210 Tel: 614-292-8596 Email: anderson-butcher.1@osu.edu |
| Program | Hannah Dillard Director, Office of Education Mayor’s Office 90 W. Broad St., #108 Columbus, OH 43215 Tel: 614-645-8821 Email: ghdillard@cmhmetro.net |
| Profile Updated | May 5, 2003 |
Evaluation 2: An Evaluation of the Cap City Kids Program: Phase Two
Evaluation Description
| Evaluation Purpose | To explore specific academic outcomes associated with participation in CCK. |
| Evaluation Design | Quasi-Experimental: The phase two evaluation compared the academic outcomes of 121 CCK participants (the 66% of enrolled children whose parents/guardians consented to their involvement in the evaluation) with a comparison group of 119 children pulled from Columbus Public School District’s information systems database. Specifically, children that attended the four recreation-center-based CCK programs were matched with children not attending on school, teacher, age, gender, free- and reduced-price lunch status, ethnicity, and the previous year’s reading proficiency score. Approximately 60% of each group was female and 40% was male. Approximately 90% of each group was African American, and another 9% was white. Approximately 82% of each group qualified for free lunch, while another 4.5% received reduced-price lunch, and the remaining 13.5% did not receive free or reduced-price lunch. During the 2000–2001 academic school year, the CCK program was in operation only during the third and fourth grading periods of the school year (January to June). Therefore, comparisons between groups could be made from before to during CCK program operations. Specifically, children attending CCK and their matched counterparts were compared on various academic indicators four times throughout the school year (i.e., grade card periods 1, 2, 3, and 4). Changes between quarters were explored across groups. The evaluator expresses that caution should be taken in interpreting the program’s impacts given that CCK was in operation for only a few months at the time of the pilot evaluation. |
| Data Collection Methods | Document Review: The following documents were reviewed at in-depth study sites: budget, staff handbook, parent outreach materials, and student work. Secondary Source/Data Review: Teacher-reported reading, math, and homework completion grades were examined. Grades were transformed into a scale that ranged from 0 to 60, with 0 indicating academic failure and 60 indicating high success. Teacher-reported attendance data were also analyzed. Tests/Assessments: Children in various grade levels in Columbus public schools complete different types of proficiency tests. Thus, these various proficiency test scores were converted into z-scores, to allow comparisons to be made among all the children, regardless of what test they took. Proficiency scores from the spring of 2000 were compared to those of spring 2001. |
| Data Collection Timeframe | Data were collected during the 2001–2002 school year. |
Findings:
Summative/Outcome Findings
| Academic | There were no differences in reading grades and proficiency scores when comparisons were made between CCK participants and the comparison groups both prior to and during CCK operations. CCK participants had higher math and homework grades both before and during their CCK participation than did children in the comparison group, although these differences were not statistically significant. Both the treatment and comparison group increased their math and homework grades throughout the school year. Trends indicate that children attending CCK increased these grades at a higher rate than those not attending, although these trend level differences were not statistically significant. CCK participants had lower absenteeism at school during the first quarter of CCK operations than the matched comparison group, a difference that was statistically significant at the p<. 005 level. |