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- QUESTION
Discussion: How to Engage All Stakeholders in Program Evaluation
Stakeholder involvement and buy-in is arguably one of the most important aspects of program evaluation. Without it, evaluation efforts will fall short of its goals as comprehensive data collection will be invalid, or even worse, unobtainable.
What can you do as a leader to not only engage all stakeholders, but to help them to understand the importance of their active involvement?
In this Discussion, you revisit the in-service training at Connor Street Early Childhood Program.
The stakeholder discussion had been a lively one, and by the end, Sabrina and her colleagues were able to use the unique traits of each stakeholder to create brief profiles:
Stakeholders Profiles
Teachers New to the formal evaluation process. Children’s academic and social-emotional developments are the primary drivers. Assessments and data collection are already taking up a lot time and there is much fear about how to juggle more evaluations.
Families Family dynamics have changed over the last few years with many new families moving into the area. English is the second language for many heads of the households. Kindergarten readiness and a safe place to play are the primary drivers. Almost all families work long days outside of the home.
Support Staff The home-based manager splits her time with three other programs in the community. She checks in with Connor Street’s home-school liaison once a week. Her primary concerns are the monthly averages of home visit numbers and length of time spent at homes.
________________________________________
The health assistant assumes multiple responsibilities throughout the day. She runs the clinic, tending to hurt or sick children, fills in at the front office when needed, and also counsels children who come to school upset. Once a year, she performs vision and hearing screening on each child who attends the program. Children’s health and well-being are her primary drivers.
Accrediting Agency Holds all programs accountable for achieving quality standards. The provision of educational and developmental services and resources are the primary drivers.
Community The community consists of working class and low-income families. Mainly residential, the community holds a handful of free events throughout the year such as movies on the lawn, fairs, and holiday celebrations. Though the community wants to give more, the lack of established businesses in the area negatively impacts the ability to hold fundraisers or food drives.
To prepare
Watch the media presentations in which presenters share how stakeholders were impacted by accreditation and evaluation processes. Then—with the Connor Street scenario in mind—review “Chapter 36, Section 3” and “Chapter 37, Section 1” of the Community Tool Box series. Though written in a community health context, consider how the interests and needs of all stakeholders are taken into account when designing and implementing evaluations. As an early childhood leader, how can you build upon this best practice to engage early childhood professionals, staff, and families in the evaluation process? Furthermore, how might you ensure that engagement efforts are culturally and linguistically responsive?
By Day 3 of Week 5
Post the following: Briefly explain how you might engage each of the stakeholders presented in the scenario. Then, explain which stakeholders might be the most difficult to engage and why. Support your response by describing potential barriers that might prevent effective engagement.Cite appropriate references in APA format to substantiate your thinking.
Required Readings
Administration for Children and Families. (n.d). Data & ongoing monitoring. Retrieved from https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/data-ongoing-monitoring
Epstein, A. S., Schweinhart, L. J., DeBruin-Parecki, A., & Robin, K. B. (2004). Preschool assessment: A guide to developing a balanced approach (NIEER Policy Brief, Issue 7). New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Childhood Research. Retrieved from http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/earlylearning/preschool-assessment-guide-developing-balanced-approach.pdf
National Association for the Education of Young Children. (n.d.). Principles of effective family engagement. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/principles-effective-family-engagement
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center. (n.d.). Measuring what matters: Exercises in data management-Exercise 2: Collect: Collecting data related to family outcomes. Retrieved from https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/measuring-what-matters-exercises-02.pdf
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center. (n.d.). Using the Head Start parent, family, and community engagement framework in your program: Markers of progress. Retrieved from https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/ncpfce-markers-of-progress.pdf
Work Group for Community Health and Development. (2016d). Chapter 27, Section 10: Understanding culture, social organization, and leadership to enhance engagement. Community Tool Box. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-competence/understand-culture-social-organization/main
Work Group for Community Health and Development. (2016c). Chapter 27, Section 7: Building culturally competent organizations. Community Tool Box. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-competence/culturally-competent-organizations/main
Work Group for Community Health and Development. (2016f). Chapter 36, Section 3: Understanding community leadership, evaluators, and funders: What are their interests? Community Tool Box. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluation/interests-of-leaders-evaluators-funders/main
Work Group for Community Health and Development. (2015e). Chapter 36, Section 1: A framework for program evaluation: A gateway to tools. Community Tool Box. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluation/framework-for-evaluation/main
Required Media
Laureate Education. (Producer). (2016f). Voices from the field: The accreditation process [Audio file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Note: The approximate length of each speaker is as follows:
• Chris Amirault = 2:24
• Christy Opsommer = 0:56
• Crystal Shatara = 2:07
• Lorainne Cooke = 3:04
• Mandy Doy = 0:50
• Mary Graham = 7:15Hopkins, J. (2013, September 11). How to score a classroom using ECERS [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGyUpvMYm1w
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 5 minutes.
| Subject | Business | Pages | 5 | Style | APA |
|---|
Answer
Stakeholder Engagement in Program Evaluation
Effective process of stakeholder engagement is an important element of strategy execution which successful leaders should consider. Some leaders may consider this mastery as intuitive while others must develop it consciously through a systematic and strategic approach. Stakeholders have a vital role to play in the process of decision making. Therefore, they should be engaged in the activities of an organization to enhance the successful outcome of a project. This paper explains the process of stakeholder engagement. Additionally, the potential hindrance factors to an effective stakeholder engagement process are also addressed.
The Process of Stakeholder Engagement
The stakeholders in the Connor Street scenario can be engaged in various ways. The first stage includes developing a detailed plan of communication. The stakeholders in this case include the teachers, families, support staff, health assistants, accrediting agency, childhood professionals and the community. Implementing a proper channel of communication can aid in engaging the families, staff and childhood professionals. Through communication, the stakeholders will be connected and engaged in the project. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (n.d.) indicates that coming up with a detailed plan of communication encourages stakeholders to communicate regularly on important details.
The health assistants and the community will be engaged through the establishment of a comfortable environment defined by clear goals. When the members of the community and the health assistants are aware of what is expected of them in accomplishing the project, they will accomplish their roles effectively. For instance, the community members will find it easy to hold fundraisers to collect funds enough to support the project needs. The teachers and the accrediting agency can be engaged by engaging them in a communication process. This includes encouraging them to ask questions to ensure that any burning issues about their roles are addressed. This creates an opportunity where the stakeholders will understand how to relate with each other for the project goal to be attained. Finally, after engaging all the stakeholders, it is advisable that an evaluation process be carried out to gauge the level of engagement of all the stakeholder groups based on their capacity to fulfill their goals.
Difficult Stakeholders to Engage
The families group might be a difficult stakeholder to engage. Language barrier makes it difficult to engage this stakeholder group in that most people speak English as their second language (Epstein et al., 2004). Therefore, language barrier is likely to be a concern. Additionally, the members of the community may be difficult to engage as a result of the cultural diversity. The variance in culture makes it difficult to engage these stakeholders since it becomes difficult to communicate with people from a different culture. Work Group for Community Health and Development (2016) reiterates this by depicting that language and cultural barriers hinder effective stakeholder engagement process. Therefore, these downsides should be addressed to promote an effective process of engagement. To address the language barrier, verbal and nonverbal communication techniques should be implemented when communicating. This is effective in stressing a point to ensure that the right message is communicated despite the differences in language. The same technique can also address the cultural barrier in that the differences in culture mean communication difficulties.
Conclusion
Conclusively, stakeholder engagement process takes place in several fundamental steps such as establishing an effective communication plan, establishing a comfortable environment, asking questions, and evaluating the process. However, the family and the community can be difficult to engage as a result of cultural and language barriers. The effective use of verbal and nonverbal techniques can become effective in addressing these downsides, hence facilitating an effective engagement process.
References
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Epstein, A. S., Schweinhart, L. J., DeBruin-Parecki, A., & Robin, K. B. (2004). Preschool assessment: A guide to developing a balanced approach (NIEER Policy Brief, Issue 7). New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Childhood Research. Retrieved from http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/earlylearning/preschool-assessment-guide-developing-balanced-approach.pdf U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center. (n.d.). Using the Head Start parent, family, and community engagement framework in your program: Markers of progress. Retrieved fromhttps://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/ncpfce-markers-of-progress.pdf Work Group for Community Health and Development. (2016). Chapter 27, Section 7: Building culturally competent organizations. Community Tool Box. Retrieved from http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-competence/culturally-competent-organizations/main
Appendix
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