Francis Marion University - School of Education

FMU Center of Excellence
Grant Proposal Narrative

2. Proposal Narrative

d. Evaluation Plan

The evaluation plan is organized around the five major goals and related activities. The person holding the grant writer/evaluator position will be responsible for implementing the evaluation plan. Annual evaluation reports will be prepared and submitted to the Commission on Higher Education.

Goal 1. Design and implement pre-service teacher education programs that attract qualified applicants and enable graduates to effectively teach children of poverty.

The initial meeting of the pre-service teacher education task force will result in the development of criteria for evaluating course revisions and new courses. These criteria will be used by the course re-designers/designers as they prepare the revisions and new courses. They also will be used by the members of the task force to evaluate the quality of the proposed revisions and new courses.
There will be a requirement that course-specific student evaluation instruments be built into each revised or new course. The instruments will focus on the extent to which the course helped students achieve the stated objectives.

Finally, the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement (CERRA) will maintain records of Pre-Team and Teacher Cadet students who apply to and are accepted into the new teacher education programs. The Office of the Dean will track these students until graduation in terms of their GPA, test scores, and other relevant information.

Goal 2. Provide high quality professional development programs that include collaborative research activities and the use of existing research evidence to improve curriculum, instruction, and assessment in schools serving large number of children of poverty.

The National Staff Development Council standards will be used to evaluate the professional development courses and experiences [http://www.nsdc.org/standards/evaluation.cfm]. All research papers will be jointly authored by partner district teachers and FMU faculty members, and will be subject to peer review.

Goal 3. Equip teachers with the knowledge and skills needed to work effectively with parents, health and human service providers, and other community resources to meet the social, emotional, and physical needs of children of poverty and to serve as advocates for them in the school, community, and state.

The quality of work of the School-Parent-Community Liaison will be evaluated by means of a survey that will be developed by the Center’s Co-Directors. The quality and appropriateness of all materials developed for use in training teachers to reach and assist parents will be evaluated by using focus groups. The focus groups will include parents and community leaders. These focus groups will provide formative evaluation, the results of which can be used to improve the quality of the materials. The quality and effectiveness of the grant proposals will be determined by whether or not the proposals receive funding.

Goal 4. Develop a master's degree program leading to South certification as a Teacher of Children of Poverty and is linked with National Board Certification.

The evaluation of this goal will be very similar to the evaluation of Goal 1. The task force will develop criteria for the evaluation of new and revised courses. These criteria will be used by FMU faculty members as they develop new courses and revise existing courses and by members of the task force to judge the overall quality of the new revised courses. Course-specific student evaluation instruments will be built into each new and revised course. The instruments will focus on the extent to which the course helped students achieve the stated objectives.

The success of the Center’s attempts to link completion of the program with South Carolina certification will be determined by the approval of the program as a certification program by the South Carolina Department of Education. The success of seeking FMU Foundation support for an endowed professorship and graduate student fellowships will be determined when the necessary money has been secured. Finally, the success of seeking NBPTS certification will be determined by the approval of the area of Teachers of Children of Poverty as a certification area.

Goal 5. Become the premier resource in South Carolina for helping teachers learn how to provide a high quality education to all children of poverty.

Of the five goals, this is the most difficult to evaluate. Two strategies for the evaluation of this goal are planned. The first is to determine “name recognition” for FMU as an institution known for preparing teachers to work with children of poverty. Baseline data will be collected during Year 1. Subsequently, data will be collected during Year 3 and Year 5. The data will be in the form of a brief questionnaire that will be designed by the Center Co-Directors and mailed to a random sample of College Deans, district superintendents, and school principals.

The second strategy is to invite a team of researchers and teacher educators to the Center during the fall of Year 5. Their purpose is to conduct a systematic and comprehensive evaluation of the Center, focusing primarily on Goal 5, but also on the other four Center Goals.