Search

The purpose of this report is to provide a formative evaluation of the McKelvey Foundation Program to Distribute Scholarships to Entrepreneurial Rural Students in the States of Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia. This evaluation provides databased recommendations for making program adjustments to improve delivery of services and/or other suggestions for improving program efficiency and effectiveness. (Author)

A study examined rural students' academic aspirations and expectations, their perceptions of their parents' aspirations and expectations, and their parents' actual aspirations and expectations. Surveys were completed by 3,733 seventh grade-students in 54 schools in 17 West Virginia counties. Parent response rates were lower, with approximately two thirds of mothers and slightly less than half of fathers responding. Forty four of the schools were rural. Results indicated that rural parents expected and were expected by their children to play a large role in providing information about continued education. Parents placed a much higher value on the role of the guidance counselor than did students. Female students aspired to a bachelor's degree, and males aspired to an associate's degree. Students felt that their parents' goals exceeded their own and that both parents held these higher aspirations. Parents did report higher aspirations for their children than their children held, but the gap was greater than the students perceived. Both parents and students reported similar perceptions of students' academic effort, with at least half reporting effort equivalent to peers and a fourth professing greater effort. Parents reported little contact with schools about courses and grades needed to get into college. Parents and students had reasonably accurate expectations concerning college costs, but low-income parents were doubtful they could afford it. There was a disconnect between academic expectations and educational aspirations that could lead to disappointment and the failure to achieve those aspirations. (TD)

In 1999, Fairmont State College (West Virginia) received a Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) grant for a 5-year program designed to encourage college aspirations and preparation among disadvantaged rural youth. During the first 2 years, parents and students in nine counties were surveyed to determine their aspirations for postsecondary education. Data summaries from these surveys were distributed to school administrators involved with the program. This paper reports on a survey of those administrators to determine how the data summaries were used, possible effects of the data, and suggestions for improvement. Findings indicate that those administrators who used the summaries were satisfied with them. Of the seven rating characteristics,"overall quality,""comprehensiveness," and "presentation/layout" were rated highest, followed by "relevance,""met my needs," and "usability.""Promptness" was rated lowest, although that rating was well above the midpoint on the rating scale. Summary findings were used as input for specific programs, needs assessment or program planning, and less specific programs. It is too early for the data summaries to have affected students in the program. The main influence of the summaries on parents was in making them more aware of the GEAR UP program. An appendix presents a sample data summary. (Contains 16 references.) (TD)

The Even Start Family Literacy Program is a national program designed to break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by working with low-income families to improve adult literacy, parenting skills, and developmental and preschool readiness of young children in the family. The Monongalia County (West Virginia) Even Start Program is unusual in that home visits are the primary service delivery mechanism. A program evaluation during the 1997-98 program year determined the outcomes of the adult and parenting education components and evaluated the program's parenting education literacy materials. Thirteen adults were tested for adult education outcomes, and 32 were tested for parenting education outcomes. Results indicate that the program had some impact on parents' reading comprehension, moderate impact on parents' number operations, very large impact on parents' problem solving, and large impact on parents' total mathematics. The program had more impact in the mathematics area than in reading comprehension. The program had no impact on the adults' parenting efficacy, little impact on parental responsibility, some impact on parents' internal locus of control, and some impact on parents' self-esteem. The parenting education materials developed by program staff were found to be interesting, understandable, informative, and utilitarian, but poor in terms of attractiveness. Recommendations included implementing changes to increase reading comprehension, determining the reason for the low parenting efficacy outcomes, and improving the appearance of the parenting education materials. (Contains 22 references.) (TD)

The Monongalia County (West Virginia) Even Start Program is a comprehensive, rural, home-based family literacy program that provides families with adult literacy education, parenting education, and early childhood education. Although all Even Start programs conduct some home visits, the Monongalia County program is unique in that home visits are the primary service delivery mechanism. Following an overview of the national Even Start program and the Monongalia County program, this report describes an evaluation of program impact on the vocabulary development of child participants. The sample consisted of 32 children with an average age of 4 years, 4 months, and included 5 children for whom English was a second language (ESL) and 10 children with an active individualized education plan (IEP). Even Start staff administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III (PPVT-III) to the children on a pretest-posttest basis during the 1998-99 program year. Most children had 7-8 months of program participation. From pretest to posttest, PPVT-III scores increased significantly for the full group and the subgroups. The effect size of the point gain was "moderate" for the full group, "large" for the ESL group, and "very large" for the IEP group. The PPVT-III average age-equivalent score increased 13 months during an average treatment period of 7 months. Therefore, the children in the sample nearly doubled the vocabulary growth expected of them. (Contains 20 references.) (SV)

The Even Start Family Literacy Program is a national program that addresses the literacy and educational needs of adults in eligible families, teaches effective parenting skills, and addresses the preschool readiness needs of young children in the family. The Monongalia County (West Virginia) Even Start Program was unusual in that it took place in a rural area and used home visits as the primary service delivery mechanism. An independent, third-party evaluation of the Monongalia County program collected data from program records, interviews, observations, and seven participant outcome measures over a 2-year period. An innovation configuration matrix (ICM) was constructed and used to describe and evaluate eight program components: identification and recruitment, home visits, early childhood education, parenting education, adult education and literacy, collaboration, evaluation, and staff development. Findings indicate that the ICM is an accurate and useful portrayal of the program, and that the program had a large impact on adults' reading and mathematics literacy and parenting outcomes; tremendous impact on children's school readiness; and some impact on children's auditory comprehension, expressive communication, and total language development. Recommendations are offered concerning program continuation, program improvements, evaluation utilization, and new evaluations. (Contains nine references, seven data tables, and the ICM.) (SV)

The Monongalia County (West Virgina) Even Start Program begun in 1993 to address family literacy and to prepare children for entrance into school, consists of three interrelated approaches: adult education, parenting education, and early childhood education. In June 1996, the program was serving 62 families (mostly low-income) with an average of 2.2 children. The unique feature of the Monongalia program is that it is mainly a rural, home-based program--home visits are the primary service delivery mechanism. This detailed evaluation of the program covers the years 1994-96. The introduction includes the history of the national Even Start program, including its emphasis on families, services to eligible families, and the first and second national evaluations; site specifics, approach, and interagency collaboration of the Monongalia program; objectives of the evaluation; and audience. The section on methodology addresses national evaluation population characteristics, the Monongalia sample study, data collection techniques (adult and child), and the data analysis process. Program component findings cover program model, recruitment, home visits, early childhood education, adult education, parenting education, interagency collaboration, evaluation, and staff development. Among the participants' educational and developmental outcomes, the program was found to have a tremendous impact on school readiness; large impact on adult reading literacy, mathematics literacy, and parenting; and some impact on children's auditory comprehension, expressive communication, and total language development. Recommendations relate to program continuation, improvements, and evaluations. Contains 20 references. Appendices include 1995-1996 program statistics, the home visit report sheet, the innovation configuration matrix (program evaluation model), a staff self-assessment report; and the completed program evaluation standards checklist. (SAS)