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This article explores the challenges of reporting outcomes of the Extension educational programs at land-grant universities and presents a model highlighting the focus and expectations of reporting in Cooperative Extension. This model provides a rationale for recognizing the relationship between program planning, evaluation, reporting, and employee-performance appraisal and their implications for organizational growth and learning.

The "School Pantry: Mystery Food Box Cook-Off " is a program designed to increase awareness of food insecurity among youth and teach strategies to prepare healthy foods on a budget. A pre-and-post survey showed a statistically significant difference in participants' overall knowledge, skills, and confidence level after the program compared to before the program. Findings revealed a hands-on nutrition education strategy via cook-off could educate youth on food insecurity and increase their knowledge and confidence to make healthy and affordable meals at home. Other Extension educators seeking to address food insecurity and food preparation skills among youth can replicate this program.

Raising evaluation capacity is not an easy task unless the evaluation competence of Extension professionals in each program area is identified. The study reported here identified whether level of knowledge and skills and needs for further training in program evaluation vary for Extension educators based on their program area. A total of 752 Extension educators participated in the study through an online survey. Differences were observed for evaluation competence and further training needs between Extension educators among program areas. Therefore, offering training for Extension educators based on evaluation competence and the area of responsibility is recommended for optimum training outcomes.

The "School Pantry: Mystery Food Box Cook-Off" is a program designed to increase awareness of food insecurity among youth and teach strategies to prepare healthy foods on a budget. A pre-and-post survey showed a statistically significant difference in participants' overall knowledge, skills, and confidence level after the program compared to before the program. Findings revealed a hands-on nutrition education strategy via cook-off could educate youth on food insecurity and increase their knowledge and confidence to make healthy and affordable meals at home. Other Extension educators seeking to address food insecurity and food preparation skills among youth can replicate this program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to determine to what degree extension educators self-assess their knowledge and skills on competencies related to program evaluation and their needs for further training. A total of 752 extension educators from twelve states of the North Central Region (USA) Cooperative Extension participated in this study through an online survey. The instrument for the study included eleven competencies that were tested using a five-point Likert-type scale. Results indicated that participants reported primary needs of training for building evaluation capacity in the following competencies: "assessing impact of a program," "developing and implementing surveys," "analyzing and interpreting survey results," and "using impact data for further planning." Findings have implications for designing competency development programs. Therefore, training focused on program evaluation is recommended at all levels of the North Central Region Extension system. The problem faced by the developing world for building evaluation capacity of extension agents is similar to that in the United States. Therefore, implications of the findings in international extension settings are also discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demonstration of a high level of professional competence is the primary public justification for the Cooperative Extension Service in the United States. Therefore, a highly competent and well-trained staff is an important resource for ensuring Extension's organizational success. A regional study was conducted with 441 Extension educators who participated in an online survey. The purpose was to determine the relative importance of 11 professional competencies related to learning systems and identify the best time to learn each of these competencies. Participants perceived a majority of the competencies as highly important for their professional development. High percentages of the respondents preferred to learn a majority of the competencies through a graduate program and in-service programs. These findings imply a need to design flexible staff development programs for Extension educators that include graduate education, in-service trainings, and on-the-job experience. Findings also suggest a need for new policies regarding employee selection, training, professional development, and performance appraisal. Findings have implications to design professional trainings on learning systems in a variety of national and international extension settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]