Reading Evaluation Results: A Brief Introduction PAG June 2 nd, 2009 Becca Sanders, Program Evaluator

Training Objectives Briefly Explain: –Evaluation –A few things about analysis –A few things about reporting “Learning through Providing Examples” –Of language used in evaluation –Of KWRAPS data from reports

Collection and analysis of “data” –Describe things (e.g. populations) –Assess how much something changes over time (e.g. behavior) –Assess whether something looks the way it should (e.g. Wraparound) Program Evaluators do this work What is Evaluation?

The KWRAPS Evaluation Big! Long! Messy! Lots of Cooks in the Kitchen! Data Collection Interviews with caregivers Interviews with youth Surveys Focus Groups System Records MH, Schools Data Analysis computer Math/ calculations Adding things up Data Reporting

Evaluation Language First thing to note: Evaluators love Averages: An Average can be called a Mean Most typical middle score in a full range of scores A measure of “the middle” for a group of scores e.g. average age of 4 people in the room = 35 4 people

Evaluators Love Frequencies Measure of how often something occurs A count of a thing Number of times it occurs Number of times it appears e.g. men in the room Evaluation Language

From Frequencies to Percents A way to express a frequency as a fraction of the whole A count on it’s own may be hard to interpret The count “out of the total” is the percent e.g. men in the room Evaluation Language

Reporting Data A few common ways: Table Pie Chart Bar Graph Line Graph Learn more evaluation language as we look at KWRAPS examples of each type

Table Intake Demographics of Participating Youth through September 24, 2008 (n=155) Gender Male71.0% Female29.0% Categorical Age 4 to 6 years2.0% 7 to 11 years30.8% 12 to 14 years32.7% 15 to 17 years34.6% Race/ Ethnicity White45.0% Black or African-American36.0% Multi-racial15.0% Of Hispanic Origin6.5% American Indian or Alaska Native0.6%

Pie Chart Changes in School Performance for KWRAPS Youth from Intake to 12 months (n=30)

Bar Graph Percent of KWRAPS Youth Experiencing Living Situation Stability and Instability (n=46)

Another Kind of Bar Graph Percent of PBLS Students at low risk for problems with reading fluency 2005 and 2008, Broken by Grade

Line Graph Changes in Grades over Time for KWRAPS youth (n=30)