Demystifying Program Evaluation: What Others Have Done

Demystifying Program Evaluation: What Others Have Done Promoting Healthy Lifestyles Initiative: How we demystified program evaluation.

Promoting Healthy Lifestyles Initiative Presented by: The School-Business Educational Consortium, Philisha Stallbaumer, Director. Main Partnerships Included: Five rural school districts in Northeast Kansas located in atwo county area. Two county health departments. Three local hospitals located in a three county area.

“Children today have a shorter life expectancy than their parents for the first time in 100 years.” Dr. William J. Klish, Baylor College of Medicine

Today’s Focus is on the Rural Health Outreach Grant Overall Outcomes of the Promoting Healthy Lifestyles Initiative: 1) To increase the percentage of students with healthy Body Mass Indexes (BMI). 2) To increase moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels in students K-12.

What did we do first? • Hired an outside evaluator. • Met with the evaluator to identify what, when and how we were going to measure our goals and objectives with consistent, accurate data. • Developed an evaluation plan that included how we were going to measure the outputs and outcomes and who was responsible. Then a calendar was created to show all the partners when data was due.

Grant Goal #1: To increase the awareness and promote the development of healthy eating behaviors and engagement in physical activity. Outputs, outcomes and measurements of activities included: • Increased education of students and parents regarding their child’s body composition. • Students Body Mass Index (BMI) was recorded at the beginning and end of each school year by school nurses, health department nurses and physical education instructors. • Increased participation in parent teacher conferences. • BMI data was shared with the student and parents through parent teacher conferences, but was mailed home with report cards if the parent did not attend the parent teacher conference. • Increased awareness about the benefits of good nutrition & physical activity for K-12th grade students, families and the community. • Fitness tips/ideas for families were distributed monthly through a take home newsletter. • Bathroom stall flyers were posted in all the school bathrooms each month with fitness and nutrition facts. • Concession stand flyers were posted by all concession stands to encourage healthy behaviors. • Fitness tips and nutrition facts were also posted in all sports programs.

Measurements for Goal 1 Outputs Outcome Increased percentage of students with healthy BMI: Measured through recording of student BMI in the fall and spring of each year. • Number of students participating in BMI collection. • Number of newsletters distributed. • Number of flyers posted. • Number of parents attending parent teacher conferences. • Number of health profiles distributed to parents.

Grant Goal #2:To improve the health and quality of life for children ages 4-19 by increasing levels of physical activity. Outputs, outcomes and measurements of activities included: • Expanding the knowledge of PE and classroom instructors, administrators, parents, students, school wellness policy committees and school boards on the latest research, best practices, issues and trends in lifelong fitness behaviors & attitudes. • Teams of instructors, administrators, parents and school board members were introduced to and trained in PE4Life concepts. Out with the sports concept and in with the lifetime skills concept. • Increased moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels of all K-12th grade students throughout each day. • Improvements included increased activity levels in physical education classes; increased structured activities during recess; the offering of before and/or after school physical activities; take home activity bags and resources for students to check out; and the recording of MVPA by students utilizing pedometers in K-6th grade and activity logs in 7-12th grade.

Measurements of Goal 2 Outputs Outcomes Increased knowledge of PE4Life participants: Measured through before and after training surveys. Increased percentage of K-6th grade students achieving at least 150 minutes of MVPA per week: Measured through pedometer wearing. Increased percentage of 7-12th grade students achieving at least 225 minutes of MVPA per week: Measured through activity logs. • Number of school teams attending PE4Life academy training. • Number of schools offering before or after school activities. • Number of students participating in before or after school activities. • Number of students returning or do we want wearing pedometers. • Number of students completing activity logs.

Grant Goal #3:To improve the health and quality of life for children ages 4-19 by providing opportunities for nutritional education. Outputs, outcomes and measurements of activities included: • Expanding the knowledge of instructors, administrators and parents on the latest reliable research, best practices, issues and trends in nutritional education. • Instructors, administrators and parents were trained to offer nutritional curriculum in the classroom. • Increasing the number of opportunities offered for nutrition education inside the classroom. • Resources were purchased to offer nutrition education in the classroom. • Increased opportunities to promote nutrition outside the classroom. • Special events were offered to parents, students and community members to educate them on proper nutrition and healthy eating behaviors.

Measurements of Goal 3 Outputs Outcomes Increased knowledge of instructors, administrators and parents: Measured by before and after event surveys. Increased knowledge of parents and students after special events: Measured by before and after event surveys. • Number of instructors trained to teach nutrition education in the classroom. • Number of resources purchased. • Number of instructors teaching the nutrition curriculum in the classroom. • Number of special events offered. • Number of participants at the special events.

What did we do with the data we collected? • All data was then sent to an external evaluator for analysis. • The external evaluator sent us reports to review and then results were sent out to the public through school websites and school and consortium newsletters.

Results of 3 Years of Data Collection BMI Results: Percentage of Students with Healthy BMI

Results of 3 Years of Data Collection K-6th Grade MVPA Results: Percentage of students with at least 150 minutes of MVPA

Results of 3 Years of Data Collection 7-12th Grade MVPA Results: Percentage of Students with at Least 225 Minutes of MVPA

Lessons Learned • Keep the target population small enough to make an impact. Focusing on a smaller group would have been much easier to track. • Pedometers do not like to be washed, dried, or ran over. • Pedometers will only collect data if worn! • Kids don’t always know what MVPA means when filling out a log form. They will write ANYTHING down. • Make sure you keep parents informed about BMI and give them the opportunity to opt out. • Parents don’t always like the results of testing, so be prepared with accurate data when talking to them.

Questions??? • Contact Information: Philisha Stallbaumer, Project Director philisha@sbeconline.org 785-292-4453 Office Phone

Demystifying Program Evaluation: What Others Have Done