Utilization
Analysis
Having lost its accreditation on January 1, 2012, the
Kansas City Missouri School District (KCMSD) changed name to Kansas City Public
Schools (KCPS). This sudden loss of accreditation is attributed to the decline
of student performance and dwindling grades, management squabbling,
maladministration, misuse of funds, teacher tardiness, and lack of involvement
from parents. An analysis of the impact assessment of KCPS shows that by using
quasi-experiments, factors such as student cognitive ability, behavioral
adaptations, social and emotional behaviors have to be comprehended to
understand factors that limit achievements and downgrade student performance.
While there is little literature on student grades and performance online, a
few data owned by the school district exist for scholarly research and academic
use.
With the state average for money spent on students
standing at $9,338 in 2008, money spent on KCMSD stood alone at $15,142
(Lindsey, 2009). According to Lindsay (2009), in 2009, the school district
spent $280 million on only 16,800 students on its annual budget. This is a
waste of money and the absolute absence of accountability, bookkeeping, and
accounts. According to Rossi, Lipsey, and Freeman (2004), questions focusing on
evaluations come with concerns especially when the program being evaluated is
dealing with the needs of the target population. Even high school students
joining universities in the state have academic concerns. Matriculating KCMSD
students joining the University Of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) have an average
ACT score of 16.8 while the minimum score required securing a place in the University of Missouri ;
Columbia
An analysis of teacher evaluation will require
teachers to be offered incentives should they achieve success in student growth
and improved student academic achievement; there has to be enhanced
professional growth that include additional responsibilities like volunteering
in schools that are hard to staff and partaking in professional developments
that increase teacher teaching effectiveness; performance will be measured in accordance
with teacher and student attendance; and student regulation, parental
attachment, and the health and safety of students observed without any
hindrance. The top three schools leading in test scores will have to be awarded
extra financial incentives and teachers promoted to boost their confidence.
This analysis will help answer the various burning
questions of evaluations that include the effectiveness of KCPS since switching
name, the amount of money spent on each student, the number of teachers per
school and per class; whether extra effort is given to students whose mother
tongue is not English, the effectiveness of the school district curriculum, the
type of services needed to reach success and the impact these services will
have on students’ performance, and how parents will react to these new
services.
Proposed
Methods
The proposed method of research will require the
effective use of both quantitative and qualitative methods while utilizing both
summative and formative processes of evaluations. Summative and formative
evaluations are being used here because, the programs under evaluation, the
KCMSD and the KCPS, have been in existence for a long time only to start from
scratch after losing accreditation at the beginning of this year. The target
population for this evaluation will include teachers and their students,
parents and community groups such as Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA),
administrators and state officials dealing directly with the school district. Upon
completion, the evaluation will be shared with concerned authorities for formal
discussion.
The primary data will be the original evaluative
procedures utilized by the evaluator that have not been shared with management.
The secondary data could come from others who are not part of the evaluation
but have a stake in knowing the outcome and effectiveness of the school
district programs. Since KCPS is a state-funded program, continued assessment
is required to make effective the outcome and impact evaluations. In the case
of the KCPS, existing staff may be utilized to avoid mistrust and unnecessary
future interventions. Staff will be better informed when their input is
utilized and their views recognized. It is vital to understand the
relationships that exist between program costs and effectiveness. In this case,
cost-effectiveness analysis to tailor the needs of the program will have to be
executed. Conducting cost-benefit analysis requires the hiring of an accounting
professional. When conducting cost-benefit analysis, it will be crucial to include
typical issues like intervention, effectiveness of delivery system, and also, if
benefits can be delivered at a lower cost. An econometric estimation envisages
the gain or impact of cost-benefit analysis has on the school programs (Rossi
et al., 2004). Though tentative in nature, observing political choices requires
legislatures appropriate funds for the most needy children and schools.
Teachers who are not performing to the required standards may be displaced by
new breed so that a vacuum effect can be realized.
The statistical part of the evaluation will deal with teacher-student
ratio, whether student grades have been elevated or diminished, evaluation and
assessment scores, and comparative analysis of pre/post test scores for the
various schools in the district. The logic model will serve as a useful tool in
developing the research questions and deciding upon the research method.
Students having cognitive problems will have to be evaluated and assessed and
therapy provided when necessary; there has to be training for teachers in
social competence on an individual and group basis; teachers will require to
grasp the significance of social competence training so as to control students
who are aggressive; use of tokens will be a priority to enhance rewards for
good behavior; and there will be a need to create multimodal programs to
increase competence, training, and counseling (Rossi et al., 2004). Data
collection will entail face-to face interviews with teachers, administrators,
and students; voice to voice interviews also called telephone interviews, and
mailed survey instruments that are self-administered will be my preferred data
collection method. The questionnaire construction criteria, according to Rossi
et al (2004) will be done as such:
§
Step
1 will establish the information to be gathered
§
In
Step 2 appropriate data to be gathered will be specified
§
In
Step 3 procedure analyzing data gathering will be specified
§
In
Step 4 structure and question will be selected
§
In
Step 5 the best wordings for each individual question will be selected
§
In
Step 6 questions will be organized into a logical order
§
In
Step 7 questionnaires will retested and revised for clarity
References
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