Kathy Cobb
MEDT 8480
Evaluation Plan 1
Evaluation Plan
Introduction
Commerce City Middle School is nestled in northeast Georgia, approximately 20 miles from the
University of Georgia, and one hour from the state capital. Commerce Middle School provides students
with the advantages of a small town as well as access to educational and cultural opportunities in Athens
and beyond in Atlanta. The school is part of the Commerce City School System and serves grades fifth
through eighth. Commerce is a small town with a population of only 6,574 people. The estimated median
household income in 2009 for Commerce was $36,200.00 (City-Data.com). The population of the
student body at Commerce Middle School is 452. The student’s population is 76% Caucasian, 14%
black, 7% Hispanic, and 3% other. Students with disabilities make up 15% of the school’s population.
Forty eight percent of the student body is eligible for free lunch (Commerce Middle School, 2010).
During the 1990’s the state began an initiative to increase the academic level of all elementary
level students. “Intended to improve academic achievement, Georgia began, during the 1999-2000
academic year to initiate educational reforms designed to increase the amount of academic content that
elementary children must know and to assess this new baseline of student achievement with a statewide
criterion based test called the Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT),” (Livingston & Livingston,
2003). The CRCT was initiated and put into place to measure the success of the individual student’s
progress in obtaining skills and knowledge described in the Georgia Performance Standards. During the
2005-2006 and 2006-2007 school years, Commerce Middle School did not achieve the criterion level on
the Criterion-Referenced Comptetency Test (CRCT) and thus did not make Adequate Yearly Progress.
The middle school was placed on the state’s “Needs Improvement” list. Commerce Middle was well
below the state’s score on the test particularly in math area. Also, the high special education population
played a major role in low test scores. Faculty and administrators were well aware that some type of
innovation had to be implemented to counteract the low test scores. To address this need for
improvement, administration and faculty considered several new innovations to assist in improving
student’s academic skills. In order to raise the standardized test scores several computer software
programs to enhance student academic achievement were reviewed. Faculty and staff realized that
web-based programs play an important part in enriching student’s achievements. “Web-base programs,
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Evaluation Plan 2
such as games promote higher order learning outcomes such as increased meaningful dialogue among
students and the identification of student misconceptions, both of which contributed to deeper student
understanding (McDonald & Hannafin, p. 459). It was decided that a web-based program, which included
critical thinking activities and was centered around individualized instruction was to be implemented into
the curriculum at Commerce Middle School. “Students who perform web based activities are more
motivated, have increased retention of information, and demonstrate improved reasoning skills and a
greater level of higher-order thinking” (McDonald & Hannafin, p. 461). Commerce City began the search
for an innovative software program that would be easy to implement into the teacher’s curriculum.
In order to address these needs Classworks software program was the innovation chosen by the
director of instructional technology, principals, board of education members, faculty, and parents.
According to its 2009 website Classworks by Curriculum succeed. Dynamic, interactive lessons engage
students and offer new ways to address difficult concepts (Classworks, 2009). Classworks instructional
software is also aligned to local, state, and national standards. The administration was looking for a
software program that would provide individualized instruction to the student. Helping teachers find easy
ways to individualize instruction is critical in today’s classroom. Classworks uses the philosophy that not
every student learn the same way or at the same pace. With the advanced technology of the Classworks
solution, teachers are free to do what they do best – teach (2009). However, since the implementation
of Classworks during the 2006-2007 school year there have been some difficulties with the teachers use
of the program. During the first year of implementation many problems were encountered and had to be
resolved. During 2006 Commerce Middle School struggled with the new instruction software and was
very disappointed when the CRCT results came back with no improvements. During the subquential
years Commerce Middle began seeing results from the software, in raising student’s test scores, but the
Director of Technology is not sure that the teachers are actually utilizing the software to its full potential.
The administrators of the school feel that teachers are not providing the student with the individualized
instruction in which the Classworks software allows. There has been no follow up from the administration
since the initial staff development of the Classworks software program over three years ago. I will be
evaluating the integration of the Classworks software program for my client, the Director of Instructional
Technology at Commerce City Schools. This evaluation will determine if teachers are using Classworks
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Evaluation Plan 3
effectively in their instruction to increase the student’s standardized test scores and classroom averages.
The active stakeholders of this evaluation include students, teachers, administrators, parents, and
ultimately the community, city, state, and nation.
Purpose
As requested by the contractor, Mona Haynes, I will be utilizing formative evaluation to assess
the teachers at Commerce Middle School who use Classworks and to gather their thoughts and
perceived effectiveness of the software program. The formative evaluation will be used to determine the
benefits and effectiveness of the Classworks Software on student achievement. It will be determined if
the software is being used to its fullest capablilities and is it providing the students with the appropriate
individualized instruction needed to raise standardized test scores. It should be determined through this
evaluation as to whether or not the teachers feel that they have received adequate training on the
program and to receive the teachers input on how the program can be improved.
Evaluation Questions
The goal of the project is to assist teachers in their use of the Classworks Software to meet the
needs of the individualized student and help them meet and exceed standardized test scores and to
continue being successful in the classroom. The evaluation plan described here focuses on formative
measures of implementation to gather results of four major project objectives that lead to this goal. The
objectives, framed as research questions are:

Is the implementation of the software program showing an improvement in classroom
averages and standardized test scores?

How often is the software being incorporated into your curriculum?

Is the teacher using the software to assist with student’s individualized instruction?

What challenges have you had to overcome from using the software and what suggestions
do you have for improvement?
Methods
Participants
The participants will be all the academic teachers in the middle school who are required to incorporate
Classworks into their curriculum. The participant’s ages range from 25 to 55. They are all certified
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teachers, who are teaching in their specific area. Educational background for the participants includes
Bachelor’s to Specialist’s degrees.
Design and Procedures
The evaluation plan consists of the following activities designed to address each of the four objectives:

Strategies to evaluate objective 1: Formative evaluation will consist of a survey from the
teachers and statistical data on the CRCT scores from Georgia Department of Education.

Strategies to evaluate objective 2: Formative evaluation for this objective will use a likert-type
survey ranging from “Once per month to Daily” to assess the perceived use of Classworks
Software. Also teachers will be observed using the Classworks Software in the classroom.
Observer will note how often the program is being used to enhance learning.

Strategies to evaluate objective 3: Formative evaluation will consist of a survey and
observation of students effectively using the Classworks Software.

Strategies to evaluate objective 4: Formative evaluation for this objective will use a likert-type
survey ranging from “Seldom to Frequently” to assess the amount of training and assistance
the teachers have received in their use of Classworks
Instruments:
For this evaluation, a survey and observations will be used to determine effectiveness of Classworks
software. Each teacher who uses the software will complete a ten questions survey about his/her
Classworks use in their curriculum and whether or not they believe the implementation is beneficial to the
student. Teachers will also be observed randomly and unannounced to gather legitimate information on
their use of Classworks. The Department of Education’s statistical data will be used to show an increase
or decrease on student standardized test scores.
Table 1. Evaluation Instruments in the Classworks Software Project
Project
Survey Questions
Data
Objectives
Close Ended
1.
X
2.
3.
4.
Improvement
Use
Effectiveness
Challenges &
Improvement
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Evaluation Plan 5
Observation
Survey Questions
Likert-Type
Results
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Data Analysis
Data relating to the results of the implementation will be gathered and analyzed. The data
collected will be useful to see if there are gaps in results between what Commerce Middle School
administrators intended for Classworks software to do and the actual results from implementing the
software in instruction. The questionnaires will be analyzed and the raw data will be converted to
percentages. The answers will be compiled in a narrative format.
Table 2. Data Collection Organization Matrix
Conclusion
When the evaluation is complete, the evaluator will meet with the Director of Instructional
Technology to review the evaluation. Using the information gained in this evaluation, the Director of
Instructional Technology can meet with the teachers, administrators, and concerned parents to discuss
the ramifications of the Classworks program and/or training opportunities needed.
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References
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Appendix A
Observation Worksheet
Teacher’s Name ___________________________________________________________
Date______________________________
Grade_______________Course_______________
Was the teacher effective in their use of Classworks? Yes___
Was the student familiar with the program? Yes___
Was
No___
No___
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Evaluation Plan 8
Appendix B
Questionnaire
1. Teaching Experience
0-3 years
4-10 years
11-15 years
2. Number of years at Commerce Middle School
16-20 years
21+ years