Susan McDowell-Riley
Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation
Dan Diehl
Diehl Evaluation and Consulting Services, Inc.
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Session Overview
 History of the community school movement within
the EVSC and the evolving nature of evaluation
 Integration of evaluation into the overall district
strategic plan
 Keys to success in integrating evaluation
2
History of the Community
School Movement and Role of Evaluation
 Full-service school efforts started at Cedar Hall
Elementary (e.g., afterschool programs, family literacy,
site council)
 Community school model expanded from 1 to 13
schools with support from various 21st CCLC grants,
Title I and other funding sources
 School Community Council was established
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 Collection of over 70 community
organizations and businesses working
together to support students success
 Mission: Establish school sites as places
of community to support youth and
family development
 Committee Structure
 Steering Committee
 Evaluation
 Health
 Afterschool
 Social and Emotional Learning
 School Site Councils
4
History of the Community
School Movement (continued)
 Expansion from 13 schools to the district
 Integration of diverse funding sources and community
resources, such as Safe Schools/Healthy Students Grant,
Grants to Reduce Alcohol Abuse, Early Childhood
Development Coalition
 Integration of a community school philosophy within
the EVSC strategic plan
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 The mission of the Evansville Vanderburgh School
Corporation (EVSC) is to provide equity and excellence
for all students.
 Equity is accomplished by providing all students with
fulfilling opportunities and experiences regardless of
background and requires that educators move all
students forward without holding others back.
 Excellence involves providing all students with the skills
necessary to achieve sustained success and growth.
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 With student achievement at its core, five goals
represent the primary focus of the strategic plan:
1. Accelerate achievement for all students
2. Reduce the achievement gap
3. Improve standardized test performance
4. Increase graduation rates
5. Increase college preparedness, college-going, and
college completion
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Five core focus areas of the strategic plan include:
 Professional development
 Early childhood development
 State-of-the-art technology
 Innovative schools models
 Family, school, and community partnerships
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Evolution of Evaluation
School Community Council
and 13 Community Schools
Cedar Hall Full-Service
School
• Individual program
evaluation
• School related indicators
• Identifying what
contributes to success
• Expanded program
evaluation across
schools (social work
services, afterschool)
• Core school and
community related
indicators
• Examining partnership
functioning
Scaling of Movement
throughout the
District
• Alignment with the
EVSC Strategic Plan,
including increased
capacity and
intentionality
• Development of an
evaluation culture
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Bringing it Home… How does this
relate to the work you are doing?
Evaluation
Community Schools
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Integration of Evaluation into the
EVSC Strategic Plan
 Create a culture of
evaluation that reflects key
principles of accountability,
data-driven decision
making, and continuous
quality improvement at all
levels within the EVSC.
11
Overview of the Evaluation Framework
Internal
District
Processes
Student
Achievement
Outcomes
Strategies &
Innovations
External
Factors
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Student Achievement Outcomes
 Defined as short-term, intermediate,
Student
Achievement
and long-term conditions where
change is observed (e.g., student and
family engagement, academic
performance and achievement,
college-going, attendance).
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Strategies and Innovations
 Defined as concrete strategies (e.g.,
specific structures or programs) and
innovations (e.g., pilot projects) that are
selected to impact core student outcomes.
Strategies/
Innovations
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Internal District Processes
 Defined as the informal and formal
Internal
Processes
methods of communication between and
among staff, as well as the organizational
capacity (e.g., staffing, finances, leadership)
to implement the plan.
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External Factors
 Defined as external factors (e.g., historical
External
Factors
events or stakeholder perceptions) that
may impact the feasibility and fidelity of
plan implementation. Stakeholders include
community partners, parents, and
residents.
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Identifying Core Indicators and Developing
District Capacity to Collect and Report on them
Data Warehouse: Transform data into information for
knowledge-based decision making
 Development of warehouse:
 Indicator summit for community partners
 Indicator summit for educators
 Benefits:
 Action: Inform instruction
 Decision making
 Accountability
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Stakeholder Survey
Surveyed all
stakeholders:
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Parents
Students
Staff
Community Partners
(Business Council, School
Community Council,
Community Members)
Survey included questions
pertaining to:
• Collaboration
• Diversity and Equity
• Strategic Plan Focus
• Job satisfaction (morale)
• Leadership
• Data
• Engagement
• Customer Service
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Creating a Process for Review and
Performance Management
Research Review Team
 Creation of a formal process to review
internal and external research requests
 Partnership with University of Evansville for
IRB
 LLC Action Research Projects
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Performance Management Team
 Armstrong and Baron (1998): “A strategic and integrated
approach to increasing the effectiveness of organizations by
improving the performance of the people who work in them
and by developing the capabilities of teams and individual
contributors”
 Facilitate the effective delivery of strategic and operational
goals
 Maximize district team efficiency through improved
communication and development
 Encourage transparency and accountability that results in
improved student achievement
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Keys to Success
 District leadership recognizing and supporting the
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importance of community schools and the development
of an evaluation culture
Creation of a center to organize the community school
work
Creation of a department that is dedicated to supporting
evaluation and research
Increased capacity to track district-level data using an
integrated data management system
Partnership with external evaluation consultants
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