Below is the text from the executive summary of the evaluation report prepared for New Hampshire Project Learning and Woodsville Elementary School by PEER Associates on July 1, 2004. The complete report is downloadable as an attachment at the bottom of this page.
Connecting Schools to People and Places Overview
The Connecting Schools to People and Places Program (CS2P) is a pilot project between Woodsville Elementary School (WES) and New Hampshire Project Learning Tree (NH PLT). The program has been designed as a model school improvement program, based on the environment and focused on sustained and intensive professional development. The goal for the CS2P project is to “provide today’s youth with the knowledge, commitment, and skills to be caring stewards of our forests and other natural resources.” CS2P program administrators support WES staff through the following strategies: offering funding for teacher release time, natural science supplies, and field trips; facilitating monthly meetings and summer planning meetings; role-modeling hikes and natural science activities; and sharing natural science and
curriculum-planning expertise.
Evaluation Methods
The following table depicts the sources of data gathered during the Phase I evaluation, conducted during the Spring of 2004. Interviews focused on the effectiveness of NHPLT staff inputs, monthly meetings, and NHPLT staff school visits.
 Data Sources for Interim Evaluation 2004 ent Type and Number AdministerInterviews 12 Woodsville ES Teachers
1 Woodsville ES Guidance Counselor
2 Woodsville ES Principal
Document Review
· Project logic model
· Project executive summary
· Minutes for grade level monthly meetings
· Minutes for Core Team meetings
· Minutes for one Kit Team meeting
· Minutes for School Team meetings
· Minutes for Curriculum Planning meeting
· Minutes for Steering Team meetings
· CS2P visit logs
· Curriculum templates and template format
· Resources/kit inventories
Findings and Discussion
Process Strengths
It is clear that NHPLT staff have effectively instituted many planned strategies that have aided in the CS2P program’s success to date. The most noteworthy and obvious benefits have resulted from grade-level monthly meetings made possible through release time funding. These meetings have resulted in a marked increase in collaboration and sharing of resources by teachers. NHPLT staff visits, summer planning time, and other curriculum resources were also reported as being beneficial.
In addition to planned strategies, the NHPLT staff utilized several unplanned approaches that were reported by interviewees as critical to the program’s success. Those include: flexibility regarding program implementation and goals; a willingness to let the program evolve on its own at WES which resulted in a feeling of trust and rapport between NHPLT staff and WES faculty; and effective meeting facilitation which created a balance between wise time use and flexibility to explore tangential ideas when appropriate.
The following themes are discussed in detail in the main body of this evaluation report.
CS2P implementation strengths
· Flexibility during implementation process
· Rapport and trust established
· Effective facilitation of monthly meetings
· Providing for release time
· Role-modeling and training
· Supplying of physical resources
· Summer planning time
Pilot School Strengths
· Administrative support
· Commitment/ownership by teachers at some level
· Rapport among faculty
Process Challenges
Success reported by WES interviewees at this stage of program implementation speaks to a strong program foundation and quality leadership by NHPLT staff, and to the ability of WES faculty to take on new projects and integrate them successfully. One could also argue that another testament to a project’s success is its flexibility and openness to critique and evaluation. Evidence that surfaced during evaluation interviews suggests that the main challenges of the CS2P program thus far include establishing community-school relationships and finding a source of future funding (particularly for release time for teachers’ monthly meetings and for field trips, and potentially more importantly,) release time for teachers’ monthly meetings.
Teacher, School-wide, and Student Outcomes
Although data gathered for this report focused on program implementation efforts, evidence also surfaced clearly showing how CS2P has impacted teachers, students, and the entire school thus far. Evaluation data gathered to date suggest increases in the following teacher practice elements: integration of natural science into the curriculum; the use of local places and school grounds; and collaboration, sharing of resources, and intentional planning among grade-level teams.
More subtle changes in teacher practice were evident as well, including seeing the outdoors as an extension of the classroom and expressing creative ways to integrate natural science into many different subjects. Also noteworthy was teacher use of place-based education terminology and a growing enthusiasm for teaching in the outdoors and planning curriculum with colleagues.
Data show the following school-wide and student outcomes: steps are being taken to integrate natural science into art, music, library time, dance, and guidance; the program is gaining the support of some school board members and the superintendent; and students are displaying a growing excitement for learning in the outdoors and an increased awareness of their natural surroundings.
Conclusion and Implications for Practice
Phase I of this evaluation has shown evidence that the CS2P program has resulted in a sense of satisfaction and excitement among participants involved with the pilot project and is benefiting the teachers and students of WES in some substantive ways. In addition, this evaluation has yielded a number of opportunities for on-going refinement of the program. The following bullets are discussed in detail in the conclusions and implications section of this report.
· Ensuring Continued Opportunities for Curriculum Planning and Collaboration
· Finding Future Funding
· Establishing Community-School Connections
· Refining Program Logic
· Focusing CS2P Strategies for Continued Program Success and Sustainability
· Future Program Start-ups
· Future Evaluation
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