The National Evaluation Team (NET) of MANILA Consulting Group, Inc., and its partners RMC Research Corporation and Battelle Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation, are conducting a cross-site evaluation of the SS/HS Initiative. This evaluation examines the following issues:
1. The extent to which this unique multiagency collaborative initiative is associated with project-wide improvements in the following outcome categories:
- Reduced frequency of violent incidents in schools,
- Reduced rates of current alcohol, drug, and tobacco use among students,
- Greater access to mental health services among youth,
- Reduced truancy among students,
- Improved school climate, defined as an environment favorable to learning and positive child development, and
- Evidence of comprehensive project-wide improvement likely to be sustained after the end of the grant.
2. The extent to which the planning and implementation processes affect the success of the project in achieving the desired objectives. Areas of interest include:
- Characteristics of the needs assessment,
- Involvement of partners in planning decisions,
- Adoption of evidence-based practices,
- Diffusion of system change to individual schools,
- Characteristics of implementation feedback process,
- Characteristics of implementation decisionmaking,
- Plans for financing improvements following the grants,
- Commitment to supporting infrastructure changes.
The evaluation will integrate process data (program activities implemented, services received, extent to which collaborative structures and evidence-based programs have been implemented) with outcome data (effects on students and schools, and qualitative effects on community conditions). The NET is dedicated to empowering local evaluators to provide outcome data needed both for the individual grants and for the cross-site evaluation. This approach avoids the often-sensitive situation of outside researchers placing extensive demands for data on local school systems already burdened by State and community mandates for surveys, etc.
The purpose of the cross-site evaluation is to assess the performance of the SS/HS grant overall. Neither your school nor district will be rated or evaluated based on the results. NET staff will collect and analyze the data and report it to the Federal project officers (FPOs) and to other staff of the Departments of Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services. Only aggregated data, or combined totals, will be reported—not site-specific information. The NET will examine the impact of different existing conditions in the community, but the data will not be disaggregated by any identifying factors, such as the State or region of the site. Information about specific individuals contacted at the sites will not be available outside the NET.
