case study and article questions

! Writing should be clear and easy to understand. ! Instructions: Carefully read the case study example below. At the end of this case, there are several questions. Please respond to each item, taking into consideration all readings and class discussions, to date, particularly the readings on cultural competences and contextually responsive evaluation. Your response must be doubled-spaced typed written and submitted (hard copy) to the instructor.

! Case Study

Math Summer Camp at the Greenwood Middle School !

Community Context

The Greenwood Middle School is one of four middle schools (grades 6-8) in Franklin, a small urban community of approximately 160,000 people, located in the upper Midwest. Economically, Franklin boasts a well regarded second-tier state university; a modest research and knowledge industry; strong health and technology industries; and some light manufacturing. Demographically, the city is approximately 15% African American, 10% Latino/a (and increasing), 65% Caucasian, and the remainder a mix of southeast Asians (primarily Vietnamese), Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and people of mixed races. Despite a relatively high level of median household income of $45,000, 25% of the Franklin population lives below the poverty line, with disproportionately high poverty rates for under-represented minorities.

Franklin’s unemployment rate is about 8.5%, under the state and national average, thanks to the diversity of the local economy. The community’s cost of living is reasonable, and there is affordable housing for people living at most income levels. Franklin is regionally known for its ‘green’ public transit system and its extensive bike paths. The local folk music scene attracts people from throughout the state.

Yet, Franklin also has continuing challenges, much like its larger urban counterparts. The most serious of these challenges are racial disparities in all economic and service sectors of the city, a segregated residential profile, touchy race relations that flare up with some regularity, a higher than average crime rate comprised largely of non-violent and unarmed crimes like burglary and robbery, and a decaying infrastructure of roads, bridges, and public facilities.

! School Context

The Greenwood Middle School is a public school that serves close to 800 students from the city of Franklin in grades 6-8. According to the year’s state school report card, Greenwood has 50 full-time teachers, about 90% of whom are Caucasian, 7% African American, and 3% Latino/a.

Nearly 80% of the teachers are female. Greenwood teachers have an average of 15 years teaching experience, and nearly half of them have a Master’s degree. The school has a student- teacher ratio of 15 to 1, which is lower than the state’s 17 to 1 ratio. A substantial fraction of the faculty will be retiring in the next five years, creating a possible gap in teacher leadership at that time.

! The demographics of the student body at Greenwood reflect the relatively younger ages of the community’s minority populations. At present, 45% of the students are Caucasian, 25% African American, 15% Latino/a, 10% Asian/Pacific Islander/Native American, and 5% Multi-racial. Approximately 45% of the students at Greenwood qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. The school also serves 7% Limited English Proficient (LEP) students, who are in the process of learning English language skills.

! The African American principal at Greenwood, Delores Jones, has been there for four years, having served as a middle school principal for the previous five years in a nearby district, and as an elementary teacher for 10 years before that. Her leadership at Greenwood has been well received by most of the school staff and the families served by the school.

The performance of students in the Greenwood Middle School has met AYP overall for the past five years. However, the subgroups of African American students, Latino/a students, and students with disabilities have not met AYP in mathematics during this same time period.

! Program Description

The Greenwood Middle School’s Math Summer Camp (MSC) is summer enrichment program, designed to prepare and support rising 6th, 7th, and 8th grade African American students for successful participation and achievement in advanced mathematics courses the following year. To date, most targeted students have participated in the MSC every summer since the program’s beginnings.

! Policy context

This program is situated within the current accountability apparatus of No Child Left Behind. The program was prompted by the persistent “under-performance” of particular subgroups of Greenwood students on the state’s mathematics test, but also seeks to go beyond accountability to offering meaningful and sustainable access to the STEM pipeline (for which math competency is a key entrance requirement) and future STEM success.

Program aspirations

Going into its third summer, the broad goal of the Math Summer Camp is to change school norms about just who is an advanced mathematics student by having not just one or two, but clearly visible clusters of African American students in advanced math classes. More specifically,

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the program aims to both boost individual participants’ math skills and to increase their motivation, self-efficacy, and confidence to engage in the serious study of mathematics.

Corollary to these goals, the program is also expected to help build a community of confident and competent learners who will continue to work with one another in advanced math courses in the following academic year, and beyond.

Program activities

The MSC incorporates both supplementary and enrichment curricula that are connected to but not driven by the state standards. The program uses hands-on learning, real-life applications, and technology activities to accomplish its goals. Specific program content and activities have been selected and developed by the program instructors to be congruent with, and relevant to those of the advanced math courses appropriate to each grade level. “I wanted to do things that the kids would have fun with using technology, and at the same time, learn math too,” one of the program’s math teachers said. “The goal is not to teach new concepts in depth,” said another teacher, “but to introduce students to some of the things they are going to see in the higher level math class, so that when they see it in the class next year, they are ready for it.”

Experienced, “expert” math teachers from Greenwood are the teachers in the MSC. The Camp runs for 8 weeks in the summer, from 8:30 am – 12:30 pm, Monday through Friday. Most MSC participants are strongly encouraged to also attend a “math connections” course the following year to support their participation in advanced math courses. The math connections course provides supplementary instruction and review, as well as homework tutoring for students in various math courses, including advanced courses.

! Student recruitment

Students are identified for the program via a combination of teacher, parent, and self nomination. Targeted students are those performing strongly in math (as indicated by state achievement tests, classroom performance, and/or teacher recommendation) but currently not in the school’s advanced math track. Once students are identified, the program staff work actively to recruit them for the program and to secure both their motivation and the necessary parent/guardian consent and support.

! From the outset, the MSC program has targeted African American students, because African Americans are the school’s largest minority and the most under-represented in advanced math classes, as per the program developers and champions. However, “there have been recent discussions,” said the MSC co-director, “about expanding the program to include Latino/as and low-income kids, including white students, but right now, due to the limited budget, the program is serving only African Americans.”

! Evaluation Context

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The primary champion of the MSC is the Greenwood Middle School principal, Delores Jones. The MSC is her programmatic response to the school’s mathematics achievement gap and its contribution to the school’s ongoing “in-improvement” ranking on the state’s overall report card. Ms. Jones is very concerned that her school not slip into the “required-restructuring” ranking. She also deeply believes the MSC is an intrinsically good idea. “This program has opened up access for African American kids to higher-level math,” she explained. “And this goes beyond math. It’s related to everything. It’s about opening doors for these kids and giving them opportunities to experience what kinds of achievements are possible for them.”

The MSC program was developed by a master mathematics teacher in the school in which Ms. Jones previously served as principal, in cooperation with two mathematics teachers from Greenwood. The program design incorporates “research-based evidence” on active learning, cognitive skills required for good mathematics understanding, and culturally responsive pedagogy. '

The National Science Foundation (NSF) provided funding to the school district to support the MSC program. Funding has been committed for a five-year trial, beginning in the summer of 2011. These funds are used primarily to pay teacher stipends and to provide student transportation to and from the MSC. Additionally, the MSC program received support from other district and state funds, as well as support from a local foundation. . The district’s mathematics and science director is the NSF grant’s Principal Investigator (PI) and Ms. Jones, the Greenwood School Principal, is the Co-PI.

! The NSF commissioned the evaluation of the MSC program. The Foundation’s grant includes modest funds for evaluation, approximately $25,000 per year. Evaluation priorities, as stipulated by the NSF, prioritize program outcomes, specifically, participant success in advanced math and motivation to continue studying mathematics, and improvements in the school report card. Due to the insistence of Principal Jones, these priorities also include attention to the quality of the learning experience for students and teachers as well as questions about which students should have access to the MSC.

To date, the available data include the following information: • 90% of the students participating in the MSC were placed in advanced math courses the

following year and performed successfully in them • The supportive “math connections” class is not well liked by students, in part because

they have to give up an elective in order to take it. This class continues to be strongly recommended for MSC participants by program staff.

• Greenwood students’ performance on the state math tests has increased over the last two years, but African Americans, Latino/as, and students with disabilities still do not make AYP in math, although the African American students’ performance is much closer to the bar than two years ago.

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• Parents are highly satisfied with the MSC, according to informal conversations and feedback received.

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Questions for Discussion !

1. Who is the evaluand? The evaluation client? ! 2. Who are the project’s direct and indirect stakeholders? ! 3. How might you involve the project’s stakeholders in the evaluation process? ! 4. What are three issues could be examined via a process/implementation evaluation? ! 5. What three outcomes issues need to be examined via an outcomes or summative evaluation? ! 6. What cultural and contextual characteristics would be important to examine? Why? ! 7. What qualities (skills and competencies) would be necessary for you to have as the lead evaluator

for this project?

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