Outcomes Survey February 2009
coalition for residential education
CORE Outcomes Survey February 2009
CORE Data and Outcomes Survey February 2009 (Based on 16 respondents) 1. What academic data does your program collect annually?
Other:
MAP Testing TOWL (writing assessment) AIMESweb (Reading) Brigance End of grade End of course QRI
2. How do you measure academic improvement? Responses varied in this category. Most programs rely on the measures above as a measure of academic success. Many also stated that IEP’s, grade reports, and meetings with teachers also help to measure a youth’s academic success. 3. How often is improvement measured? The measure of improvement ranged from daily to yearly depending on the youths needs. One program stated that the state required testing annually and several stated they monitor improvement closely, especially if the youth was struggling.
CORE Outcomes Survey February 2009
4. What social‐emotional information do you gather at intake, discharge, annually and/or other regular intervals?
5. How often do you measure improvement in social‐emotional skills? Responses to this question varied from daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and every six months. Tools such as daily logs and surveys of the student body are also used to help measure improvement.
CORE Outcomes Survey February 2009
6. What youth demographics do you track annually?
7. Does your program collect information from the following?
Other:
These three have been inconsistent in the past years. Personal feedback from students and departments. Stakeholder surveys. Debrief minutes after all initiatives
CORE Outcomes Survey February 2009
8. What post‐program outcomes do you track annually?
Other: Nothing formal on paper or database. We have a very active alumni program. 9. What other data on students do you collect? • Our primary focus of data collection is in the areas of behavior as that is why students are staffed to our program (day students). We are developing a more comprehensive academic assessment to be utilized by next year. • Through our alumni program we are able to keep contact information on the majority of our previous residents. • Varied and complete. • Student Health. Activities Participation. Graduate Outcomes. Student Achievement. • On admission we routinely use the WISC‐IV (Intelligence Testing) and the WRAT‐4 (Academic testing).
CORE Outcomes Survey February 2009
10. How do you use data you collect?
Other: Board appraisal. Accreditation. 11. What data/national outcomes would be most useful for you to use as benchmarks for your program? • How we compare with other programs so that we can enhance ours. • College/technical school graduation rates. Length of stay in program by youth. Number of physical restraints per year. ACT average per class. Comparative data with other programs. • Children’s success once returned to parents. If the reunification fails for whatever reason, we would like to have children return to our agency for placement. • Behavioral change in residential group care. • We are using the Casey Assessments to identify specific goals and progress for the residents in our program. • Our kids against student population outside our home. National average educational gains for comparison to our youth. National average developmental gains for comparison to our youth. • Number of youth each year needing residential care, their age, gender and guardianship. • Information from similar children's homes. • Achievement data. Graduation Outcomes. Information on poverty, residential education outcomes, and graduate success. • Graduation of students from high school and beyond. Jobs that allow for a life style that bring these children from poverty to prosperity. Long term positive family relationships either family
CORE Outcomes Survey February 2009
•
of origin or adoptive. Emotional maturity or emotional stability. Drug free lives. Positive spiritual growth. Academic improvement, behavioral improvement, emotional/psychological improvements, spiritual growth, number of graduates attending post‐high school training, program safety, and the all elusive "success rate" which I have yet to quantify.
12. What data/national outcomes would be most useful for your local advocacy/PR goals? Responses varied to this question. Below is a compiled list of suggestions: • College/technical school graduation rates. • Data on younger children, i.e. length of stay, family reunification %'s, and adoption %'s. • Behavioral change in residential group care. • School success. • Developmental gains. • Number of youth needing residential care that are placed in foster care as opposed to residential care facilities. • Graduation of students from high school and beyond. • Life success factors like gainfully employed, long term positive family relationships, emotional maturity, drug free lives, and spiritual growth. • Data comparable to state DHS foster home outcome measures. It needs to answer the question: is the child better off being in my program than either remaining at home or being placed in the average foster home.
CORE Outcomes Survey February 2009