Planning a Program Evaluation

This document describes how to conduct a program evaluation. It covers focusing the evaluation at the outset, collecting and using the information, and managing the evaluation. Each section presents a series of questions and considerations that can be adpated to a specific need and situation. An accompanying worksheet assists the user in organizing this information. Educational levels: Primary elementary, Intermediate elementary, Middle school, High school, Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division, Graduate or professional, Graduate or professional

Ornithological passions of American poet Celia Thaxter

American poet Celia Leighton Thaxter (1835–1894) was shaped by both environmental beauty and destruction she witnessed in her New England community. As a woman who spent much of her life on a small wind-swept island, she was educated by seasons and migrations that later informed her work. A brief education among Boston’s literary elite launched her creative career, where she focused on her local ecology. At that time, over-hunting and newly fashionable plumed hats and accessories had created a serious possibility of avian decimation. By creating awareness of humans’ culpability for birds’ endangerment, Thaxter’s work evoked public sympathy and contributed to social and political change. This essay applies ecofeminist and cultural analyses to Thaxter’s work written as part of the 19th century bird defense movement, by examining the emotional rhetoric employed and activism implied in her poems and prose about birds, specifically: “The Kittiwakes,” “The Wounded Curlew,” and “The Great Blue Heron: A Warning.” Little attention has been paid to Thaxter’s didactic poems which use birds as subjects to instruct children and adults about the fragility of birdlife and to warn of humans’ destructive behaviors. These works illustrate Thaxter’s ecological sensibility and her use of emotion and reason to communicate an ecological message. Her poetry and prose about birdlife fortified the budding Audubon Society and contributed to the birth of the environmental movement. We can learn from such poetic activism, from attention to nature turned commodity, and the dangers of depleting finite resources. In our global environmental crisis, we recognize the interwoven relationships between birds and humans. Perhaps poems can help stymie our current ecological trajectory.La obra de la poeta estadounidense Celia Leighton Thaxter (1835-1894) fue moldeada tanto por la belleza medioambiental como por la destrucción que esta presenció en su comunidad de Nueva Inglaterra. Como mujer que pasó gran parte de su vida en una pequeña isla azotada por el viento, fue educada por las estaciones y migraciones que luego conformaron su trabajo. Una breve educación entre la élite literaria de Boston catapultó su carrera creativa, en la que se centró en la ecología local. En ese momento, la caza excesiva y la nueva moda de sombreros y accesorios con plumas habían desencadenado la posibilidad real de la extinción de ciertas aves. Al crear conciencia sobre la culpa de los seres humanos en este asunto, el trabajo de Thaxter despertó la simpatía del público y contribuyó al cambio social y político. Este ensayo aplica análisis ecofeministas y culturales a la obra de Thaxter escrita como parte del movimiento de defensa de las aves del siglo XIX, examinando la retórica emocional empleada y el activismo implícito en sus poemas y prosa sobre aves, específicamente: “The Kittiwakes,” “The Wounded Curlew,” y “The Great Blue Heron: A Warning.” Se ha prestado poca atención a los poemas didácticos de Thaxter que utilizan a las aves como sujetos para instruir a niños y adultos sobre la fragilidad de las aves y advertir sobre los comportamientos destructivos de los humanos. Estos trabajos ilustran la sensibilidad ecológica de Thaxter y su uso de la emoción y la razón para comunicar un mensaje ecológico. Su poesía y prosa sobre la avifauna fortalecieron la incipiente Sociedad Audubon y contribuyeron al nacimiento del movimiento ecologista. Podemos aprender de ese activismo poético, de la atención a la naturaleza convertida en mercancía y de los peligros de agotar los recursos finitos. En nuestra crisis ambiental global, se ha de reconocer las relaciones entrelazadas entre aves y humanos. Quizás la poesía puede ayudar a obstaculizar nuestra trayectoria ecológica actual

Interaction patterns in crisis negotiations:Persuasive arguments and cultural differences

This research examines cultural differences in negotiators' responses to rational persuasion in crisis negotiations over time. Using a new method of examining cue-response patterns, we examined 25 crisis negotiations in which police negotiators interacted with perpetrators from low- or high-context cultures. As predicted, low-context more than high-context perpetrators were found to use persuasive arguments, to reciprocate persuasive arguments, and to respond to persuasive arguments in a compromising way. These effects were partly mediated by time period, with the more normative, later period of interaction associated with larger cultural effects than the early crisis-dominated period of interaction. Further analyses found that low-context perpetrators were more likely to communicate threats, but that high-context negotiators were more likely to reciprocate them. The implications of these findings for our understanding of inter-cultural interaction are discussed

Status of CHIPS: A NASA University Explorer Astronomy Mission

In the age of Faster, Better, Cheaper , NASA\u27s Goddard Space Flight Center has been looking for a way to implement university based world class science missions for significantly less money. The University Explorer (UNEX) program is the result. UNEX missions are designed for rapid turnaround with fixed budgets in the $10 million US dollar range. The CHIPS project was selected in 1998. The CHIPS mission has passed the Concept Study and will be having the Confirmation Review in August 2000. Many lessons have already been learned from the CHIPS UNEX project. This paper will discuss the early issues surrounding the use of commercial satellite constellations as the bus and the politics of small satellites using foreign launchers. The difficulties of finding a spacecraft in the UNEX price range will be highlighted. The advantages of utilizing Internet technologies from the earliest phases of the project through to communications with the spacecraft on orbit will be discussed. The current state of the program will be summarized and the project\u27s plans for the future will be charted

Human Resource Strategies for Improving Organizational Performance to Reduce Medical Errors

Preventable medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Healthcare leaders must consistently promote the delivery of quality and safe care of patients to reduce unnecessary errors and prevent harm. The purpose of this case study was to explore human resource strategies for improving organizational performance to reduce medical errors. The study included face-to-face interviews with 5 healthcare clinical managers who work within a multifaceted health system in the Midwestern region of the United States. Complex adaptive systems theory was used to frame this study. Interview notes, publicly available documents, and audio recordings were transcribed and analyzed to identify themes regarding strategies used by managers to find effective ways for improvement. Four themes emerged: addressing seminal/never events, ongoing training programs, communication/collaboration, and promoting a culture of safety and quality. Results may directly benefit healthcare managers by facilitating successful strategies to reduce preventable medical errors through education, feedback, innovation, and leadership. Implications for social change for healthcare managers include continued training, building a culture of safety, and using collaborative and communicative efforts while making contributions to the best practices within healthcare organizations to reduce the likelihood of medical errors

Silver bullets or buckshot? Patient falls and a systems model in healthcare facility design

Falls are associated with increased length of stay in hospitals and higher healthcare costs connected to additional care, discharges to institutional care and litigation claims. Under current US reimbursement programs, organizations are penalized for hospital-acquired conditions, including falls with injury not present on admission. This paper presents the results from a systematic mixed methods literature review on the correlates and interventions for patient falls. While the review is focused on conditions of the physical environment, these must be considered in the context of organizational and people-based factors to fully address the system complexity. A model for systems integration is proposed. Practitioner Summary: Healthcare organizations continue to struggle with preventing patient falls. Because of the multifactorial contributions to fall risk, falls reduction programs include multiple solutions with no ability to quantify the effectiveness of any particular component, and yet, the question is always asked, “What really worked?” Rather than seek silver bullets, we should establish frameworks that account for the interactions within the system that also a proactive approach to healthcare facility design