An evaluability assessment of psychological services provided by a small rural Kansas school district

Abstract

The present study was conducted in the form of an evaluability assessment to help a small rural Kansas school district make the most of available resources and to improve psychological services provided based on input from administrative stakeholders and school staff. The basic evaluability assessment was designed from work described by Whorley (2004). Included in this investigation were the services provided by the district's special education cooperative and the school's staff. First, the program's objectives, goals, and strategies were identified by administrative stakeholders and assessed for evaluability. Then, a program logic model was constructed to use as a blueprint for developing and managing future program activities. Next, the program's budget was determined and evaluated based upon the content of the program's objectives and goals. This was done so that a sense of reality could be obtained regarding attainment of the goals. Teachers were also given access to program goals and asked to comment on the effectiveness of past attempts to reach them. Finally, agreement was sought on immediate adjustments to program strategies and for the provision of future evaluations. The results indicate the district has a well-funded psychological services program but most of its goals were either unattainable or could not be assessed in an economical fashion. Therefore, it is the opinion of this researcher that the psychological services provided by this district are not evaluable at this time. Several suggestions are made as to what stakeholders may do to in order to make the program evaluable. The importance and the burden of evaluation efforts for small districts is also discussed.