Introduction
The Lenoir County Even Start Program is located at Southeast Elementary School in Kinston, North Carolina. It serves families with children ages three years through the elementary grades. Transportation, breakfast, and lunch are provided for the participants. During the 2002-2003 program year, the program served 18 families, eight (44%) of which were ESL families.
Methodology
The adult participants were trained for the pilot study on April 4, 2003. Topics of the training included interviewing skills such as utilizing open-ended questions, probes, and encouraging elaboration. Participants were encouraged to think of themselves as reporters while interviewing, and the study was integrated into the literacy curriculum. Each week, adult participants generated questions that they would like to ask other participants, family members of participants, or staff about the Even Start Program and the impact it has on their lives. The teacher reviewed questions to assure proper format (i.e., open-ended and broad enough to elicit embellishment on the topic) and to avoid duplication. The class then chose which three questions were to be asked that week. The three adult participants who authored the chosen questions were reporters for that week. Since involvement in the study was entirely voluntary, if the author was unwilling to act as a reporter a willing classmate could take her place. The interviews were done using a tape recorder. It was the teacher?s responsibility to keep track of the questions chosen by utilizing a form developed for that purpose. Also, the reporters were rotated so that everyone that wanted to participate had an opportunity to do so. The reporters interviewed at least three willing adult participants, staff members, or participant family members (depending on the nature of the question) a week. As a further incentive, the reporter was compensated for her work utilizing the token economy already in place at the Lenoir County Even Start program. If the reporter and interviewee?s native language was Spanish, the interviews were done in Spanish and later translated for content analysis.
A specific protocol was used by reporters to ensure uniformity, confidentiality and proper tracking. First names could be used during the interview, but all participants were assured that no names would be used in this report. This was done for confidentiality and to assure frankness of disclosure by the interviewee. All interviews began with the following information spoken into the tape recorder: date, time, reporter name, and interviewee name. The questions were recorded prior to each response. There were no time limits set for the interviews, however it was expected that this methodology would lend itself to further questions and discussions on the chosen topic.
Results
Interviewing was done by the participants during April and May, 2003. Most of the interviewers elaborated on their questions during the interviews, and responses were recorded for over 62 questions. Approximately 80% of the questions were asked by English speaking students and 20 % by Spanish speaking students. About one-fourth (24%) of the questions were directed at staff members.
The questions participants asked each other encompassed the benefits and what was liked about the program, how they found out about it, suggestions for improvement and what was disliked about the program, the parenting component, and the affect on participants should the program close. The questions to staff included identifying the most difficult thing about the program, the common problems encountered, and what was enjoyed most about the program.
Benefits
All of the participants answering this question stated that they wanted their General Educational Development Certificate (GED) and to better the economic lives of their families by acquiring one:
“I would like to have my GED diploma and to develop myself as a person, to support my children in the future, so they can make a good name for themselves, and to be able to have a better job with a good salary in the future.”
When asked to describe what they liked about the program, participants had varying answers, including being with their child, the education their child received, the help they received meeting their personal goals, the teachers, and the GED classes. Some participants just replied, “everything”.
“It’s a really good program especially for mothers that were still involved in school during the time they got pregnant or had kids before. Sometimes it’s hard for you to finish school when you have kids. But when you have programs like this to help you and also help your child at the same time, it can’t be any better.”
An interesting line of questioning regarding the worth of the program was, “How will it affect you if the program closes its doors?” All of the participants responding to this replied that it would be a loss to their lives and the lives of their families if the program was no longer funded.
“I am thankful that I am attending here. I’m learning a little more English. We will lose an opportunity to help our children with their homework if the program closes. It will affect our goals of study, our goals of life, because I’ve never seen a program like this.”
Recruitment
When seven participants were asked how they found out about the program, three replied that they found out from a friend, two from a relative, and two from information from the school. As with many other Even Start programs, the best means of advertising is via friends and family.
“I found out about the Even Start program through my sister. She was one of the students at the Even Start program and she graduated over a year and a half ago. I was working, but they kept saying that you had to have a high school diploma or a GED, so my sister recommended me to this program so I could get my GED. I came out here and talked to one of the ladies out here at the school and I continued going from there. Since I’ve been here it’s been great. I want to thank my sister and all the other ladies that work out here that gave me the opportunity to come out here and get my GED.”
Improvements
Important to any evaluation are the questions concerning how the program could be improved to better serve its’ participants. Over half (58%) the participants asked this question replied that they would change nothing about program; they liked it just the way it was. All the suggestions involved spending more time in adult education and less time doing other activities.
“We do PACT time, which is parent and child time, and that’s great because you get a chance to really see what your child is learning. And they have KinderMusic. I’m not really for that, I’m just going to be honest about it, because I feel like that’s something for the kids and they should enjoy it by themselves. But you know, don’t knock me because I said it. We have a lot of different activities. And I do like the PACT time more than I like the Kinder Music time. There you have it.”
“Less activities, more work. I enjoy the activities that we do have but I think in the meantime that most of the activities should be for the kids and the adults should concentrate more on getting their GED. I’m not suggesting having no activities at all but just fewer activities.”
Parenting
A few questions focused on the parenting piece of the program and if participants felt that it was helping their families.
“Yes, I would say it (the parenting class) has helped a lot because my son is ADHD and this program helped me learn more about it. And I’m not talking about just with pamphlets and handouts. They would bring somebody into the school during parenting time and she talked to us about it. She told us how to deal with it and a lot of other different things.”
Staff Questions
As stated previously, the questions to the staff centered on three topics:
The answers of the staff were thoughtful and insightful. The answers to the first question included juggling the responsibilities of their jobs, having the financial and program resources available to help meet the needs of all the families, and adult attendance problems.
“There are two things that are very difficult. The first thing I think of is money, the budget. Everything that we do requires funding, and to have enough money to meet the needs of the program is always a challenge. So the very first thing is providing the resources for the families, for the children, for the parents, and to be able to do that, to work with them in the community. So that’s the first thing, the budget, and being able to allocate enough money so that we can do the things we need to do. The second most difficult thing is probably wanting changes with families, and it takes a long time to make changes, especially life changes, like education, growth, and seeing children advance. It’s a slow process and so it’s difficult to be patient and not want to rush that process, but to work slowly through the program. So those two things, the budget and the resources, and being patient enough to see the lifelong changes that we’ve got to see.”
The most common problems mentioned by all the staff were families dropping out of the program before achieving their goals due to various family problems such as health conditions and absenteeism. It was clear from the answers that the staff felt strongly about helping families reach their goals and receiving the help they needed, particularly the Latino families that have many barriers to overcome.
“The problem that causes me sadness in the program is when people quit and they can’t continue for different reasons, because even when they have the opportunity they don’t take advantage of them. Another thing is when they have the desire to continue their studies, to achieve their goals and they don’t have the means. Sometimes they don’t have transportation to come to the program, they have small children and they don’t have anyone to take care of them, they don’t have money for daycare. These are mostly the Latino people, because many of them have small children that don’t have a Social Security number and they can’t get social services. So these are people are limited by language, by many things, and even though they can improve their lives and their abilities, they don’t have options or any place for the reasons that I mentioned: they don’t have transportation, they don’t have daycare to put their children in because they are studying.”
Considering the source of sadness mentioned by the staff, it is not surprising that what was mentioned as a cause for happiness was seeing the families succeed in the program and accomplish the goals that they set for themselves. Another aspect of the program cited as bringing joy to the staff was working with the children and seeing the parents learn how to interact more positively with their children.
“I’m glad you asked that question. I get the most joy when I see parents and children being successful in the program. It gives me great joy when I see parents come to the program and achieve their goals. They always set out by writing down what their goals are. When they achieve their GED or get the job that they wanted, it gives me great joy. And the other thing that gives me real joy is to see parents that didn’t even expect when they came to the program that they would learn so many things about working with their children. You see parents change when they begin to learn about child development. Seeing them begin to interact with their children in a very positive way is the thing that gives me the most joy. Seeing families succeed, especially parents and children together.”
Debriefing
The adult teacher who oversaw the pilot program was interviewed after the participants had completed their interviews. Because the pilot was initiated so late in the program year, it was not integrated into the lessons for the adults, but was an extra assignment. It was suggested that started the project sooner in the year would have made it easier fitting it into the adult curriculum. The teacher also remarked that the students seemed to enjoy doing the interviews and had no problems generating questions for other participants and staff.
Summary and Conclusion
The interviews of the participants provided information about their opinion of the Even Start program and improvements that they thought could be made. These results are similar to the results of a focus group, another qualitative methodology for program evaluation. The participant focus group results and the pilot study responses both indicate that the adult participants enjoy the Even Start program and can describe positive changes in their lives and their families as a result of their involvement in it. The focus group results varied somewhat from the pilot results regarding suggestions for program improvement. Some of the focus group participants desired more time to spend with the children, while the pilot interviews indicated that some participants desired more time to study and prepare for their GED. This may have been a result of different participants being involved in the pilot study than attended the focus group. Both answers may indicate that the adult participants need to be reminded of the program structure and the reasons for the different pieces. The pilot question about how lives would be changed if the program closed may indicate participant’s feelings that the program is in jeopardy.
The participant’s questions to the staff gave the staff an opportunity to express their dedication to the families and the frustrations they felt when trying to help them. This should help increase open and honest dialog between participants and staff. This pilot program was successful in adding to the information collected via the participant focus group and in providing a venue of communication between staff and participant.
To receive greater insight into the program and increase the feelings of ownership by the participants, it is suggested that the pilot interviewing methodology be started earlier in the year, perhaps at the beginning of the academic year in order to integrate it into the curriculum and give the participants more time to practice their skills at both interviewing and responding to questions.