Purpose and Goals for Evaluation of CBST Education Efforts

As with any large or small-scale project, the overall purpose for evaluation is to understand the degree to which the project goals are being met and to monitor and improve project effectiveness along the way in an effort to help reach those goals.  There are two significant goals of the CBST Education Evaluation effort.  The first goal is  to document student participation in CBST Education programs over time, assess the impact of the programs on student participants, and identify and follow longitudinally case studies of students who decide to pursue STEM-related education, research, and careers.  A second goal is to document the degree of success of efforts to generate a comprehensive knowledge-base for learners and teachers of biophotonics.  

The overall process
During the first three years of the grant, while program development has been a primary focus, most evaluation strategies targeted formative approaches (implementation and progress evaluation) which were used to assess ongoing project activities and provide information to monitor and improve the projects.  Examples of these included surveys and interviews administered to K-5, high school, undergraduate interns, and graduate students during and at the end of particular program activities (i.e. after pilot materials were tested, at the end of the annual retreat, after seminars, etc.).   During years 4-10 these formative approaches continue to be implemented with some modifications, but in addition summative approaches (impact and outcome evaluation) are being added to assess success in reaching stated goals.  Significant attention will be paid to gathering and tracking longitudinal data so that we can document overall impact of engagement with and support of CBST on students educational and career choices.

Framework

Assessment Schema

Assessment Tools and Targets

Evaluations- 2007 CBST Annual Retreat

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