The report template provides instructions and guidelines for how to write your report. It is important that you carefully reaRunning head: ABBREVIATED VERSION OF TITLE IN ALL CAPS 1
2
[School Name] School/Family/Community Partnership Evaluation Report
by
Student’s Name
EDLD 5339
Date of Submission
Your evaluation report should be:
· Double-spaced between all text lines
· Times New Roman typeface
· 12-pt font
· 1-inch margins on all sides
· The general rule is to use numerals to express numbers 10 and above and words to express numbers below 10.
· In-text citations: Follow the author-date method. This means that the author’s last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 2014), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.
· Each source cited in text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper and “each entry in the reference list must be cited in text” (APA, 2010, p. 174). A personal conversation is the only exception. You will cite a personal conversation within the text, however, you will not list it within the references.
· Review carefully the APA guidelines to ensure all references and citations are formatted correctly.
· Use direct quotes only if you have good reason. Most of your paper should be in your own words. You should summarize or paraphrase.
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Title of Evaluation Report
Center and Bold the Title
(Lamar Requirement)
Section One
Because the introduction is clearly identified by its position in the paper, it does not have a heading. Your paper opens with an introduction that sets the stage for the reader to better understand the overall school/family/community partnership evaluation process. Your report’s first paragraph is an introduction to your evaluation process. In this section you explain the process by which your stakeholder committee, which includes administration, faculty, parents (families), community members, and business partners, work collaboratively to evaluate school level family and community communication and partnerships. The purpose of the report should be stated in the first or second paragraph. The first part is typically several paragraphs describing the overall scenario or context of your study, e.g. name of school, location, relevant history, campus demographics (ethnicity and socio-economic level of students, grade levels, urban or rural, etc.), stakeholder committee demographics as well as any other relevant information that will assist the reader in understanding the context of your report. Include any significant challenges or biases discovered that might impact the project. The reader should have a good idea what the paper is about before finishing the first page.
Background
Level 2 Heading
In the background section provide a description of how you have worked with your campus mentor to involve the principal or assistant principal, counselor(s), teachers from each grade level or department, parents (families), community members, and business representatives in the SFC stakeholder committee to assess schoolwide progress in strengthening communication and partnerships between the school and the school’s families, community and business members. Describe the timeline and process for establishing the committee as well as the process of guiding the committee in the completion of the evaluation. Additionally, discuss the process the SFC stakeholder committee used to identify areas of strengths and needs based upon the survey results.
Review of the Literature
Level 1 Heading
Section Two
This is a new section of the paper. Use APA Level 1 heading (a bold, centered text header). The Review of the literature consists of an introduction, body (with subtopics/themes) and a summary (conclusion). The subtopics/themes that are identified should be APA Level 2 headings in this section. You should have at least two Level 2 headings. Write your literature review using the third person (i.e., do not use “I”). Use the past tense to describe results (e.g.., “Ames observed that . . . “).
A literature review is a way of organizing what has been written about a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Your purpose is to convey to your reader what you have learned through a careful reading of literature related to school/family/community partnerships and the impact of this involvement on student learning. The goal of this section is to introduce the reader to the major issues and themes from experts in the field. By broadening your readers’ understanding of the major issues surrounding your research, you further solidify the credibility and trustworthiness of your work. The review of the literature section should contain no commentary, personal opinion; only synthesize the findings of the experts to give an objective review of the issues involved. Highlight areas that have been successful in a school/family/community partnerships. Also examine areas that pose challenges to the development of partnerships. The goal of the literature review is to create a coherent narrative that lays the foundation for the understanding of the impact of school/family/community partnership involvement on student learning. You will cite research from articles, studies, etc., including district or state information gathered that is pertinent to your study. There is no limit on the number of references cited but typically, eight to ten studies will suffice. You are expected to include a minimum of eight current references (no more than 10 years old) that clearly support best practices that relate to your study. Use direct quotes only if you have good reason. Most of your paper should be in your own words. You should summarize and paraphrase with appropriate APA citations documenting the source of information. The review of the literature section may be several pages or many pages that explain what the current research shows about your topic. Typically, this section is four to six pages. Remember that each reference cited in the literature review should be written in APA format and included in the references section of your report.
Since there is a lot of information to convey in this section, in the introduction, you should identify the general topic, thus providing an appropriate context for reviewing the literature. Point out the overall trends in what has been published about your topic and establish your reason for reviewing the literature. In the body, the main themes/subtopics that are identified as APA Level 2 headings. As you review the articles you found on your topic, look for at least two variables or themes that are consistently described in the articles you read. See if you can divide the articles by theme of the research or any other significant factor. Make these groupings and decide what the subtopics should be based on your subgroups. These subgroups will evolve into a separate heading of the literature review. You should have at least 2 APA Level 2 headings. Finally, use an APA Level 2 heading for the summary section of your literature review.
Subtopic/Theme One
Indent and objectively present the best information you have found relevant to your first theme. Each subheading should have at least three references.
Subtopic/Theme Two
Indent and objectively present the best information you have found relevant to your second theme. Each subtopic should have at least three references.
Summary
Text goes here. Summarize major contributions of significant studies and articles to the body of knowledge under review, maintaining the focus established in the introduction. No new information should be presented or cited in the summary.
Findings
Section Three
This section presents the findings from your study. Notice that this is a new section of the paper. Use APA Level 1 heading (a bold, centered text header). In this section, you report your data analysis process as well as the results from your data analysis. Remember you are just reporting in this section. Save your interpretations of the findings or results for the “Conclusions and Recommendations” section. In the first paragraph of the “Findings” section, it is helpful to give the reader a brief introduction into the section’s content.
You collected quantitative data (rating scale survey) and should present the data in a clear fashion with tables, bar graphs, etc. In short, present the numerical data in a simple way so that the reader can easily see the results. You may want to consider organizing the data by the survey categories: a) Improving Communication, b) Promoting Positive Parenting, c) Enhancing Student Learning, d) Increasing Volunteerism, e) Supporting Decision-making and Advocacy,
f) Collaborating with the Community.
You have also collected qualitative data from your stakeholder meetings such as
1) minutes of meetings and discussion, 2) committee member comments regarding identified strengths and needs based on data analysis findings and 3) recommendations by committee members for prioritized action steps to be taken based upon the findings. Based on qualitative data, provide a thorough discussion of stakeholders’ collaborative decision-making process in the identification of the top three needs and the partnership that was chosen to address the need identified as highest priority. Describe the elements of the SFC partnership and potential plans to implement the partnership. You will present your qualitative findings in a narrative. You may consider using bullets or sub-headings where appropriate to help the reader better understand your results.
Summary
For the “Findings” section, it is helpful to include a short summary paragraph. Use APA Level 2 heading to introduce the paragraph and summarize your findings. Describe the results in terms of what you expected to find, and whether or not your original expectations were supported by the data. Tie the results back to the introduction, referring back to the articles you presented in the review of the literature.
Conclusions, Reflection and Recommendations
Section Four
This is a new section of the paper. Use APA Level 1 heading (a bold, centered text header). The previous sections presented the information regarding the school/family/community partnership evaluation project. This section begins with a brief summary of your project.
Conclusions
This final section is for you to present the conclusions that you believe can be drawn from the results you found. This is your judgment, as you are now an expert on your study. The discussion should be thorough and include information about how the results relate to the development of a school/family/community partnership.
Your study may have shown major or minor results in the areas you were evaluating. Regardless of whether you got the results you hoped for, the findings of your study are a help to others. To understand what aspects of school/family/community partnership and communication is working well at your school, as well as what aspects are not being implemented or working well, is good information for educational leaders and all school/family/community stakeholders to have. Discuss the strengths as well as the areas of need identified from the evaluation as well as the action steps that are planned to develop a partnership that address the area of concern identified through the collaborative decision-making process.
Reflection
d through the report directions before you begin writing.
when addressing the following prompts:
