Evaluating Health Programs

Health education programs must be evaluated continually to make sure that they are accomplishing their goals. In order to evaluate effectively many aspects of the program must be examined. To do this in a fast and efficient way, triangulation is often used. Triangulation is the method of examining the three main components of a program. The three components are: Student learning, Curriculum opportunities, and Community impact. Once each of these aspects is examined, the overall effectiveness of the program can be determined and the evaluation will be complete.
Students learning should be continuously evaluated through a variety of assessment tools and student feedback. In a health education class the three learning domains are incorporated into the curriculum. Each domain’s learning is assessed throughout each unit. Tests, quizzes, and essays are common assessments for the cognitive domain. Journals, reflection cards, and values statements are common assessment tools used to evaluate affective learning. Role plays, presentations, and projects are commonly used to assess the behavioral domain. When each student learning in each domain is examined and assessed regularly student progress can be examined and followed more closely.
Curriculum and opportunities should be evaluated on a regular basis to make sure that the curriculum is meeting school, state, and national standards. In health education the curriculum often focuses on the topics being covered and not as much on assessment. By regularly assessing the curriculum, teachers and curriculum designers can improve the curriculum and the assessment tools to create better programs. With better more effective programs student learning will increase and more standards met. Many programs leave evaluation as an afterthought and this makes quality assessment more difficult. As a program is planned and implemented, assessment and evaluation must be included so that the effectiveness of the program can be examined.
Community impact examines the costs of the program verses the benefits of the program. Health programs are often looked at as an extra expense that can be avoided by cutting the program altogether. Yet when the long term impact on health for the individual and the community are examined it is clear that everyone benefits from health programs. The skills taught and developed through health programs help the individuals throughout their entire lives. Advocacy is a skill that is taught and encouraged throughout health programs and will benefit the entire community as participants go out into the community and teach the skills that they recently learned. Being informed about physical, mental, and emotional health will impact the quality of life for all.
Using the method of triangulation will help programs to make improvements and assess it’s effectiveness on a regular basis. If an evaluation is done and one of the components of the program is not being effective then improvements can be made and the program can be fixed so that it is benefiting its learners, having effective curriculum that is assessable, and is cost effective for the community that it serves.

Easy Grade Pro is Great!

Dear Ms. Weiss,

Thank you for your in depth review of Easy Grade Pro 4.0 after reading it I realized that it would be the perfect solution for my classroom. I love that it allows you to have the seating chart and attendance in the grade book and it allows the students photos to represent where they sit, making it easy for substitutes to take attendance. I was able to enter my whole grade book into the computer in a matter of hours and it makes entering grades fast and easy. The parents have already commented that the printed grades are easy to understand and the graphs make progress easy to see. Thank you again for letting me know about this amazing product!

Sincerely,
Theresa Sime

Easy Grade Pro Looks Great!

When looking for a good software program for calculating my class grades I decided to do a search and review some programs. I found the Easy Grade Pro 4.0 website and was very impressed by the reviews. I feel that the purchase of this software would be beneficial in many ways.

This program is able to calculate grades for a variety of assessments such as participation, Tests and quizzes, Homework assignments, and projects. It calculates grades for attendance and is easily able to calculate all grades for each quarter and for the entire year. Grades are easily entered, updated, and printed, and the program is very user friendly. This program takes the stress out of tracking assessments and allows students to have printed progress reports and updates on their progress. With a glance teachers are able to assess who is missing assignments and they are better able to assist students.

The program is easily customizable and allows for teachers to enter summaries of each grade entered. Teachers are able to improve their teaching by reflecting in the summaries on the assignments that they give and are able to make improvements. It accurately calculates grades and saves many hours of time for teachers.

One downfall of this software is that you have to be a near a computer to access the grades, if the power, internet, or computer is not working then grades cannot be entered, accessed or viewed. There is the possibility of hackers gaining access to the system or viruses erasing the grades but there are measures taken to avoid this. Having a grade book that can be used as a backup will help teachers to double check that they have entered grades correctly and will allow for grades to be viewed and calculated if something was to happen to the computer.

Overall Easy Grade pro seems like a great program that will assist teachers with tracking the progress of their students.

Easy Grade Pro 4.0
http://techforeducators.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1

Assessing group work

This is for the eighth grade health education curriculum.

• Nice to meet you!
• First day of class
• Students are introduced and share past experiences, likes and dislikes, and goals for the year.


• Get to know yourself
• Second day of class
• Students will learn about how they work best, take a multiple intelligence test, and discover strengths and weaknesses.


• Create learning groups
• Second week of class
• The teacher will assign students to groups of three or four based on observed ability, experiences, gender, and ethnicity. Groups will be reassigned one week before the start of each new project (Research project, Poster project, and Create a video).


• Talk about group work
• Throughout the year during each project
• Students will complete reflections on their group in their journals, during discussions with their group members and in class discussions. Each quarter students will be assigned to new groups (each project has a new group) so that students work with a variety of other students throughout the year.


• Peer reflection
• After each group project throughout the year
• Students will complete a reflection of their group. They will answer the following questions: What can be improved, what worked well, struggles and successes? By combining teacher observations, student reflections, and work output the teacher is able to calculate individual student grades.


• Self reflection
• After each group project throughout the year
• Students will complete a self reflection that expresses their feelings regarding: how they improved throughout the year, what can still be improved upon, how they fit into the group dynamics and what struggles and successes they have overcome?

At the eighth grade level many students enjoy the social aspects of group work but run into problems when it becomes time to get work done as a group. Problems within groups can be caused by miscommunication, power struggles, and personal desires for how each person wants the project to turn out. The teacher can minimize many of these struggles by getting to know the students, assigning students to groups, changing the groups periodically throughout the year, helping with conflict management, and encouraging good communication within the groups.
It is crucial to stress the importance of working well with others. Some students will naturally excel at this and some will struggle but it is important to help each student to develop the skills to work well with other students in a group. Throughout their lives they will be forced to interact with people and sometimes they will have conflicts with these people. Teaching effective communication skills and the ability to compromise will help students when working in groups. Frustrations and misunderstandings should be addressed immediately and the group should make efforts within itself to fix the problem and ask for teacher assistance whenever needed. By using these techniques teachers can help students to be good group members and effective participants in collaborative projects.

4 is the new A

Dear Principle Trinket,

I am writing in regards to the new grading system found in my son, John Weiss’s, report card. He is a third grade student in your school and we are both very concerned about the lack of information the new grading system provides. It is difficult to understand what the new letter/number system means. When the system used A, B, C’s to report my son’s progress we were able to observe how he is doing compared to the other students in his class. I would like the grading system to change back so that I am better able to understand how my son is doing in school.
I look forward to hearing your explanation,

Sincerely,

Ms. Weiss



Dear Ms. Weiss,

Thank you for voicing your concerns with the new grading system. Many of the parents in the district are feeling similar confusion and are asking for clarification as well. Due to the uncertainty in comprehending the new grading system we will be having a workshop before the next parent teacher night. This workshop will explain in detail the new grading system and will help all parents to understand how it compares to the old system of grading. I hope that you will be able to attend.
The new grading system allows your child’s teacher to specifically assess progress towards meeting overall standards. The child is therefore not compared directly to other students but their learning is compared to the standards of learning for their age. By presenting students with grades in each skill area they are able to see if they are Masters, Working, Experiencing difficulties. The number system that follows the new letter grades helps to break down each skill even further. The old grading system tends to lump all abilities into one grade when in reality they may be mastering skills in one area and experiencing difficulties in another. The new system will alert parents, teachers and students, to problem areas and allow for intervention.
I hope that this letter has helped to clear up confusion with the new grading system and I strongly encourage you to attend the upcoming workshop. I strongly support communication between the school and the families who attend and would like to thank you again for voicing your concerns. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Janet Trinket

Multiple Choice Tests

Even though I have taken countless multiple choice tests and created several, I had never examined the ways that the questions are put together. After doing research on the do’s and don’ts of multiple choice tests I feel confident that I will be better at writing this type of assessment than I was before.

There are two parts contained in each multiple choice question the stem and the options.
The stem is the question being asked and the options provide choices containing the correct answer. When writing questions it is important to make sure that grammar and spelling are correct in all areas of the test. Grammar between the stem and the options should also be checked (it is helpful to read the question out loud)

Stems should be short and to the point, and be based on the material that was taught.
Options should contain one correct answer, no more than the necessary amount of options, and all options should be of similar length.

Test writers should be careful when using all of the above and none of the above as they often give the answer away and they sometimes confuse students.

Humor should not be used for serious subject matter and should be used sparingly at all times. It is nice to make students laugh and can lighten the mood of the test but it is important to use humor strategically.

By following the above guidelines a teacher should be able to create an assessment tool that tests the knowledge that was previously taught. Assessments should be used to assess learning not to trick students and create stress. As a health teacher I will use tests to assess learning and improve my teaching, as well as to help students see areas of confusion.

Reference:

http://www.utexas.edu/academic/diia/assessment/iar/students/plan/method/exams-mchoice-write.php

Classical Test Theory

This theory provides a formula for calculating the amount of error contained in a test. It is often assumed that tests automatically provide a true score that demonstrates an accurate assessment of a person’s knowledge. This is not true as all tests contain some amount of error. The following formula provides a way of determining if an assessment tool is reliable and how much error is contained within.

Observed score= true score + error

As a teacher I will be creating assessment tools and testing the students. This formula will allow me to see the error contained in my testing instruments. This will also allow me to reduce the amount of error in order to assess the students more effectively. By creating effective testing tools I will be able to see what information will need to be reviewed and where students are excelling and struggling.



If I create a test and then use this formula I will be able to assess the error of the instrument. This will allow me to reduce the error by pin pointing the error in the tool. I may need more specific directions, more challenging questions, changed wording on questions, a more thorough review of material, etc. in order to make the test more accurate.

If I was to give a test and notice a high rate of error I should change the test and provide students with the opportunity to take the test again. The less error that is contained within the test the more accurately the assessment of student knowledge will be.

Nutrition and Fitness Board Game

Board Game-Nutrition and Fitness Review
Name/Title: Nutrition and Fitness



Purpose: To create a board game that will assess students on their understanding of the topic of nutrition and fitness. The games that students create will be played by other students in the class as a review for the end of unit exam. This review will focus on reviewing the following topics: 1. Nutrition and Fitness terminology 2. The physical, social, mental and emotional effects of nutrition and fitness on individuals and communities 3. Ways to incorporate fitness and healthy eating into daily life.

Grade Level: 8th grade health education

Materials needed: nutrition text book, class notes, sample paper, poster board (for final), index cards, markers, crayons, scissors, glue stick.




Assignment Description:
Students will be assigned into groups of 4. Students will then pick a focus area for their game, they will choose one of three areas (listed above) and then focus on either nutrition or fitness. As a group they will review the material that will be covered in their game. The students will then sketch the game board, write directions for game play, and most importantly they will create the game questions and answers. Students will have their sketch, directions and questions reviewed by the teacher before beginning the final game.

Each game must include:
Board game with pieces
Typed directions for play
20 questions and 20 answers (minimum)

Once game boards have been created (one day to review materials and plan game, one day to create final game board, one day to introduce the game, and one day to play games) students will play the games that they created. There will be 4-6 games placed on tables around the classroom. Each group will start at a game that they did not create and all groups will rotate from one game to the next every 15 minutes. After playing each game each student will rate the game on the following criteria:
1. Were directions clear and easy to understand?
2. Were questions based on material covered in class?
3. Did this game help to review the material?
4. Reflect in a few sentences about the experience.


Administration description:
Before beginning this assignment the teacher will review the content from the three areas as it relates to Nutrition and Fitness by playing Pictionary. The teacher will then introduce the board game creation assignment and show students a sample board game. All materials will be available and students will be assigned groups and creation will begin.

Criteria for grading: total score will be out of 40 points

Ability to create a board game- 0-20
20- Content was thorough and game was well planned and game play was smooth.
15- Content was covered and game was created and able to be played.
10-Content was covered but not all content was accurate. Game board was created but was difficult to play.
5- Content was slightly covered and game was mostly created.
0- Content was not covered and game was not created.

Participation in board game day- 0-10
5- Excellent participation
4- Very good participation
3- Good participation
2- Fair participation
1- No participation

Rating and Reflecting on each game played- 0-10
Did the student complete a rating and reflection sheet for each game played and were they honest about what they liked and disliked about the activity.