Children & Family Enrichment (CAFE)
Contact:
Debi Elliott, Lead Evaluator, 503-725-5198, elliottd@pdx.edu
Karen Cellarius, Project Manager, 503-725-4112, cellark@pdx.edu
The Children and Family Enrichment (CAFE) program at Lot-Whitcomb Elementary School is a program of Metropolitan Family Services (MFS). CAFÉ is designed to provide after school educational and enrichment programs for elementary school students in grades 1-6 as well as family events and adult education classes for their parents. Recruitment is targeted to lower income families, though the program is technically open to everyone who applies on a first come, first served basis. Funding is provided by a three and a half-year 21st Century Community Learning Center grant from the Oregon Department of Education. The grant period is February 2006-June 2009.
The evaluation for the project will be conducted by the PSU Regional Research Institute. Methodology will consist of (1) focused discussions with groups of parents of participating children at the end of each school term (separate groups in Spanish and English, as needed), (2) a focused discussion with a group of teachers with students in the CAFÉ after school program, and (3) analysis of de-identified student data provided by the school district and program.
Parent discussion questions will cover current project activities, level of participation in the project, perceived service needs, parent’s observed outcomes for their children, level of satisfaction with the project and suggestions for improvements. A questionnaire (available in English and Spanish) will be provided after the discussion with items about their child(ren) related to the Search Institute’s framework of Developmental Assets. Teacher discussion questions will also include observed outcomes for the children in their classes (including items related to the Search Institute’s framework of Developmental Assets), level of satisfaction with the project and suggestions for improvements. (See Appendix A: Group discussion questions)
Data provided by the school for secondary analysis will include:
- School Attendance and the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) (Administered by the school district)
- Pre-Post Tests on Reading (Collected electronically from the students through the computer-based instructional reading software)
- A standardized teachers survey required by the state (Collected from the Lot-Whitcomb teachers by CAFE staff)