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Program Evaluation Design
Step 1: Select and Describe the Program
The Starfish Pack Program
“Changing childhood hunger starts with one child at a time”
The Focus and Mission of
the Starfish Pack Program
According to the Starfish Pack Program website (https://starfishpack.com/vernon/), approximately one in five children in BC live in poverty and often go more than a full day without eating a healthy meal. The Starfish Pack Program (named after the Parable of the Starfish, left) was developed to help address the problem of student hunger in British Columbia. While many schools run breakfast and lunch programs to support hungry students throughout the school week, the Starfish Pack Program aims to support struggling families by providing food for families on weekends.
The program began in Abbotsford, BC, in 2015, but now operates in over 20 cities throughout British Columbia, serving 235 schools.
The Backpacks
Students in the program (nominated by principals, teachers, and youth care workers) are provided with a backpack containing 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners, as well as a collection of snacks, each weekend of the school year.
Packs are filled each week by volunteers, then delivered to local schools for students enrolled in the program. The empty packs are returned the following week to be refilled.
PARABLE OF THE STARFISH
On the morning after a violent storm, the residents of a seaside village awoke to find their beach covered with hundreds of dying starfish which had washed ashore. As the community gathered at the end of the beach, they spoke in hushed tones about the great sadness of the disaster. Suddenly, a young girl ran towards the beach and began to pick the starfish one at a time, then throwing them back into the water.
A village elder walked towards the young girl and kindly said, “Child, there are hundreds of starfish on this beach and this must be happening on other beaches up and down the coast. You must understand that you alone can’t possibly make a difference.”
The little girl looked up at the old man, smiled and bent down to pick another starfish. As she threw it back into the sea, she replied, “I made a huge difference to that one!”
– Author Unknown
Staffing
Each Starfish program is independently run, and partnered with a registered local charity. It is volunteer-run, and relies on donations to pay for the food and other supplies. The Kalamalka Rotary Club facilitates the Vernon, BC Starfish Pack Program, and supports 8 elementary schools and 84 backpacks. The local Okanagan Boys and Girls Club also provides volunteers for packing and delivering the backpacks each week. Local businesses and private donors donate financially.
Goals
The primary goal of the Starfish Pack Program is to prepare students for a positive and successful week by filling their bellies over the weekend.
By addressing their practical needs, the program aims to positively affect a student's mood, ability to focus, and academic progress.
Costs
The Starfish Pack Program costs approximately $600 per student per school year, or approximately $20 per week(end). In order to ensure "consistency, quality and safety", financial donations are preferred over food donations. Donors can contribute to any program throughout the province via the program's website.
The Vernon, BC Starfish Program supports 84 packs per week, costing approximately $1640 per week. Approximate funding requirements for one school year (40 weekends) of backpacks for all 84 students is approximately $65,000.
The Kalamalka Rotary Club engages local partners to provide the funding for the program - these are listed on the Starfish Pack program website.
Community Demographics
The Starfish Pack Program is intended to support low-income families struggling with food security. While there are a few high schools enrolled in the program, the focus is currently the elementary school population.
I will be examining this program as it impacts the school district in which I teach (Vernon, BC, SD#22). Several of my past and present students have been enrolled in the program. The city of Vernon has a population of 40, 000, and its 14 elementary and 5 secondary schools serve 8, 700 students. Approximately 15% of our students are of Indigenous heritage. The median household income is $59, 000, slightly below the national average. These figures and student needs are more pronounced at the school at which I teach.
References:
Starfish Pack. (n.d.). Retrieved May 14, 2022, from https://starfishpack.com/
School district 22. School District No. 22. (2022, May 5). Retrieved May 14, 2022, from http://www.sd22.bc.ca/
Step #2. Identify the purpose for evaluation and specify evaluation questions
According to Guijt (2013), evaluations are most effective when time is taken to frame them. I have employed her four-step process (see graphic, above) to frame my evaluation.
Purpose(s)
The Starfish Pack Program has been in effect for seven years. According to Chen (Chen, 2005, p.51), evaluations performed after a period of program maturity are important because “stakeholders inside and outside the program want to know whether the program is achieving its goals.”
Herman notes that evaluations provide an opportunity to examine "how programs are operating, the extent to which they are serving their intended beneficiaries, their strengths and weaknesses, their cost-effectiveness, and potentially productive directions for the future”(Herman, 1987, p. 4). In particular, process evaluations help determine “whether program activities have been implemented as intended and resulted in certain outputs” (CDC, Types of Evaluation, 2020).
Therefore, by conducting a process evaluation, I will determine whether the Starfish Pack Program in Vernon is meeting its stated goals of addressing students' weekend hunger, thereby improving overall student mood, focus, and academic progress. I will also consider the effectiveness of the program in connecting with its target audience (Rotary Club - Schools - Teachers - Families), and offer suggestions for program improvement moving ahead.
Primary Intended Users
My evaluation will provide information for (1) the schools currently implementing Starfish Pack Program in Vernon, BC; (2) other school districts in BC hoping to implement the program; and (3) The Kalamalka Rotary Club, which sponsors the Vernon implementation of this program. I have listed the program stakeholders below:
Stakeholders
Students and their families
Elementary School Teachers and Principals
Local School District
Local Charity (Kalamalka Rotary Club)
Save-On-Foods (sponsoring grocer)
Volunteers
beneficiaries of the food security program
nominate students, facilitate transfer of backpacks, monitor ongoing needs
liase with Starfish Pack Program and individual schools
connect with Starfish Pack Program as local sponsor/charity; liase with school district, local grocers, organize volunteers, solicit donations.
provide discounted groceries as part of community outreach program
purchase, fill, deliver and collect (empty) packs weekly
Key Evaluation Questions (UPDATED)
The following questions will be used to focus my evaluation:
Students and Families
Are the students and families (program beneficiaries) satisfied with the program? Does the program address the needs of families?
Do students/families feel that the program is setting them up for greater success for the upcoming school week?
School District #22 (schools, principals, teachers)
Is the program reaching its intended audience? Is there a clear and effective collaborative process (teachers, principals, student support) in choosing students?
Do students exhibit improved social, emotional, behavioural and cognitive functioning after being enrolled in the program?
What are the challenges in facilitating the program from a school perspective?
Kalamalka Rotary Club & Volunteers, Save-on-Foods (Vernon Starfish Pack Program facilitators)
Is the target audience being reached?
How is the program functioning from an organisational perspective?
Is there a sufficient volunteer base to keep the program running smoothly? How sustainable is the program?
Is there a realistic possibility of decreasing program costs (groceries, etc.)?
References
Center for Disease Control. (n. d.). Types and Uses of Evaluations. Types of Evaluation. [PDF]
Chen, H. (2005). A conceptual framework of program theory for practitioners. In Practical program evaluation (pp. 15-43). SAGE Publications, Inc.
Guijt, I (2013) Overview of Rainbow Framework for Evaluation. American Evaluation Association’s Better Evaluation Series. Retrieved from https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/events/coffee_break_webinars_2013 on May 14/22.
Herman, J. L. (1987). Evaluator’s handbook. Accessible via Queen’s Library.
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