Program Planning and Evaluation Essay

The Far West community is an ever-growing community that is presenting many opportunities especially for a diverse population. Because the way society is as a whole it is important that there are culturally diverse communities not only for ones that need the exposure to diversity but for the cultures that need a place they can call and feels like home. Within communities such as Far West there is a huge need for the educators to be able to provide good education as well educational programs that tends to the diverse needs of a diverse population. Far West is a community striving to provide the perfect community and educational atmosphere for those that look to call Far West home. A program that is focusing on producing a successful program for a diverse population would have to utilize some program planning. This is especially accurate when a majority of the school population is of an Asian descent. Not only will program planning need to take place to come up with ways to provide for the Asian populations needs but for other cultures as well. Due to the growing population of Asian people within Far West there has also been a spike in the population of other cultural groups. Not only will a need for educational programs for the Asian culture be a must but also for others such as the Hispanic population. Not only will bilingual educators be needed but also bilingual programs, text books, and other materials to provide for the multicultural school population. The program is planning to use the first four years of grades kindergarten through fourth grade as the transition period to transform these unilingual to bilingual American students. Another program that is going to be put into place is a diversity program. Planning for this program is going to take some outside of the box thinking and some dedication from the educators and from the parents of the students.  Recruitment of faculty and staff will take place to help run this program. The principal is on board with the program and plans to make a point to recruit all the bilingual staff and paraprofessionals to help make this program run without a hitch. Parents are going to be needed to make this program a success as well. The needs for dedicated, caring parents are needed to form a diversity program committee to plan and execute everything, (â€Å"Http://www.ehow.com†, n.d.). There have been talks of creating a new class to aid in this program as well as an after school program. It will all depend on the funding whether or not the class will be implemented but the after school program is a go. Along with the daily afterschool program there will also be a monthly program celebration that will celebrate a different culture each month. Determining the celebrated cultures will be based on the different cultures that attend the school. During that month all students involved with the program will learn the lifestyles, traditions, history, and any common knowledge of the celebrated culture of that particular month. To make this happen successfully it is important to allow students to be involved and have a say in the programs planning and scheduled activities. This is the strategy to keep the students engaged and provide them with a sense of importance and responsibility. All is set in place for this program and applications for the grants have taken place and this will be what will determine if there will be a class provided during school hours as well as the after school program. Another area of need to make sure that the Far West elementary school is providing acceptable and successful services is the use of program evaluations. Some programs do this type of evaluation but it normally takes place on a quarterly basis. Far West plans to utilize a bi-monthly evaluation so the necessary statistics are recorded to make sure that the program is effective. This not only helps the students but it is also beneficial for the teachers and aides. With the students the evaluations provides insight on the learning level of the students and how well they are obtaining and learning the material taught within the program. All students learn on different levels and it is important to decipher what a child’s learning level is so that the program does not fail the student. The evaluations are also important for the educators and assistants because it allows them to analyze the data provided to see if adjustments need to be made so that lower level students can receive e xtra assistance. The  evaluations can also provide teachers with insights on any areas of improvement needed on how they are teaching the curriculum to the students. Evaluation is needed to help make a program successful and it also helps in the continuing evolution of a program. Far West plans to focus their attention on their program planning and evaluation by following a check lists. This check lists focuses on Curriculum, particularly a diverse curriculum. The next area would be instruction. The instruction given to these students is going to be as diverse as the schools population with the use of technology such as computers, videos, music, and artwork. These strategies will be added to the typical traditional use of textbooks and other media sources that can be obtained within the school’s library. Evaluation is another strategy on the checklists that was already touched upon, and lastly culture. A school’s culture sets the tone for how much the student’s value diversity in others as well as how confident they feel being themselves, (â€Å"Http://www.ehow.com†, n.d.). Program planning and program evaluation go hand in hand with this organization and for the most part a majority of all organizations. Part of the planning that has taken place is to provide an evaluation program on a bi-monthly basis. Success for this program relies on the continuous planning to make the program efficient and the continuous evaluation to make sure that the program is effective for students and the curriculum is effective as well. Both of these interrelate because with this program, planning and evaluation is needed for the overall success of the program. Far West believes that they have a curriculum, program, which is only in need of some extra staff, some dedicated parents, a nd some funding to make it all happen. Although everything presented within this written document has been all positive and seems to be fool proof there are always bumps in the road and potential obstacles that have to be faced when implementing a program of this nature. Technical issues are something that could slow the process of such a program if the required resources are not available. Because this is such a diverse program that is expected to have a large and diverse amount of participants the need for technology is needed. Technology is not only needed for resources but for alternate teaching strategies, programs, record keeping, communication, student interacting, research, and many more areas. Because of the size of the diverse population that is expected at Far West, part of their budget is  going to have the need for more computers and different bilingual programs to allow for more ample instruction of the programs curriculum. Another area of concern when it comes to starting a program would be political aspe cts. Politics is involved in almost everything one can think of. There is a large chance that there are some parents or other citizens within the Far West community that may feel that the grant money needed for all the educational changes can be utilized in other areas. Some parents that may be of another ethnic decent or part of a family that may not feel that it is important for their children to be culturally diverse could be opposed to this program proposal. These families may think that it would be a waste of money or recourses. Some families may feel that more attention should be given to classes of the arts such as art, and music. Or they may be some that believe that funding may be needed for more extracurricular activities such as sports or travel clubs. Other areas of concern could be facility improvement or maintenance. Other political issues could be on how a family looks at political views. Republicans may be opposed to such a program because they may feel that the money could be used in other areas, whereas democrats could be all for a program that is set up to help all of those involved. Other areas could be the overall upbringing and cultural traditions that families follow. Racism is still a huge issue within society and there could be families that feel that it is not in their children’s best interest to learn cultural diversity and may also feel like it is against their rights for such a program to be taught at the school their children attends. That is why the program is optional and not a requirement. The in school class would be a class where students that are interested or their parents are interested can enroll them into the class. The after school program will be optional as well. Although Far West is investing a lot of time and work into this program they are not going to allow this program take away from any other area within the school. This is to prevent from anyone to feel that they are being discriminated against. Far West is not taking any advantages away from other students they are just getting accustom to the ever evolving school population for years to come. This program is important. Children are the future of this country and if children are to be successful they are going to need the correct learning atmosphere, and resources to be able to do so. The Far West population is  becoming more and more diverse by the day and this is the case for the Far West elementary school. Far West has developed a program that will promote learning in an area that is a new way of life with cultural diversity. This is mindset of the future and by Far West Elementary setting an example; this could be the new and improved way of educating our youth starting at an early elementary age. References http://www.ehow.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/how_7464923_create-diversity-program-school.html http://www.ehow.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_7846153_checklist-diversity-evaluation-classrooms.html