GLOBE News
GLOBE Informal/Formal K-12 Comprehensive Education Pre-Evaluation Activities Report is Now Available
The “GLOBE Informal/Formal K-12 Comprehensive Education Pre-Evaluation Activities” Report Brief is now complete – and available on the GLOBE website.
Dr. Allison K. Leidner, GLOBE Program Manager, NASA Headquarters, said, “This report was prepared by a third-party independent evaluator with expertise in education, led by Dr. Carla Johnson, who at the time was at Paragon TEC. I am excited to share these evaluation findings with our entire GLOBE community as we work together to build on GLOBE’s nearly 30 years of impactful programming.”
“During the 2022 GLOBE Annual Meeting, I shared that the GLOBE Program Office (GPO) initiated the first set of activities to support a program-level evaluation. This first step specifically focused on the development of a baseline assessment for GLOBE’s activities and reach in informal and formal K-12 educational settings in the U.S. The overarching goal of investing in evaluation activities is to understand outcomes from the program, which in turn can serve as an evidence base for the program and inform continuous program improvement.”
“The Report Brief, which is an executive summary of this first stage of the evaluation findings, highlights many strengths of the program and identifies several opportunities for further growth. This initial activity had a scope that primarily considered materials available to the program as a whole – such as the Teacher’s Guide – rather than the activities conducted by individual U.S. and country Partners. Thus, we know the Report Brief findings did not synthesize all the amazing work carried out by GLOBE Partners. GPO, the GLOBE Implementation Office (GIO), the Data Information Systems (DIS) team, the U.S. Country Coordinator Office, and NASA are well-aware of the work you are doing across the U.S. and around the world, even if this report indicates that a specific region had less activity or that GLOBE is not addressing certain topics.”
“As we digest the results of this report, we are also looking to the future. First, GPO will further invest in evaluation activities, considering all aspects of GLOBE, so we can continually improve the program. As resources permit, we will look to develop a program-level evaluation strategy and plan. Second, we are developing a GLOBE Evaluators Community of Practice where GLOBE Program evaluation practitioners can share resources, experiences, and best practices on evaluation methodology. The community of practice will be piloted in the US. It is not a replacement for the Evaluation Working Group, whose members help identify evaluation needs, bring forward ongoing evaluation activities, and disseminate evaluation findings to the GLOBE community. Third, we will make iterative improvements about how we collect data on Partner activities so we can deepen our understanding of GLOBE’s impact. Fourth, we will increase our investment in a U.S. Country Coordinator Office so that it is better staffed to provide strategic support to U.S. Partners.”
“I want to conclude by thanking the many members of the GLOBE community who directly contributed their knowledge to this first round of evaluation activities,” Dr. Leidner said. “I am inspired every day by the commitment and accomplishments of the GLOBE community.”
To read the report, click here.
News origin: GLOBE Implementation Office