Northwest Minnesota Council of Collaboratives

Question
The Northwest Minnesota Council of Collaboratives wanted to measure the impact of the Safe Schools/ Healthy Students Initiative, by assessing both county-wide and whole-grant initiative activities designed to make change in environments, systems, attitudes and behaviors. The initiative activities focused on six key elements; safe school environment, alcohol and other drugs and violence prevention and early intervention, school and community mental health prevention and treatment intervention programs, early childhood psychosocial and emotional development services, educational reform/positive emotional climate, and safe school policies. The Improve Group worked with Safe Schools/Healthy Students grantee Stephen Argyle to evaluate their initiatives under a 3-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and U.S. Department of Justice.

Process
During the evaluation design, The Improve Group considered the different partners and their unique roles and responsibilities and produced a deliverable that would meet the different stakeholders needs. We used an inclusive evaluation process in order to minimize resistance from partners who sometimes compete for dollars and participants. The Improve Group worked collaboratively to create a logic model in order to develop appropriate instruments. Then we administered extensive youth, teacher and staff paper surveys and reviewed data from the districts and their community partners. Using this data, we conducted a three-year comprehensive and cumulative analysis of community trends in safety and health. Annual reports, as well as a cumulative report, were prepared for the individual counties and the Northwest Minnesota Council of Collaboratives as a whole. The reports describe the impact in the six key SSHS elements and assess the key indicators.

Outcome
Through the findings of the Improve Group’s evaluation, the Northwest Minnesota Council of Collaboratives gained insight into the SSHS initiative activities and learned the areas in which they are effective and others which need improvement. They also received important feedback from parents and students. They used the evaluation for their grant reports and posted it on their website (www.councilofcollaboratives.org). The various stakeholders were able to use the data from the reports for their different reporting needs; accountability, service improvements, communication, and sustainability.