27. I feel lonely when I'm at school.

Emotional Expression:

28. I share my feelings easily.

Substance Avoidance:

29. I used tobacco within 2 weeks.

30. I used alcohol within 2 weeks.

31. I used drugs within 2 weeks.

(not at all) to 10 (a lot).

Low Substance Culture:

32. Students in this school use tobacco.

33. Students in this school use alcohol.

34. Students in this school use drugs.

What methods will be used to answer the evaluation questions? The 100 students selected for the initial administration of the Challenge Day program will be requested to complete the questionnaire above, which is provided with the Challenge Day coordinator packet, prior to their participation. Following completion of the program, students will again be requested to complete the questionnaire. Finally, the questionnaire will be administered just prior to the conclusion of the academic school year.

Paper-and-pencil versions of the questionnaire will be used throughout the evaluation process. The purpose of the evaluation is to measure quantifiable changes that take place across the above continuums of student behaviors rather than individual changes. Therefore, although the questionnaires will be coded to identify pre- and post-test versions, there will be no personal identifiers included on the survey instruments and student anonymity will be maintained at all times.

The statistical data that develops from the pre- and post-test administrations of the Challenge Day survey will be analyzed using SPSS Version 11.0 (Student Version), and the results reporting in tabular, graphic and narrative fashion.

What resources are needed? (i.e., budget, staff, timeline). The Challenge Day authorities recommend allowing at least 3 months for the planning phase of the initiative and for ensuring the effectiveness of any follow-up initiatives taken as a result of the initial program administration. The Challenge Day organization provides some useful planning tools for this purpose as shown in Tables __ and ____ below.

Table ____.

Pre-Challenge Day planning tool.

Activities/Goals

What will be done?

Activity Leader

Who is responsible?

Resources

Funding/Time/

People/Materials

Timeline

By when? (Day/Month)

Source: Be the Change Action Plan, 2008.

Post-Challenge Day planning tool.

Activities/Goals

What will be done?

Activity Leader

Who is responsible?

Resources

Funding/Time/

People/Materials

Timeline

By when? (Day/Month)

Source: Be the Change Action Plan, 2008.

In addition, there should be at least one adult (parents or teachers) in attendance for every four students; therefore, there should be at least 125 participants (100 students and 25 adults) in the Challenge Day program envisioned herein. The price sheet provided by the Challenge Day organization states that the cost is $3,200 per day during the 2008-2009 school year; this charge includes the following:

Pre-program coaching;

One six-hour program for a maximum of 100 youth and a minimum of 25 adults;

Two trained Program Leaders;

Unlimited phone consultation;

Banners to promote the teachings of Challenge Day;

Post-program follow-up (Price sheet, 2008).

c. Data Collection Plan & Reporting Results: The statistical data for the pre- and post-program questionnaires will be analyzed and reported as described above. The results of the analysis will be used to identify areas where significant improvements were made as well as areas where problems remain so that follow-up measures can be implemented where necessary.

How is the program implementation being assessed? As noted above, the implementation of the Challenge Day program is not necessarily complicated, but it does require some time to accomplish effectively. The recruitment of a sufficient number of adult volunteers, for example, will require coordination with the school's parent-teacher organization as well as direct solicitations...

Therefore, the program implementation will be assessed along the 3-month timeline allotted, and milestones (i.e., budget, number of volunteers secured, number of students secured, etc.) will be monitored to ensure that a sufficient number of participants will be available by the scheduled start date and a sufficient amount of resources are available to complete the program successfully.
What will be the reporting procedures? Because there are so many stakeholders involved in the Challenge Day program, the reporting procedures used to communicate the results of the initiative will differ according to the targeted audience. For example, both participating and nonparticipating students will be provided with the results of the Challenge Day program to highlight the need for an immediate cessation of student-on-student violence in the school and to promote improved citizenship behaviors across the board. In addition, parents and teachers will be provided with the results of the Challenge Day program through newsletters and a page on the school's existing Web site highlighting any areas of progress made and emphasizing the need for parental involvement in school activities at all levels. Finally, press releases will be prepared and sent to media services in the region to highlight the school's initiative and any successes that were achieved using the Challenge Day programs.

How will the report recommendations be implemented? The implementation of any recommendations that emerge from the analysis of the Challenge Day program will, of course, depend on the type of recommendation involved. For instance, recommendations concerning the need for additional security measures in the high school to reduce the incidence of student-on-student violence may be coordinated with local community security services which could be in a position to donate metal-detectors or provide other services to promote a safer learning environment. Likewise, recommendations for future initiatives would be linked to identified improvements and ongoing problem areas discerned from the pre- and post-Challenge Day program questionnaires. In this regard, to the extent that a significant number of students continue to report substance abuse problems would likely be the extent to which resources were allocated for addressing this issue and so forth.

What measures will be used to assess the evaluation's effectiveness? Studying humans over the long-term is a notoriously difficult enterprise of course and it is unlikely that the ultimate effectiveness of an initiative such as the Challenge Day program on the nation's youth today can be gauged to any extent in the future. Indeed, a modest change in self-destructive, criminal or antisocial behaviors today may have an enormous positive impact on the lives of young people as they grow and mature in adults in unexpected or unimaginable ways. Consequently, the best that can be expected is to provide a "snapshot" of how these young learners are coping with the rigors of life in the 21st century and what steps educators can take to help them resolve specific problem areas. Therefore, to assess the effectiveness of the evaluation will require some quantifiable metrics and some benchmark data for comparison purposes. In this regard, the proposed study intends to use archival statistical data concerning student-on-student violence in the high school in question and compare this data to subsequent patterns to identify any discernible changes in these behaviors.