The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) launched SPARK in 2001. The Foundation awarded grants in seven states and the District of Columbia to get children ready for school and schools ready for children. WKKF identified three outcomes and impacts: ready kids, ready schools, and ready communities. An 18-month Phase I planning grant provided the opportunity for each grantee to create community-wide partnerships and action plans, which targeted specific populations of vulnerable children. Phase II implementation began in mid-2003 and ended in May 2008.
WKKF selected Walter R. McDonald & Associates, Inc. (WRMA) to conduct the SPARK Initiative Level Evaluation (ILE). During Phase I of the initiative, WRMA observed and documented the 12-month planning process of eight grantees in the District of Columbia and the states of Florida, Georgia, Hawai'i, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Ohio. The ILE team tracked grantee progress in building community-based partnerships, overcoming challenges to partnership development, and putting together the infrastructure to support early education and school readiness.
WKKF developed an integrated schema of the initiative, called the SPARK Theory of Change. The theory posits that effective partnerships and leadership work to align community systems, which result in ready children, ready schools, and ready communities. Drawing upon the SPARK Theory of Change, the evaluation addresses three overarching questions established by WKKF:
- What was learned about how partnerships and leadership affect change in communities?
- What were the impacts on children's learning and school culture change?
- How did SPARK influence resources (national, state, local) that support, sustain, and scale children's early learning and transition?
Several methods were used to collect data: site visits, survey, quarterly calls, and content analysis of project evaluation report. Site visits were designed to gather firsthand, in-depth knowledge of grantee progress and accomplishments; activities included focus groups, participant observation, and key informant interviewing with a selected groups of partners and leaders. Also, an Internet-based partnership and leveraging survey was developed to gain the perspective of multiple stakeholders on leadership development and partnership functioning. Next, quarterly calls between the ILE Team and each grantee, beginning in the planning phase of SPARK, were used for data collection and as an ongoing means of communication between WKKF, the ILE Team, and the grantees. Last, content analysis and roll-up of project level evaluation reports provided both qualitative and quantitative data on the linkages between partnership activities, alignment strategies, and outcomes.
In terms of management, each grantee selected a project level evaluator (PLE). Although participation varied from grantee to grantee, local evaluators contributed to the local partnerships and provided ongoing feedback to the partners. The ILE team provided technical assistance to PLE teams when needed. Communication between the project staff, evaluators, and the Foundation were facilitated through ongoing conference calls and annual networking meetings.
Results Pertaining to Ready Kids
Using outcomes that measured literacy, numeracy, and behavior required of kindergarten children such as attentiveness, self-control, and social ability, four grantees demonstrated that SPARK children performed as well as all children in the same schools as they entered kindergarten, two outperformed a matched sample of kindergarten children, and one outperformed public school children in the same district. One grantee demonstrated academic readiness for the first grade. The evidence was strongest for children matching or outperforming comparison children in literacy or pre-literacy skills. Parent surveys supported the finding that children were ready for kindergarten because of family participation in SPARK sponsored transition activities.
Results Pertaining to Ready Schools
Grantees moved beyond a view of transitions from pre-K to kindergarten that emphasizes relationships and social experiences to a model closer to systems alignment. Alignment models take into account the school's relationship with the community, communication between early care and education (ECE) and the public schools, and consistency between ECE curriculum and public school curriculum and standards. SPARK also demonstrated the need to focus on success in school as the natural outcome of school readiness because getting vulnerable children ready for failing schools prohibits them from fully participating in American society.
Results Pertaining to Ready Communities
SPARK demonstrated that communities can come together to form partnerships, organize themselves around specific goals and objectives and, using existing resources, help vulnerable children and families get ready for school. In the SPARK theory of change, ready communities can be both an outcome as well as the driving force behind creating alignment strategies, influencing the public will, advocating for quality ECE, and for providing the leadership for systems change.
Grantees were highly successful in leveraging financial and in-kind resources for SPARK administered and related projects in ECE. Defined as providing seed money in order to attract other donors, grantees raised twice as much money as they received from the WKKF grants.
Major Publications
-
Ready Kids
Initiative Level Evaluation Team. (2007). Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids (SPARK): Annual evaluation report 2006. Rockville, MD: Walter R. McDonald & Associates, Inc.
The annual report: Ready Kids. Ready Kids is not currently available online.
