Applying Ethical Theory to the Evaluation of a Community Organization

Abstract

This report will take an in-depth look at a community organization’s programs throughthe analysis of the data collected from activity observations using the Out of School Time (OST)observation instrument. The Out-of-School Time Observation Tool was developed by PolicyStudies Associates, Inc. with the support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (Pechman et al.2008). This report summarizes the research process, presents the main findings, and suggestshow the community organization can improve their programs. Furthermore, we explain how thisservice learning experience is explicitly connected to the norms of caring and utilitarianism.Lastly, there is a learning reflection which discusses our collective learning based on teamprocesses, ethical content, and organizational practices at the community organization.Research showed that staff was rated low in the categories of asking youth to expandupon their ideas and thoughts and employing varied teaching strategies. Based on these findings,we suggest that if staff make the necessary changes to their teaching methods, youth will becomemore engaged and have a more positive learning experience within their activities. Nevertheless,staff was rated high in the categories related to relationship building. The strong relationshipsformed between the staff and youth were apparent throughout our observations.