Evaluations prove effectiveness

by Rachel Metzger

The Business Training Institute, Inc. (BTI), in collaboration with the Utica (NY) City Schools and a New York State Education grant, conducted an independent evaluation of the Active Parenting Now program. Dr. Patricia Laino, president and acting dean of BTI, has been offering Active Parenting programs through the institute since 2000.

"Many parents and teachers came to our organization in search of parenting skills education," explains Dr. Laino. "We researched numerous parenting skills programs and determined that Active Parenting would meet our needs. We did not know three years ago how tremendously effective this training was. Now we do. It has helped over 250 parents and is continuing with enormous, positive results.

"Parents who have graduated from the Active Parenting series constantly call our office to tell us how grateful they are. They say, 'I have "direction" and the skills to effectively deal with the day-to-day parenting issues that would have been monumental before Active Parenting. Now my family comes together to peacefully handle problems.'"

The evaluation, conducted by Ciurczak & Company, Inc., states that in the three years of the program, "The workshop results can be considered a success by several different measures...parents overwhelmingly were able to demonstrate their knowledge in each content area...[and] evaluated the workshop materials, handouts, and usable information gained in each workshop very highly." Other highlights of the evaluation include:

• 100% of parents evaluated the workshops overall as Excellent (91%) or Very Good (9%).
• 100% of parents indicated that the workshops were of value to their growth as a parent.
• 100% of parents indicated that they would recommend the workshop to other parents.
• 96% of parents indicated that the workshops met their needs in all areas.
• 74-100% (over the six sessions) responded to short answer content-based questions appropriately each week.

Parents also rated the quality of the trainers as 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high), once again underlining the positive effect that leaders have on the success of parenting programs. Active Parenting applauds Dr. Laino and the BTI for a tremendous job helping parents in the Utica area!

• Rachel Metzger is the Product Development Manager at Active Parenting Publishers.

Attention Leaders: Have you conducted evaluations of your Active Parenting programs?

We know that there are many other quality organizations such as the Business Training Institute who are offering Active Parenting programs in their communities with great success. If your organization has conducted independent evaluations, we encourage you to share the results with us! Please send a copy of your completed evaluations to Active Parenting's Product Development Department.

Active Parenting Now

Reprinted from Leader magazine.
Copyright 2003 by Active Parenting Publishers, Inc.