Reflection Letter

Jessica Williams

Spring 2019

            In the spring term of 2019 I enrolled in the Program Development class offered at Old Dominion University. This class expected us to conduct a program evaluation during the semester. I conducted my program evaluation at Strawbridge Elementary school in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I really enjoyed my time doing my program evaluation at this school. For the most part they accepted me, and wanted my feedback. It was a joy working with the staff and the students. I could see myself working in that environment in the future. My learning was demonstrated of my course throughout the entirety of my evaluation because I used the evaluation tools that were presented to me. These include interviews and surveys that were given out throughout my evaluation. These tools are what were vital to me understanding what this school needed from the evaluation itself. It also allowed me to interact with stakeholders of the agency, and really go into depth with who I was working with.

I believe that my interviews were the most successful part of my evaluation. I really didn’t know how to conduct an interview until reading the text, and understanding the material that was presented to me. Through my in depth interviews I was able to gage what the school was working with, and what needed improvement in order for the students to have a better experience within the guidance program. This will intersect with my future career because I want to be a school counselor. Doing this program evaluation will help me in the future to know what to implement when I finally am in a school guidance office myself. I have a ton of knowledge now on how the counseling system works, and what works and what doesn’t for the students attending the elementary school. I have also been able to put this courses information into action in my other Human Services classes at Old Dominion University. For example, my diversity issues class I have used what I learned through my program evaluation to understand concepts that we were talking about during class time.

I will see all this information in the future if I continue to peruse counseling.  I have all this information on performing program evaluations that I will be able to continue doing them throughout my career. I also would be able to use this information if I decide on going into the field of law. I would be able to do my own program evaluations of my practice to see where we can improve, and what we are excelling at. No matter the path I take in life I will be able to practically use everything I learned during this course.