To organize and coordinate the efforts of many volunteers, a framework for volunteer engagement is needed. The "GEMS" Model of volunteer administration was developed to assist Extension professionals and volunteer coordinators to effectively administer volunteer programs without delivering the program themselves. The GEMS Model is…

Volunteers are essential to a successful library program--and at a time when deep budget cuts are the norm, there are many libraries that depend on the help of dedicated volunteers, who do everything from shelving books to covering the phones. Whether these are friends, trustees, or community members, managing them effectively is the key to…

The Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council developed a Volunteer Evaluation System. Its objective was to create a way to gain knowledge of volunteers' skills and place them in appropriate volunteer positions. A five-step system was created to collect information about volunteers at set intervals and pass it along to appropriate staff members. The…

To make sense of and learn about work environments, people actively construct their own knowledge and share stories of their experience. Telling stories is particularly challenging in a transient organization where people are hired on a voluntary, temporary basis. Such is the case of a nonprofit music festival organization in Sweden, which is…

The ability to advocate for personal, family, and community health represents an essential skill for a health literate individual. By providing opportunities to successfully engage in health advocacy and service learning activities, students may be motivated to become life-long advocates for health and continue to actively advocate and participate…

The action evaluation process at a mediation agency in Dayton, Ohio, that offers the services of trained volunteers is described. Action evaluation is an integrated research and intervention methodology for helping to define, promote, and assess success in an endeavor, while using evaluation as a bridge between research and practice in ways that…

This bulletin presents a case study of the development of a school volunteer program in Dade County, Florida. Part one, entitled "Initiating the School Volunteer Program," discusses the following aspects of the program: (a) determination of needs, (b) preparation of objectives, (c) planning and sequencing activities, (d) identification of…

This paper discusses social and organizational differences between client-focused, volunteer-staffed programs and comparable paid-personnel programs. Particular attention is given to the effects of these differences on three aspects of the evaluation process: initiation of the evaluation, need for process evaluation, and utilization of evaluation…

Two case studies provide examples of citizen and program participant involvement in program evaluation. The Reflective Appraisal of Programs at Cornell Cooperative Extension involves volunteer interviewers of participants; the Lancaster County (Pennsylvania) Office of Mental Health/Mental Retardation is reviewed by a volunteer citizens' committee.…

Explains a work-study program designed for fourth and fifth grade students and describes pros and cons of using student workers in the media center for checking out materials, shelving books, straightening shelves, and dusting. Includes the student's job application, the teacher's application for student workers, and the work-study agreement and…

Presents an overview of preservice volunteer training at READ/San Diego, an adult literacy program. It discusses the program's informal assessment procedures that help identify possible language/learning disabilities and provide valuable information for instructional planning. Also described are selected multisensory teaching techniques designed…

In the 1992-93 school year, in response to a request from the Board of Trustees of the Austin Independent School District (Texas) (AISD), the district's Office of Research and Evaluation conducted a retrospective examination of the 1991-92 AISD programs to determine cost-effectiveness when possible. This report describes the review process.…

The purpose of the developmental project described in this report was to provide intervention to learning disabled adults through individualized tutoring. During the project, the following activities were implemented: (1) information sessions on learning disabilities were conducted to raise awareness of the problem; (2) 20 adults, double the…

This project was undertaken by a public library to assess and address the continuing literacy needs of the local county's population. Comparison of the results of pre- and post-grant surveys conducted to determine the level of the residents' awareness of the problems of illiteracy showed an increase from 60% to 81% in the number who knew about the…

This report describes the evaluation process of Portland, Oregon's Student Mentoring Program (SMP), a program which brought college students from four private universities and at risk eighth grade students from four middle schools in mentoring relationships. The evaluation design is described, as are the various measurements used to assess program…