Purpose of this Assignment
This portal is for the submission of your Program Planning Simulation assignment.
The purpose of this Assignment is to give students the opportunity to apply an organizational decision-making tool for planning to a scenario simulating an offender reentry program.
This assignment is an “integrative learning experience.”
The AACU (2009) defines “integrative learning” as “an understanding and a disposition that a student builds across the curriculum and co-curriculum, from making simple connections among ideas and experiences to synthesizing and transferring learning to new, complex situations within and beyond the campus” (p. 1).
“Experiential” learning is a form of activity-based learning (ABL). ABL goes beyond the traditional lecture-based learning of transmitting information. ABL requires students to be involved in their learning by “doing things and thinking about what they are doing” (Bonwell & Eison, 1991). The range of student activities range from the very simple (e.g. pause to clarify concepts) to the very complex (experiential learning).
Learning Objective(s) from the Syllabus
Engage in integrative experiential learning by applying organizational tools for planning and evaluating a correctional program.
Demonstrate learning from this course while making connections across the curriculum and beyond the campus.
Simulation Scenario
For the Simulation, let’s pretend that you are an administrator for a local probation agency that supervises probationers – offenders who are serving a sentence in the community. Therefore, the population we are addressing in this assignment is “probationers.”
Probationers – is defined in the traditional sense that these are offenders who have not been sentenced to incarceration (jail or prison) as a punishment. They live in the community while submitting to various court-ordered restrictions, such as attending rehabilitative programs. (In other words, our population does not include parolees who have been sentenced to prison and were released early to serve the remainder of their sentence in the community under supervision.)
Your probation agency is engaging in planned change by adopting two evidence-based programs:
First, the agency is adopting the use of the ORAS Community Supervision Tool (CST) to assess probationers’ risks of committing crime. ORAS is used to assess criminogenic risk, as well as deciding who gets placed in the T4C program or control group (no program).
In addition to adopting the ORAS CST assessment, the agency is also implementing the T4C program. Your agency is implementing this program/intervention to reduce recidivism.
In the future (our next assignment), your agency will collect data to evaluate whether the T4C program is actually able to reduce recidivism. The agency also wants to know if the program is beneficial for all offenders regardless of risk level (as measured by the ORAS CST). Studies have shown that low level offenders may actually recidivate more if they are subjected to a program where they spend more time with high level offenders. So, your agency wants to know if this holds true.
That being said, let’s focus on the current assignment of planning for the adoption of the two EBPs: ORAS CST and T4C using a logic model and SMART objectives. Be sure to read the Webcourse pages linked above for more information about EBPs, the two programs, and logic modeling!
Logic Model Requirements
Our local probation agency is in the planning stages of implementing ORAS and T4C.
The Logic Model
It is your job to create a logic model using SMART objectives. The logic model is a visual representation of the future changes your organization will be making. Your agency is relying on you, its administrator, to obtain the resources it needs and provide the training to agency employees. Each member of your team needs to clearly see themselves in the model to understand how they will be impacted.
The Narrative
Along with the logic model, you are to write a narrative that describes the assessment system and T4C program to everyone in your agency. The narrative is detailed. It goes beyond the logic model as it informs your agency as to why the programs are being implemented and explains the theory of change for these EBPs. The narrative instructs each member of your agency as to their future duties and responsibilities in relation to ORAS and/or T4C.
Steps
For this assignment, students should be sure to do the following:
Download and complete this Word Logic Model template based on the readings and directions in this module.
The logic model is like a visual map for planned change. It allows agency administrators and others to understand the larger picture of how everyone and everything fit together.
See The Planning Tool: Logic Modeling with SMART Objectives Webcourse page for instructions on completing a logic model.
Be sure to also consult the informative web-links on the Webcourse page.
Be sure to follow the example provided on the Webcourse page.
(Your logic model will look much like the example with notable differences if you are tailoring it to the scenario.)
Be sure to include numbers/percentages for the change in outcomes (which makes them SMART).
Be sure to include the arrows to show the changes to occur in the agency.
Inserting “shapes” such as arrows requires you to use the full version of Word, as “shapes” are not available in Word online. UCF students are able to access the Microsoft Word app. (If all else fails, you can manually draw arrows or use another app like Paint.)
Another option is to use “low” tech by printing it and using a pencil/pen/markers to draw the arrows. Then, take a picture and insert it into your document.
Consult the Grading Rubric linked below, as failure to follow instructions may result in 0 points for some criteria.
Along with completing the logic model, provide a narrative of your agency’s model for change*.
The narrative explains the logic model and theory of change using words and details. It explains who is involved, their duties, required resources, the desired outcomes, etc. It narrates the logic model.
Be sure to incorporate sub-headings and address the following:
What does your correctional agency hope to accomplish as a result of assessing offender risk using ORAS and implementing T4C? (Start by describing the programs and their purposes.)
What outcome(s) does your agency need to achieve? How will the outcome(s) be measured using SMART?
Be sure to describe the logic model’s short-term, intermediate, and long-term outcomes.
What significant changes will occur within your agency as a result of implementing the use of ORAS to assess offender risk, providing T4C programming, and measuring your outcome(s)?
Be sure to describe the logic model’s inputs, activities, participants, and outputs.
What types of information will convince you (and others) that you are achieving the outcomes that you have defined?
In other words, where will your agency get its data on outcomes, such as ‘probation violations,’ ‘ re-arrests,’ ‘returning to prison,’ ‘completing GED,’ ‘full-time employment,’ etc.?
What are the possible unintended consequences, both positive and negative, of implementing ORAS and T4C?
What contextual (e.g., social political, economic) conditions might facilitate or hinder your ability to achieve the types of impacts you’ve identified?
*Be sure to consult all the Webcourse pages in this module to help you complete the narrative. Your narrative must go beyond simply listing or reiterating what is in the logic model. It must demonstrate and communicate your knowledge gained as a result of the module readings. You are to describe everything about the program plan as though you are explaining it to your co-workers
Additional Paper Requirements
Submissions should be no longer than 5 pages, including the logic model.
Use standard 12-point, Calibri font with pre-set margins on the Word document, and double spacing.
Logic models other than the “Word Logic Model” template provided above will not be accepted.
Full sentences and proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. are required.
Incorporate sub-headings.
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|