Seven Generation Food and Agriculture ILEARN Project: Year 3 External Evaluation Report

This evaluation summarizes and employs a CIPP (Context, Inputs, Processes, and Products) analysis model to evaluate the third grant year of the project. The evaluator reviewed and analyzed the context under which the grant operated, assessed the Inputs provided by the PI team and other participants, observed the Processes employed in the grant to achieve grant goals, and evaluated the Products and outcomes of the grant. This evaluation focuses on year three of a four-year grant with a fifth-year renewable clause. This assessment employed surveys, observations, interviews, participation in Zoom leadership meetings, reviews of training materials developed for the presenters, reviews of newsletters, and sampling of lesson plans developed by the participants. Seventy-eight participants attended a five-day workshop from July 29 through August 2, 2024. The sessions are convened at the Todd County Middle School in Mission, South Dakota. Significant highlights included a record participant count of 71, a substantial increase in the number of sessions, more participation and engagement of the Indigenous stakeholders to give cultural context to science lessons, the explicit introduction of sessions on Western and Indigenous content standards and building strong relationships to gain momentum in building follow-up activities. It is the overall opinion of the evaluator that the grantees made substantial progress in achieving grant objectives, produced demonstratable impacts, and continued to learn valuable lessons about how to improve and move forward in subsequent years.