Soccer Smoking & Prevention

Athlete Recipes

Soccer Recipes

Standar ds for E v alua tion Whether your evaluation is simple or formal, the CDC recommends that you meet these four standards: . Your evaluation should be useful and answer questions that are directly relevant to the people who'll be using the findings. . Your evaluation should make sense, take into account the inter­ests of various groups, and be cost-effective. . Your evaluation should be ethical, and it should be conducted in a way that respects the rights and interests of the people involved. . Your evaluation should be con­ducted in a way that ensures the findings are considered correct.

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Finding a Good Evaluator You can find people within your organization (as long as they're in another department) or hire outside experts to evaluate your tobacco-free sports program. Good evaluators will meet the following criteria: . They did not help develop or run your program. . They are impartial and have nothing to gain by skewing the results one way or the other. . They won't give in to any pressure by senior staff or program staff to produce certain findings. . They won't gloss over or fail to report certain findings. . They have experience in the type of evaluation you are conducting. . They have experience with programs similar to yours. . They communicate well with you and other staff members. . They consider the realities of your program-for example, a small budget-when designing the evaluation. . They deliver reports and protocols on time.

. They relate to the program. . They explain the benefits and risks of evaluation. . They explain materials clearly and patiently. . They respect all levels of personnel. . They see beyond the evaluation to other program activities. . They educate program staff about how the evaluation is done, thus allowing future evaluations to be done in-house.

Resources . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 1999;48(No. RR-11). . Center for the Advancement of Community Based Public Health. An Evaluation Framework for Community Health Programs. Durham, North Carolina: Center for the Advancement of Community Based Public Health, 2000. Available at www.cdc.gov/eval/evalcbph.pdf. xxviii The Tobacco-Free Sports Playbook

P olicies T h a t Kick Butt

"I have seen firsthand the difference that sports and tobacco-free health have made in the lives of children and adults who participate in the Special Olympics. Our organization provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with mental retardation, giving them opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, and experience joy. Through these games, they also share their gifts, skills, and friendships with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community. We have a strict 'no tobacco and no alcoholic beverages' policy. The Special Olympics name, symbol, and logo cannot be publicly or visibly connected with the name or trademark of a tobacco product or alcoholic beverage or with any of these products' manufacturers or distributors. We allow no tobacco or alcoholic beverages at any of our athlete training or competitions. This is beyond statistics. It is about enhancing fitness and wellness in our youth." -Annette K. Lynch Vice President, S por ts D evelopment and Education S p ecial O lympics Mar yland