HW499 Unit 10 Capstone Portfolio Example

One Document Written After the Last Decision: A Unit 10 Capstone Portfolio for the Cotter Bend After-School Activity Project

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

HW499: Bachelor's Capstone in Health and Wellness

Unit 10 Capstone Portfolio

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Cotter Bend, Moving Afternoons and every figure are composite; the guideline, observation tools, evaluation framework and after-school research cited are real.

Reader's Note

This portfolio is written for two readers. A department director can read the executive summary and the chapters on need, program and cost, about eight pages. A site supervisor can read the program chapter and the field appendices, which contain the game cards, the schedule and the training outline. The evaluation and limits chapters are for anyone who wants to know how the department will judge the program.

Chapter 1: Need

Children at the department's six after-school sites average an estimated 14 active minutes each afternoon, from 9 where a school program is confined to the cafeteria to 21 at the better-equipped of the two recreation centers. The federal guidelines call for 60 minutes a day for children six and older (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018). The causes are local and within the department's control: the activity period is scheduled at 5:00, after 38 percent of children have gone home; about half of gym time is spent in elimination games; and only 7 of 26 leaders who answered the survey have been trained in active games. These findings come from 24 observed afternoons in October, a month of sign-out records and a staff survey.

Chapter 2: Evidence

Measured with accelerometers, children in other programs reached roughly twenty active minutes during the session, with free play outpacing organized games (Trost et al., 2008). Games modified to keep every child involved produce more activity than traditional versions of the same games (Brazendale et al., 2015). Group-randomized trials found that training and supporting staff to protect activity time and lead active games helped more children reach the program's activity standard (Beets et al., 2015). Whether extra program activity carries into the rest of a child's day remains untested.

Chapter 3: Program

Moving Afternoons has three components. The activity block moves to 3:20, right after snack, for forty minutes, and homework follows at forty-five minutes. Every site gets roughly twenty-four card-sized game plans, none of which eliminates anyone, with an indoor card for days without the gym. Every leader receives six hours of training before launch and monthly huddles after, and the program manager makes coaching visits to each site. Half the sites start in January and half in March, with the order settled by drawing names.

Every chapter now describes the same program, in the same tense, with the same figures, so that a reader who opens the document anywhere meets the project as it will actually run rather than as it was first imagined.

Chapter 4: Resources

Year one costs $19,109, about $46 per enrolled child: $10,943 for launch training, equipment and game cards; $5,117 for recurring training, huddles, coaching visits and replenishment; and $3,049 for evaluation observation. Year two costs $6,320, mostly training for new hires, because roughly two leaders in five turn over annually. Staff time is counted at wages plus payroll tax. Logistics are scheduled: wave assignment in November, gym confirmation with principals by December 1, letters to parents two weeks before each wave and equipment delivered the week before launch.

Chapter 5: Evaluation

In February and May, the October observers return with the identical scan protocol, adapted from an established after-school tool (Weaver et al., 2014). February compares the three sites that have started with the three that have not, in the same weeks. Targets for May are 24 active minutes per child, 90 percent of children present at 3:20, staff leading or joining play in half of scans and no elimination games during the block. If wave one sites show little gain in February, training is revised before wave two. The framework follows RE-AIM's attention to whether the program is delivered as designed (Glasgow et al., 1999).

How the Chapters Were Rewritten

Earlier drafts of each chapter were written at different times and for different purposes, and several described a program that no longer exists. In the rewriting, every chapter was checked against the final design: two waves rather than one launch, three components rather than five, and the 3:20 block rather than any earlier time. Figures were checked against the needs assessment and the budget so that each appears once, in the same form, wherever it is used. The tense was changed throughout to describe the program as it will run, with past tense reserved for the work already done, such as the October observations.

What a Supervisor Needs on the First Day

A site supervisor opening this portfolio before launch needs three things: the new schedule to post, the game cards to hand to leaders and the training dates. The field appendices place those three items first, in that order, so a supervisor does not have to read the evaluation or the budget to start. The portfolio's structure reflects the fact that most of its readers will use only part of it.

Chapter 6: Limits

The evaluation measures activity during the program afternoon only. It cannot show changes in total daily activity, weight or fitness. With three sites in each wave, the February comparison can suggest an effect without settling whether the program caused it. Observation records groups, not individual children, so it cannot show which children gained most. Winter weather may lower outdoor activity in February, though both waves face the same weather. Turnover may dilute training faster than coaching can replace it.

Handoff

After the capstone, the program manager owns Moving Afternoons. Site supervisors own their sites' schedules and equipment. The trained backup supervisor owns replacement training if the program manager is unavailable. The May evaluation report goes to the department director.

Decision Log

This is the only section that refers to course units.

1. Unit 2: summer camp, middle school, diet, home screen time, weight and fitness testing excluded from scope.

2. Unit 4: winter conditions and parents' reasons for early pickup noted as gaps in the needs assessment.

3. Unit 5: three core components adopted; two staff ideas, one for homework time and one for family evenings, labeled unsupported.

4. Unit 6: both unsupported additions cut; single January launch replaced with two waves assigned by drawing names.

5. Unit 7: training budgeted as a recurring cost because of turnover; a site supervisor designated as backup trainer.

6. Unit 8: findings that would count against the program written down before launch.

Appendices

A. Game cards and indoor card. B. Daily schedule and parent letter. C. Training outline. D. Observation protocol and matrix.

References

Beets, M. W., Weaver, R. G., Turner-McGrievy, G., Huberty, J., Ward, D. S., Pate, R. R., Freedman, D., Hutto, B., Moore, J. B., & Beighle, A. (2015). Making policy practice in afterschool programs: A randomized controlled trial on physical activity changes. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 48(6), 694-706. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2015.01.012

Brazendale, K., Chandler, J. L., Beets, M. W., Weaver, R. G., Beighle, A., Huberty, J. L., & Moore, J. B. (2015). Maximizing children's physical activity using the LET US Play principles. Preventive Medicine, 76, 14-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2015.03.012

Glasgow, R. E., Vogt, T. M., & Boles, S. M. (1999). Evaluating the public health impact of health promotion interventions: The RE-AIM framework. American Journal of Public Health, 89(9), 1322-1327. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.89.9.1322

Trost, S. G., Rosenkranz, R. R., & Dzewaltowski, D. (2008). Physical activity levels among children attending after-school programs. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 40(4), 622-629. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e318161eaa5

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2018). Physical activity guidelines for Americans (2nd ed.). https://health.gov/our-work/nutrition-physical-activity/physical-activity-guidelines

Weaver, R. G., Beets, M. W., Webster, C., & Huberty, J. (2014). System for Observing Staff Promotion of Activity and Nutrition (SOSPAN). Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 11(1), 173-185. https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2012-0007