July 11, 2024 By CDHD Empowering Parents evaluation The impact of COVID-19 on K-12 education has been a question for families and educators across the US. Idaho took steps to help address education gaps by creating the Empowering Parents Grant Program in 2022. The program provides funds to families to purchase educational products and services that support their children’s academic success. Odyssey was appointed to create a grant distribution platform, develop the application process and award grants. Applications for funds were accepted in three waves, allowing families up to $3000 per household to purchase goods and services through an online marketplace. Legislation was also passed requiring an evaluation to take place by June 30, 2024 (and every two years after) to ensure the program’s continued success. During the 2022 legislative session, the Idaho CDHD was appointed as the third-party evaluator for the Empowering Parents program. The Center was to carry out an evaluation and submit it to the Idaho State Board of Education Policy and Government Affairs. The purpose of this evaluation, completed by Dr Cari Murphy and Beth Ficklin, was twofold: collect and summarize data from participating vendors, parents and students provide data-driven recommendations on how to improve the program. With pre-determined evaluation criteria provided by the Idaho State Board of Education, the CDHD collected and analyzed feedback and data through: online surveys to parents, students and vendors parent and vendor focus groups interviews with Odyssey staff members market analysis on price comparisons and market availability standardized test scores. Through this quantitative and qualitative data, the CDHD worked to determine satisfaction rates with different aspects of the program. This included customer service, student learning, impact on school attendance and more. The data was used to determine the overall effectiveness of the program. It was also used to determine recommendations on how the program can be improved to more effectively serve parents, students and participating vendors in the coming years. Evaluation highlights With Idahoans from 259 out of 278 zip codes engaging with the online marketplace, the program truly had a statewide impact. 83% of parents were satisfied with the program. And when comparing their experience before and after the program, students reported positive increases across all social-emotional learning, health and wellness measures. Other highlights from the evaluation report include: 93% of parents found the process of submitting an application user-friendly. 76% of parents reported the products/services they purchased were worth the price paid. 81% of parents reported that the products/services positively impacted their children’s learning in school. Overall, the data collected by the CDHD showed the program to be beneficial to Idaho’s families; however, the CDHD made some recommendations to improve it moving forward. This included flexibility in the funding waves, additions for a more user-friendly marketplace, and 24- to 48-hour response times for support queries. Read the full Empowering Parents Evaluation Report to get more information on the program and its effectiveness in helping Idaho’s students succeed.