Specialized Evaluations

Specialized evaluations provide info rmation on a specific intersectoral area of focus or issue. Specialized evaluations are time-limited and involve a single site and/or a promising program that is currently underway. The results provide outcome information on promising programs toward establishing local best practice models in Manitoba.

Manitoba supports the following specialized research:

COACH
COACH is a 24-hour wrap around program for 16 boys and girls, ages 5-11 year old with extreme behavioural, emotional, social and academic issues in their home, school and community settings. The day program includes academic and community-based components; the evening/weekend component includes family support and community activities. There is an ongoing evaluation of COACH which focuses on pre and post measures in a case study format.


Community Schools Investigators: Summer Learning Enrichment Program
Research has shown that children living in families with low income are at risk of losing academic knowledge over the course of the summer (summer learning loss). Currently, 13 schools in the city of Winnipeg are participating in the Community School Investigators:  Summer Learning Enrichment Program (CSI). An evaluation of CSI implementation in Winnipeg is currently underway.


Healthy Buddies
The Healthy Buddies™ program is a school-based health education and health promotion program designed to empower elementary-school children to live healthier lives by using an innovative teacher-guided, student-facilitated peer-based approach to program delivery.

Twenty elementary schools in Manitoba participated in the pilot the program and a randomized controlled evaluation. The purpose of this pilot was to evaluate the effectiveness of Healthy Buddies™ in Manitoba and determine the value of offering and implementing this program at a provincial level. 

Additional information pertaining to Manitoba can be found at:


PAX
A province-wide cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) pilot of PAX was launched for all interested Grade One classes in all areas of Manitoba, including First Nation communities in the 2011/12 school year. All Manitoba schools with Grade One students were invited to participate in the pilot. Approximately 200 schools from all regions of the province expressed interest. Principals and Grade One Teachers attended two days of training. An RCT was implemented, with half of the schools implementing the PAX Game in 2011/12, the remaining schools implementing PAX in the 2012/13 school year. Classroom and student level information was collected to assess the outcomes for PAX and non-PAX classrooms. Approximately 200 Schools with 5,000 children participated in the RCT (2011/12 to 2012/13 school years). Preliminary evaluation results were released in February 2014, and are promising. Training for replacement and new Grade One teachers and principals is continuing, as is maintenance and support for PAX classrooms province-wide.

Preliminary Results for PAX Provincial Evaluation:


Seeds of Empathy
In collaboration with Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre (MFNERC), under a tripartite agreement between Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, MFNERC and Manitoba have launched Seeds of Empathy. Seeds of Empathy, an expansion of the Roots of Empathy program to children ages 3-5, is designed to foster social and emotional competence and early literacy skills and attitudes. A randomized controlled trial is being conducted to determine the effectiveness of SOE in increasing early literacy and empathy.


Teen Clinics
Manitoba funds the Elmwood, St. John's, and Selkirk-Norman Teen Clinics in Winnipeg. These clinics address the general health and well-being of students and neighbourhood youth, including sexual and reproductive health issues. An evaluation framework has been developed to evaluate all the funded clinics.