Section 10 – Evaluation, Assessment, and Research
CAPRA Self-Assessment
10.1 – Systematic Evaluation Processes
Standard:
The agency shall have systematic processes for evaluating programs, facilities and services and operational efficiency and effectiveness.
Narrative:
Lower Makefield Township uses a systematic evaluation process through a series of annual and continuous feedback methods.
Facilities: Lower Makefield Township Parks and Recreation Department evaluates facilities through near miss reports, customer feedback and facility inspections to ensure infrastructure is at peak performance.
Programming: Customer satisfaction surveys, and analyses of participant feedback is monitored throughout the year. The staff also monitor participation numbers and cost recovery.
Membership: The Parks and Recreation Department receives membership reports monthly throughout the year on the dog park and pool.
Facility Rentals: The Department rents fields, pavilions and the community center. Staff look for trends based on time of year, types of program and cost analysis.
Leagues: Leagues are monitored in the spring and fall. It is important to the Lower Makefield residents that facilities are used primarily by residents. Resident /non resident participation is monitored in addition to cost analysis.
Evidence of Compliance:
10.1.1 – Responsibility for Evaluation
Standard:
The agency shall assign specific responsibility for managing elements of the evaluation program, including planning, training, evaluation, and analysis.
Narrative:
Lower Makefield has a small core staff who work together in order to evaluate programs and to entertain new concepts. Each staff is assigned for their area of reporting based on their position.
Program Manager: reports program participation, surveys, reservations, and finances.
Membership Coordinator: reports membership numbers, and special events.
Operations Manager: reports on Maintenance, incidents, and training.
Aquatics Manager: pool programs, training, staff.
Staff meet regularly to review and report on progress, things that are going well, pain points, troubleshooting and problem solving.
Evidence of Compliance:
Director of Parks & Recreation, Job Description, Resume, CPRE Certificate
10.1.2 – Outcomes Assessment
Lower Makefield Township Parks and Recreation Department is still in its infancy with regard to programming. The Department’s primary focus is participation, satisfaction, and cost recovery. Now with the Program Plan in place Lower Makefield is looking further at the goals set forth within the programming and filling gaps. The Department use metrics collected in the community needs assessment, customer feedback, the level of service report and program participation to determine if it is positively impacting the community in line with the mission, vision and goals.
This is a way for staff to recognize gaps and ensure the community is receiving quality outcomes.
The Director of the department reviews evaluations and meets with staff to share results and to set goals for improvement in the future.
Supporting Documents:
Director of Parks and Recreation, Job Description, Resume, CPRE Certificate
Operations Manager, Job Description, Resume, CPRP Certificate, CPO Certificate
Aquatics Manager, Job Description, Resume, CPRP Certificate, LGIT Certificate, CPO Certificate
2023 Annual Review:
10.2 – Outcomes Assessment
Standard:
The agency shall use evaluation results to assess the outcomes of park and recreation programs, services, and facilities and assess the operational effectiveness of the organization. Outcomes show the relationship between resource inputs and the resulting impacts and benefits of the outputs. Outcomes are measurable changes in behaviors, attitudes, knowledge, conditions or skills.
Narrative:
Lower Makefield Township Parks and Recreation Department is still in its infancy with regard to programming. The Department’s primary focus is participation, satisfaction, and cost recovery. Now with the Program Plan in place Lower Makefield is looking further at the goals set forth within the programming and filling gaps. The Department use metrics collected in the community needs assessment, customer feedback, the level of service report and program participation to determine if it is positively impacting the community in line with the mission, vision and goals.
Lower Makefield measures success by sending out a Program Feedback Survey after the completion of classes. After the survey is complete the Program Manager determines the success rate of the class and sees what went well and what can be improved. This evaluation tool helps to improve programs and classes at Lower Makefield Township. The Director of the department also reviews evaluations and meets with staff to share results and to set goals for improvement in the future.
The 2021 LMT Program Feedback shows us that Zumba, Yoga and Art is engaging our residents in a very positive way and that we should consider keeping these classes. We also see that parents of the hockey participants weren’t willing to provide feedback, this class is a very popular class by way of registration so this was an interesting finding. Since the Program manager just started taking this data in will be interesting to see feedback overtime.
Lower Makefield Township staff produces an annual report to the BOS, the Parks and Recreation Board each year during the Parks and Recreation Road Tour. Each year the Parks Director and some staff provide a tour by bus or trolley for the Boards, while reviewing information with the packet. During the Tour the group visits five or six sites that are of interest due to capital improvements needed, capital improvements in progress, or potential development sites. The report provided to the Boards includes both quantitative and qualitative information that is used to make decisions for the budget, during staff meetings and for programming. Most recently this report was used in discussion in a BOS Capital Improvement approval process for our Schuyler Park Tennis Court repair. The board voted to repair the courts at a cost of $400,000. The meeting minutes are not available at this time, the meeting occurred June 9, 2022. This report is also made available to the public so they can give informed feedback about our programs. This report has evolved significantly over time and will continue to produce information for decision making.
Recent Examples:
Information from the Road Tour Report, community pass and Munis in addition to staff and resident feedback helped us make decision about fee structures within the pool for the 2022 season.
Data from Community Pass 2022 Summer Camp Report allowed us to expand our camp program for the 2022 season by adding an air-conditioned tent to our program, we continue to actively seek alternative space to accommodate even more campers.
Swim lesson report within the annual report taught us that we needed to offer more lessons, particularly lower-level classes. We changed the schedule this year to accommodate and partnered with the swim team to offer a transitional swim program for higher level participants.
Pickleball numbers within the annual report allowed us to change a grant project from four dedicated tennis courts to three tennis courts and four dedicated pickleball courts. These we the first non-convertible courts in the Township.
Information from this report was also used as part of the master planning process for the Department.
Information for the Community needs assessment identified Teens as a population that we should be serving, so this year we are piloting a Tween Adventures Camp.
Supporting Documents:
Evidence of Compliance:
2023 Annual Review:
10.3 – Performance Measurement
Standard:
The agency shall have a procedure for tracking and monitoring data trends and measuring performance against targets linked to achievement of goals and objectives.
Narrative:
Each staff has goals they are working toward in their own respective department each year that they should meet or improve upon from the previous year. The staff set membership and financial goals for the pool, number of classes, types of classes, training goals and professional goals within the department.
In 2019 the community reported that they needed more tween programming, specifically summer activities at that time. In response the Department offered a summer half day camp at the pool but it received poor registration, so the program was canceled. In 2022, the needs assessment and feedback from residents indicated that the Township was not offering enough teen programming. The Community was asking for summer camp. The staff reviewed requests and recognized that the offering at the pool was not successful because parents needed full day care, the only challenge was getting buy-in from their teens. They also had concerns about camp leadership and oversight. In response the staff developed a pilot summer tween camp that would spend days at the pool and on trips that were of a higher caliber. Staff brought on a certified middle school teacher with age appropriate experience, and a newly certified teacher to run the program. This program just launched and so far the response has been positive. Staff set a goal of 20 tweens to register for the program for 2022, with 20 tweens the program would break even and support the continuation of the program in the following year.
Performance measurements are set and reviewed annually. An example related to teen programming was provided in terms of how information gathered was used in decision making.
Evidence of Compliance:
10.3.1 – Level of Service Standards
Standard:
The agency shall have level of service (LOS) standards for provision of land, facilities and services within the jurisdiction. LOS standards are a type of performance measure associated with equitable provision service, such as the number of facilities per 1,000 residents in a service area or facilities available within a designated travel distance or travel time, e.g. percent of population that have a park within a 10 minute walk. LOS standard can also address other dimensions of equitable access, such as connectivity, maintenance and affordability, e.g. percent of parkland connected to the trail network.
Narrative:
Level of Services is a measurement tool that allows Elected Officials to make informed decisions about future Planning. The National Recreation and Parks 2021 Park Metrics Report was used as a guideline throughout this report to display where Lower Makefield Township aligns among other Park Agencies with similar population. The Population measurement range the Department used was 20,000-49,999. Lower Makefield Township Actual Population is 33,180 according to the 2020 Census.
Prior to participating in the CAPRA process LOS was not reported to the BOS. This was flaw and created our first LOS report as part of this process.
Our LOS standards were recently used as part of our Master and Strategic Planning process. Our BOS and Park Board were provided copies as part of their packets throughout the process. It is also listed to the public as part of the Play for All Planning.
The plan is to refine and improve this education process moving forward.
Supporting Documents:
Evidence of Compliance:
10.4 – Needs Assessment
Standard:
The agency shall periodically conduct an assessment of assets and needs to identify existing and projected gaps in service and determine land, facility and service priorities. Need assessments are used to help determine priorities for developing services with the agency. Needs assessments can use a variety of methods to obtain input from the community, including focus groups, advisory boards, forums, and surveys.
Narrative:
Lower Makefield Township completed a Community Needs Assessment specific to the athletic user groups in 2018, as the study was conducted it was determined that a broader study was necessary. In 2021 an all encompassing Needs Assessment was initiated and it was completed in February of 2022. There were approximately 2,000 participants who responded to the survey and thousands of data points. The Township marketed the survey through signage, social media posts, email, in the news, meetings, and at in person events. The process was very thoughtful and the community was very engaged. This process brought together the Township’s Play for All Plan which is a combination strategic and Master Plan.
Supporting Documents:
10.5 – Program and Service Statistics
Standard:
The agency shall collect and analyze statistics on its programs and services for evaluation and future program and service development.
Narrative:
The Parks and Recreation department collects data through a variety of sources in order to continue to monitor the success of Department programs. In the past the Department did this annually but this year the staff started collecting data quarterly to give a more comprehensive report. The staff are responsible for their certain data and input their statistics to Microsoft teams. They use Community Pass, Hootsuite reporting software, data collected from their partners, Constant Contact as primary sources for information.
The reason the Park and Recreation Annual Report is done is threefold. It’s used to present information about the department to the BOS so they can see quantitively and qualitative information about our programming. The BOS can use this information to guide their decision making. Internally this is used to spot check our programs and to set goals for the following year and also provides information to the public.
Evidence of Compliance:
10.5.1 – Recreation and Leisure Trends Analysis
Standard:
The agency shall assess periodically societal and local recreation and leisure trends and determine how those trends impact existing and projected user populations.
Narrative:
Lower Makefield Township uses multiple sources in order to track trends. National Recreation and Park Association provides Research Reports, Park Pulse and Snap Shot surveys that have been very helpful to monitor research trends. In addition, the staff participates in local organizations such as the Bucks County Recreation Association, the Pennsylvania Division III chapter of the Pennsylvania Parks and Recreation Association, and the PA Parks and Recreation Association Meetings in order to learn of any new activities or to identify gaps within Department Programming. Staff uses this in partnership with community feedback, community Needs Assessments and surveys to determine how they can best accommodate new trends in Parks and Recreation. When making a decision about programming, before fully considering a new program based on trends it is important that the new program fits within the confines of the Mission, Vision and goals of the Department.
Supporting Documents:
Evidence of Compliance:
10.5.2 – Community Inventory
Standard:
The agency shall compile a complete and current inventory of parkland and recreation facilities, programs and services in the service area, including those provided by the agency and those offered by schools and other alternative public, private, non-profit providers.
Narrative:
The Parks and Recreation staff inventory facilities, programs and participation in addition to analyzing other nearby agencies programs and services. This is done every three years to ensure that resident needs are being met within the Community. After examination, the staff will review the needs and see what opportunities prevail. With this information, staff will be able to define gaps and assess the success of current programs.
Supporting Documents:
Evidence of Compliance:
10.5.3 – NRPA Park Metrics
Standard:
The agency shall create a profile in the national NRPA Park Metrics database that includes at a minimum, completion of “Agency Summary” and “General Park Sites” forms.
Narrative:
This is the first year that Lower Makefield Township entered data into the Park Metrics site, while doing so it was determined that the Township could better track supporting information about the programs by using this as a guideline. Parks and Recreation will add a much more comprehensive response in 2022.
Evidence of Compliance:
10.6 – Research Investigation
Standard:
The agency shall conduct at least one experimental exploration or research investigation each year related to park and recreation operations. These are demonstration or pilot projects where performance data are collected before and after the test to determine effectiveness.
Narrative:
The Parks and Recreation Department will often pilot programs prior to fully adopting them as part of the regular programming. There are times where the Department finds success and there are times where the program did not work out. In most instances staff will regroup, listen to feedback and if it seems feasible the Department will modify and try again. If the feedback does not support the program at large then it will be removed from the program offerings.
Tween Camp: The recent data from the 2022 Lower Makefield Township Needs Assessment shows that teenage students within the Township are underserved. Due to the Pennsbury School District having a population size of approximately 10,072 students and limited number of spots on their school teams and after school activities students have very little room to participate in after school recreation activities. The Park and Recreation Department at Lower Makefield learned that large quantity of students in the community are not engaged in activities or they to not have a place to go when school lets out. To try and aid this underserved population the department launched their first Tween Adventures Day Camp in Lower Makefield for children ages 11-13. The goal is to give tweens a place to go in the summer yet also allowing them to feel more independence than if they were just at the regular summer camp. The tweens will get to socialize with their peers, go on field trips geared toward their age group, and participate in physical activity. The summer of 2022 will be the first summer of the program and will be a pilot summer to discover what to improve on and what to change for the future.
Programming started in 2018, when the Community Center was open to the public. Since then programming continues to increase, only with a small speed bump in 2020. When the Department started to introduce programming to the Township staff offered programming that they could find instructors for but have since started using a more systematic approach to their offerings. In 2019 the Department piloted all programming when they opened the Community Center. Staff used data to determine its effectiveness and feedback to determine needs for new programs. There are many programs that were attempted and retracted because they were not well received by the community. There are also programs offered and changed based on feedback and attendance because they were not as popular.
An Example of a program that evolved is Family Game Nights offered 2018, this was a request from a resident who wanted to have a place where families gathered to play games. In response the staff hosted a family game night at the Community Center on the first Friday of every month. Games and concessions were available to the public at no charge. The program never took off. Staff decided to regroup and try again with holiday themes in 2019. The Department then offered First Fridays with themes to include Monster Mash, a Winter Holiday Party, and a Family Friend New Year Bash. Staff eliminated non theme events. This was a big hit, although the board game piece of it never took off the Department did bring in giant jenga and giant connect 4 which had a very positive response. While the events did have a slight pause through COVID-19 they are planned to be brought back in 2022.
Based on the Tween Adventures Survey Lower Makefield was able to run a Tween Camp due to high enough interests in the program. These results helped to start the program and learn more about what the children wanted to do.
Evidence of Compliance:
10.6.1 – Quality Assurance
Standard:
The agency shall monitor and evaluate the quality of its programs, services and facilities from the user perspective. Examples include but are not limited to customer comment cards, secret/mystery shopper surveys, user satisfaction surveys, program evaluations and focus groups.
Narrative:
Lower Makefield Township strives to be the best! With that there are hiccups and opportunities for growth. The Department continues to use customer feedback to evaluate the process. Staff will always evaluate customer feedback to make adjustments. One bit of feedback the Department just recently used to evaluate was feedback based on the fees at the pool. Knowing that rates had to be raised in 2022 in order to pay the employees more and to cover costs at the pool, the Township wanted to make it more palatable for their members. Over the years many of the residents complained because the fees were not structured to assist smaller families. For instance a family of just two adults would pay almost as much as a family of 10 or a single parent family would pay the same as a family of 10. The Township adjusted the pay structure to be more palatable so residents were paying for what they were using at the Pool. While the rates were raised this was actually to the benefit of small families and seniors.
Lower Makefield measures success by sending out a Program Feedback Survey after the completion of classes. After the survey is complete the Program Manager determines the success rate of the class and sees what went well and what can be improved. This evaluation tool helps to improve programs and classes at Lower Makefield Township.
Evidence of Compliance:
Contact
Parks & Recreation
1550 Oxford Valley Road
Yardley, PA 19067
(We are located next to Fred Allan Softball Complex in the Community Center)
Phone: 267-274-1110 prinfo@lmt.org
Hours
Monday-Friday: 8:00 am - 4:30 pm
