Evaluating Your NLC

Once a school has been developed into a Neighbourhood Learning Centre, it is important to evaluate how well it is serving the needs of all stakeholders.

Celebrate what’s working

One of the toughest things to do when looking at your organization is to celebrate what’s working. It is too easy to get into a place of critique, and then get stuck there. We recommend beginning your evaluation by discussing what is working. This helps build momentum for change and energizes everyone for future work.

Reflect on areas needing improvement

After celebrating what works, you can determine what should be improved. Perhaps you’ve been meeting every six months with community and education partners, but recognize that meeting more frequently could help deter some problems arising from sharing space. Or maybe you want to propose building more storage to keep items secure. Whatever areas need improving, take the time to discuss and review them with your team.

Re-visit goals and objectives

With different stakeholders involved, the need to check in regarding your goals and objectives becomes key. It is recommended that each NLC create goals, together with their community and education partners. Re-visit the objectives and goals annually to ensure that they reflect the wishes of all participants.

Check-in with others in the field

Although there is plenty of research on the benefits of increased community involvement, NLCs are still a relatively new concept and problems or challenges may arise. If this happens there is a good chance that someone else has been there. One solution is to get in contact with someone who is further down the road and has a solution to your problem. There is no need to re-invent the wheel.

Determining what stage you’re at

One way to evaluate where you’re at as a NLC is to consider the NLC Stages of Development framework. In this framework, NLCs are gauged to be at one of the following stages: exploring, emerging, maturing or excelling. What stage an NLC is at is dependent on categories including, programs and services, management and governance, staffing, integration, parent engagement, student engagement, community engagement, partnerships, evaluation and sustainability. To explore the stages in greater detail, view the NLC Stages of Development framework.