Evaluation of the All-Day Program Pact for the Afternoon at Hessian Elementary Schools

The Pact for the Afternoon (PfdN), in which the state and school authorities are jointly responsible for providing afternoon education and childcare in a total of 122 elementary school, is intended to support educational equality and individual support in addition to the compatibility of family and career.  The prerequisite for this is the development of a joint educational concept by the school and its cooperation partners. The criteria of the Hessian quality framework for all-day schools also apply to the PfdN schools.

The study examines the evaluation of the PfdN by taking stock of the current practice, the experiences, the satisfaction and the changes perceived by the actors involved as a result of the PfdN. In this way, the conditions for success and the need for change are to be uncovered. The project relates to all levels of management of the Pact (schools, regional and state-wide management). All participants in the schools (students, parents, teachers, pedagogical specialists, management) as well as representatives of the regional management (school authorities, providers of all-day programs, state education authorities) and participants and instruments of the state-wide management will be included. The results of the evaluation can provide valuable information for further work at all levels. The stakeholders involved in the pact in the schools of all 16 school authorities are to be evaluated by 2019. Furthermore, those involved in the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district, the Darmstadt-Dieburg educational region and the city of Kassel will be examined in greater depth.

The evaluation is based on a mixed-methods design, using document analysis as well as semi-standardized interviews with leading persons and group discussions in the steering groups and at the schools. Data from parents, teachers and pedagogical staff will be collected by means of a standardized questionnaire; the students will be surveyed longitudinally with two measurement points.