Student Recruitment

Demonstrating Your Fire Prevention Program's Worth, P378 - Pilot Offering

The National Fire Academy is conducting a pilot class at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, MD, for its newly developed 6-day course, Demonstrating Your Fire Prevention Program's Worth.

The pilot class is scheduled to occur November 2 – 7, 2008, with students to arrive Saturday, November 1 and depart Saturday, November 8, 2008.

A candidate pool of potential contract instructors may be developed from those students who successfully complete one of the pilot offerings.

Demonstrating Your Fire Prevention Program's Worth (P378)

The purpose of this course is to provide students with the tools and skills to be able to evaluate their organization's fire and injury prevention programs. The course provides a systematic way to improve and account for evaluation actions by involving procedures that are useful, feasible, ethical, and accurate.
The course framework guides fire prevention professionals in their use of prevention program evaluation. It is a practical, nonprescriptive tool, designed to summarize and organize essential elements of prevention program evaluation. The emphasis is on the practical, ongoing evaluation strategies that involve all program stakeholders, not just evaluation experts.
The main themes of the course include:
- Misconceptions regarding the purposes and methods of program evaluation
- The essential elements of prevention program evaluation
- The steps for conducting effective prevention program evaluation
- Review standards for effective program evaluation

Course units include:

Why is Evaluation Important in Prevention – the myths, purpose, benefits, of prevention program evaluation, evaluation applied to risk reduction, ethical considerations.
Evaluation 101 – the stages of program evaluation and applications to current programs
Engaging Stakeholders and Describing the Program – persons involved in or affected by the programs, primary users of evaluation, description of the program need, expected effects, activities, resources and context. SMART objectives. Benchmarks and timelines for evaluation.
Focusing the Evaluation Design – purpose, users, uses, questions, methods and agreements.
Gathering Credible Evidence – methods and logistics for gathering credible evidence. Indicators and sources. Sampling types and common tools and interviewing techniques.
Data Analysis – formatting and analyzing the data. Data interpretation.
Using the Information – Actions Based on Results – actions and opportunities of results. Presentation of findings.

This new 6-day course presents tools and skills in a logical sequence for conducting effective prevention program evaluations. Examples of four types of evaluation are presented throughout the course.

Formative evaluation
Process evaluation
Impact evaluation
Outcome evaluation

Student Selection Criteria: Any person responsible for programs involved with fire/injury prevention. Students should identify their specific prevention role on the application, and indicate that they have responsibility for prevention programs. Target audiences typically include: fire marshals, fire and building inspectors, public fire/life safety educators, juvenile firesetter intervention specialists, code inspectors and officials, and other community or allied professionals in the fire and injury prevention field.

Applications:

Students must complete FEMA Form 75-5, General Admissions Application
Completed applications should be mailed by August 29, 2008 to:

United States Fire Administration
Admissions Office
16825 S. Seton Avenue
Emmitsburg, MD 21727
Completed applications may also be faxed to the Admissions Office at (301) 447-1441 or (301) 447-1658.
Applicants should not make plans to attend the pilot until notified by the Admissions Office.
Stipends for eligible students are available for attendance at these pilots. Attendance at the pilot courses does not prevent an eligible student from obtaining another stipend within the same fiscal year.