Family Involvement in the Education of Secondary-School-Age Students With Disabilities
This study shows how families of students with disabilities are involved in their children’s education both at home and school, and how characteristics of children and families are related to families’ level of participation.
Free. Available online only.
After School for Cindy: Family, School, and Community Roles in Out-of-School Time Teaching Case
Second grade teacher Nikki believes that participation in a formal after school program would help her student Cindy academically at school. However, Cindy's single working mother Marla prefers to keep Cindy with her in the afternoons after her numerous struggles with securing quality affordable care in the community. What are the roles of family, school, and community in promoting children's learning and development in out-of-school time?
Free. Available online only.
Understanding Family Involvement in the Preparation of Graduate Students: Measuring Family-Centered Beliefs, Skills, Systems, and Practices
Family-centered practices by professionals serving families and their young children with disabilities have become a cornerstone of personnel preparation programs in early childhood intervention (ECI) and early childhood education. Our research project sought to develop a measure to examine the family-centered beliefs, skills, work systems, and work practices of ECI and ECE graduate students.
Free. Available online only.
After School Evaluation Symposium
This 2-day meeting brought together the perspectives of diverse stakeholders to inspire new ideas and foster stronger links between research, practice, and policy. Participants discussed issues of access, quality, professional development, the role of evaluation research, and systems-building efforts.
Free. Available online only.
Ten Strategies for Enhancing Multicultural Competency in Evaluation
Teresa Boyd Cowles of the Connecticut Department of Education offers self-reflective strategies evaluators can use to enhance their multicultural competency.
The Evidence Base for Increasing High-Achieving Minority Undergraduates
Mehmet Öztürk discusses findings from a review of evaluations of programs at selective colleges and universities to be used for improving undergraduate academic outcomes for underrepresented minority or disadvantaged students.
Building a Pipeline Program for Evaluators of Color
Rodney Hopson and Prisca Collins of Duquesne University describe a new graduate internship program designed to develop leaders in the evaluation field and improve evaluators' capacity to work responsively in diverse racial and ethnic communities.
The Retrospective Pretest: An Imperfect but Useful Tool
Theodore Lamb, of the Center for Research and Evaluation at Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, discusses retrospective pretests and their strengths and weaknesses.
Evaluation Methodology
This issue of The Evaluation Exchange periodical focuses on evaluation methodology, covering topics in contemporary evaluation thinking, techniques, and tools. Mel Mark, president-elect of the American Evaluation Association, kicks off the issue with a discussion about the role that evaluation theory plays in our methodological choices. Other voices in the issue include Georgia State University evaluator Gary Henry, who makes the case for a paradigm shift in how we think about evaluation use and influence, and Robert Boruch, a Campbell Collaboration founder, who discusses the role of randomized trials in defining “what works.” Other contributors to the issue respond to various “how to” questions, such as how to foster strategic learning, how to find tools that assess nonprofit organizational capacity, how to select and use various outcome models, how to increase the number of evaluators of color, how to enhance multicultural competency in evaluation, and how to measure what we value so others value what we measure. Finally, the issue explores theory of change, cluster evaluation, and retrospective pretests—methodological approaches currently generating much interest and dialogue.
Evaluation Theory or What Are Evaluation Methods for?
Mel Mark, professor of psychology at the Pennsylvania State University and president-elect of the American Evaluation Association, discusses why theory is important to evaluation practice.
From the Director's Desk
An introduction to the issue on Evaluation Methodology by HFRP's Founder & Director, Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
Eight Outcome Models
Robert Penna and William Phillips from the Rensselaerville Institute’s Center for Outcomes describe eight models for applying outcome-based thinking.
An Introduction to Theory of Change
Andrea Anderson is a research associate at the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change, where she focuses on work related to planning and evaluating community initiatives.
Evaluation and the Sacred Bundle
John Bare of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation explains how nonprofits can learn about setting evaluation priorities based on storytelling and “sacred bundles.”
A Conversation With Gary Henry
Gary Henry makes the case for a paradigm shift in how we think about evaluation use and influence.
Assessing Nonprofit Organizational Capacity
Abby Weiss from HFRP describes the tool that the Marguerite Casey Foundation offers its nonprofit grantees to help them assess their organizational capacity.
Evaluating Complicated—and Complex—Programs Using Theory of Change
Patricia Rogers of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology describes how a theory of change can provide coherence in evaluating national initiatives that are both complicated and complex.
What is strategic learning and how do you develop an organizational culture that encourages it?
John A. Healy, Director of Strategic Learning and Evaluation at The Atlantic Philanthropies, shares ways to position learning as an organizational priority.
New & Noteworthy
The New & Noteworthy section features an annotated list of papers, organizations, initiatives, and other resources related to the issue's theme of Evaluation Methodology.
What is the Campbell Collaboration and how is it helping to identify “what works”?
Robert Boruch, a founder of the Campbell Collaboration and professor of education and statistics at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses how the Campbell Collaboration and randomized trials contribute to evidence-based policy.
The Knight Foundation's Approach to Cluster Evaluation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Wellsys Corporation describe how they plan to aggregate lessons learned across a "thematic cluster" of youth development investments.
Learning Is Everyone's Business: Learning Supports in Iowa
On behalf of their partners in the Iowa Collaboration for Youth Development, Linda Miller and Carol Behrer describe a statewide interagency collaboration to coordinate educational policies, practices, and programs.
Investing in Connections
Foundation executives discuss their efforts to connect the many contexts in which children live and learn in order to increase the impact of their investments in these areas.
Supplementary Education: The Hidden Curriculum of High Academic Achievement
Priscilla Little of HFRP reviews Supplementary Education, a new compilation of essays and papers edited by Edmund Gordon, Beatrice Bridglall, and Aundra Saa Meroe.
Evaluating Partnerships: Seven Success Factors
Dr. Hector Garza of the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships describes what he looks for when evaluating educational partnerships.