SERVE Center is a research and development organization that has served as the lead regional educational laboratory in the area of expanded learning opportunities. SERVE has been active in conducting and disseminating relevant research and in providing training related to afterschool programs. SERVE has completed three research syntheses addressing the evaluation of afterschool programs:
- Expanded Learning Opportunities Programs: A Review of Research and Evaluations on Participant Outcomes in School Readiness and After-School Programs (2002), published in the American Journal of Evaluation, provides specific recommendations for improving the quality of evaluations and the rigor of the research designs used to collect data on afterschool programs.
- After-School Programs: Evaluations and Outcomes (2003) lays the foundation for thinking about what types of afterschool program practices might be associated with positive student outcomes.
- Mathematics Tutoring. The most recent research synthesis was focused on determining if individualized tutoring in the area of mathematics results in improved student performance on measures of mathematics achievement or other measures and what characteristics of mathematics tutoring interventions seem to be associated with greater effects on student performance in mathematics or other outcomes.
SERVE has developed an Expanded Learning Opportunities research database that allows practitioners and others to access the research included in the afterschool and tutoring syntheses, as well as studies that have been published since the syntheses were completed. This database allows users to search for studies by characteristic of the programs or research design used to conduct the studies included in the database.
SERVE's Partnership Role
SERVE Center provides regional afterschool outreach and technical
assistance as a member of the Partnership. It serves the southeastern
region, working with state education agency staffs, local sites,
and other key regional contacts to help identify and validate
effective practices and to provide training and technical assistance.
Technical assistance staff include a content-area specialist
addressing science and homework, two of the Partnership's six
content areas.
Project Staff
Errin M. McComb, Regional Technical Assistance Coordinator
Dr. McComb is the project director responsible for the overall
management of SERVE's Partnership work. She designs and
conducts research related to afterschool and other Expanded
Learning Opportunities, and provides training and technical
assistance to state educational agencies and community-based
organizations, developing and conducting professional development
workshops, grant reviews, and presenting at regional and
national conferences.
Dr. McComb co-authored SERVE's Expanded Learning Opportunities
Programs: A Review of Research and Evaluation on Participant
Outcomes in School Readiness and After-School Programs (2002).
She has a B.S. in human development and family studies from
the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, an MS in
child and family development from the University of Georgia,
and a PhD in educational research and policy analysis from
North Carolina State University.
Kimberly Scriven, Regional Technical Assistance Staff
(Homework Content Specialty Area)
Kimberly Scriven is an assistant program specialist at SERVE
Center at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, where
she focuses on professional and product development for afterschool
programs and the implementation of a Migrant Even Start program
in a rural Florida county. She has performed research for the
Whole Child Leon Project, a Florida community collaboration
project designed to improve outcomes for children from birth
to age 5 in Leon County. Ms. Scriven has also designed out-of-school
activities for community and faith-based organizations in Florida
and Kentucky.
Ms. Scriven holds a BS in sociology from Florida A&M
University and will receive an MS in early childhood education
from Florida State University in December 2005.
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