Program Evaluation

Educators need to know if their policies, practices, and programs are working and under what conditions. SEDL offers a variety of evaluation services to monitor and assess program implementation and effectiveness. Working with organizations from state departments of education to afterschool providers, we help clients keep programs on track to achieve their goals.

Significant Work

Southeast Comprehensive Center Evaluation: SEDL staff are conducting annual internal evaluations to document the quality, relevance, and usefulness of the work of the Southeast Comprehensive Center and its progress toward achieving its goals. This center provides professional development and technical assistance to the state education agencies of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina to build their capacity to support districts and schools in meeting student achievement goals.

Texas Comprehensive Center Evaluation: SEDL staff are conducting annual internal evaluations to document the quality, relevance, and usefulness of the Texas Comprehensive Center and its progress toward achieving its goals. The center provides professional development and technical assistance to the Texas Education Agency and the state’s 20 regional education service centers to build their capacity to support districts and schools in meeting student achievement goals.

MyMoon Program Evaluation: In partnership with NASA and the Lunar Planetary Institute, SEDL is evaluating a new online website, MyMoon: The Public’s Portal to Lunar Science Exploration Through New Media. The evaluation includes conducting focus groups on usability and navigation.

Girlstart Program Evaluation: SEDL continues to provide program evaluation services to Girlstart, an informal education program in Austin, Texas, dedicated to empowering and equipping K–12 girls in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Past Work

Lancaster School District Evaluation: SEDL conducted an evaluation of the extent to which the Professional Teaching and Learning Cycle (PTLC) was changing teaching and learning in the Lancaster County School District. The PTLC is an ongoing process designed to work systemically to improve the quality of professional development; the use of data to inform instructional and programmatic decisions; the alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment to standards; the monitoring of student learning; and leadership support for continuous school improvement.

Madison Parish Early Reading First Grant Evaluation: Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, this 3-year project evaluated the implementation and impact of the Bright Futures Early Reading First project on outcomes for children, teachers, classrooms, and families in Madison Parish, Louisiana. SEDL implemented a quasi-experimental study design to measure and analyze gains in children's reading outcomes, teacher literacy knowledge, classroom quality, and parental involvement. Significant gains were found for children’s receptive vocabulary, letter recognition, and print awareness skills, and instructors showed significant increases in their knowledge of literacy and language instruction.

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Resources

	Professional Teaching and Learning Cycle, Lancaster School District SEDL’s Research and Evaluation staff conducted an evaluation of the extent to which the PTLC process was changing teaching and learning in the Lancaster County School District. This report summarizes recent evaluation findings regarding the achievement of expected outcomes associated with the process.
	Bright Futures: Early Reading First Year Three Summary Evaluation Report Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, this 3-year project evaluated the implementation and impact of the Bright Futures Early Reading First project on outcomes for children, teachers, classrooms, and families in Madison Parish, Louisiana.
	SEDL's Working Systemically Model: Final Report From December 2000 through December 2005, the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) developed and refined a systemic model to improve student achievement in reading or mathematics in sites composed of low-performing districts and schools. This report describes the Working Systemically model developed under this contract, presenting analyses of data related to its impact in 12 sites distributed across SEDL's five-state region.
	The Evaluation of Texas 21ST Century Community Learning Center Projects: Common Features of Promising Afterschool Programs in Texas Executive Summary SEDL and Academic Information Management, Inc., conducted case studies and cross-case analyses to evaluate Texas 21st CCLC grantees in their second year of implementation. The evaluation study was designed to provide qualitative data that would contribute to a larger quantitative study of the grant program being conducted by the Texas Education Agency. SEDL identified and profiled promising 21st CCLC projects across Texas and examined common characteristics across the afterschool programs they implemented.
	Final Evaluation of the Texas A&M University System's Support Activities Related to the Limited English Proficient Student Success Initiative This report describes SEDL's 3-year evaluation study of the Texas A&M University System's online English as a second language (ESL)/bilingual professional development and LEP campus support services.
	Evaluation of the Texas High School Completion and Success Grant Initiative, Cycle 2 Final Report SEDL and its partners, Gibson Consulting and Academic Information Management, Inc., conducted an evaluation study to determine the degree to which THSCS grant funds have been implemented by grantees to support high school student retention and increase graduation rates and access to higher education. SEDL coordinated and conducted site visits, surveys, and best practices research and served as quality assurance on all project deliverables.
	Evaluation of Educator Professional Development Programs Implemented at the Regional and Local Levels Final Report SEDL, Gibson Consulting, Academic Information Management, Inc., and two other firms evaluated the statewide teacher training activities funded through the Texas Student Success Initiative, which encompassed the Texas Reading, Mathematics, and Science Teacher Academies. SEDL conducted a literature review of best practices in professional development; expert reviews of academy training materials and resources; and surveys to ascertain how teachers perceived the training and if they were implementing the strategies in the classroom.
	Arkansas Education Renewal Zones Initiative - 2007 Final Evaluation Report SEDL staff conducted a multiyear evaluation of the ERZ initiative in eight sites across the state of Arkansas. The evaluation included both formative and summative data collection and reporting functions. The primary goals of the evaluation were to document the context in which the ERZ initiative takes place in each site, the implementation of the initiative according to the guidelines specified in the legislation, and the short- and long-term outcomes resulting from the implementation of the initiative.

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