Research & Evaluation Services

External Program Evaluation

External program evaluation is a requirement of many federal and state grant programs. In addition, many program administrators need timely, objective information about program implementation — from recruitment processes to participants' engagement — in order to enhance delivery. The Education Alliance's external program evaluations are designed to include funders' requirements as well as project directors' needs for high quality information. We work with project staff to craft evaluation questions and logic models that will capture meaningful dimensions of implementation and impact.

Our program evaluations utilize a wide variety of methods tailored to each program's intent, scale, and priorities. We maintain a broad database of survey questions for teachers, administrators, parents and students that have been extensively piloted in numerous Alliance evaluations. These items cover most topical areas in school reform, such as the nature and impact of professional development, school governance structures, levels of teacher/student satisfaction and parent involvement. In addition, our available instruments are particularly strong in areas of educational equity such as bilingual programming. We have expertise in qualitative methods and data collection techniques, such as classroom observations, focus groups, document analysis, and individual interviews.

Using the latest techniques for evaluation research and presentation of data, we describe areas of strength as well as areas that can be addressed and improved in the short term before their funding expires. Through a process of intensive and open dialogue between evaluators and program administrators, stakeholders and faculty, we provide interim reports and formative feedback as well as annual reports and data presentations. The result of this formative process and careful monitoring is increased program effectiveness.