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  • Brown University, Providence, RI                                                                                                                 GRG is serving as the external evaluator of the IGERT, An Integrated Program on Development and Inequality in the Global South, for the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.  The evaluation includes formative, process, and summative components. The evaluation focuses on the implementation of the project as well as the success of the project in meeting its goal of having IGERT trainees incorporate inter-disciplinary and innovative techniques in their doctoral work and beyond.  Evaluation activities will include the following: an annual survey with students each year, including those who have completed their traineeships; survey with faculty during years one, three, and five; site visits to the program and to talk with groups of students during selected years; and interviews with program staff.  Data collected in the first couple years will be used formatively to help the program make improvements, while ongoing data collected over the five years will be used to assess program effectiveness.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
  • Columbia University, New York, NY                                                                                                                                The POlar Learning And Responding: POLAR Climate Partnership, led by the Columbia University, will engage adult learners through novel polar educational approaches to advance their understanding of climate change and then to stimulate engagement in meaningful individual and collective responses. GRG will serve as the external evaluator on the project and conduct summative evaluation during the current phase. GRG’s evaluation activities during the current Phase I are aimed at gauging the potential capacity of the Partnership to achieve its long term goals. To this end, GRG will conduct interviews, surveys, and feedback sessions with the key players from each organization involved in the project.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
  • Education Development Center (EDC), Waltham, MA                                                              GRG is conducting a process and summative evaluation of Taking NPASS to Scale (NPASS2): Creating State-based Professional Development Networks for Out-of-School-Time Science, a program developed by the Center for Science Education (CSE) at the Educational Development Center, Inc. (EDC). This three-year NSF-funded program is designed to provide professional development training to science trainers so as to increase Out-of-School Time (OST) science programming for children. The program focuses on under served populations in eight geographically and demographically diverse U.S. states. The summative evaluation will examine how the project builds the states’ infrastructure and capacity to support this work into the future.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
  • Education Development Center (EDC), Waltham, MA                                                                                  GRG is conducting summative evaluation for Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) of their NSDL Youth Resources (NYR) project. The evaluation will be guided by questions about the implementation and the scope and impact of the NYR study. GRG evaluation will asses also the extent to which the NYR study upholds commonly accepted research standards, principles, and ethics. GRG will serve as the external evaluator to track the project’s effective and timely progress in meeting its overall goals. GRG's consultation activities will include reviewing research designs, methodologies and instruments, as well as participating in phone/web conference calls with the research team and advisors. GRG researchers will provide expertise in finalizing the data collection instruments, data analyses and activities for dissemination of the findings.                                                                                                                                                           
  • Ford Family Foundation, Eugene, OR                                                                                                                                          The Ford Family Foundation has contracted GRG to evaluate its Ford Scholar Program, which offers college scholarships to graduating high school seniors and community college students in Oregon and Northern California. In addition to the scholarship funds, Ford Scholars receive support through conferences, counseling, and on-campus resources. GRG will assess the impact of the program through an online survey and focus groups with current scholars and their parents, with the goal of capturing the benefits of the program, exploring potential improvements, and contributing to the literature on college access.                                                                                                                                                                                                
  • Franklin Institute Science Museum, Philadelphia, PA                                                                                                        The Franklin Institute is partnering with four other organizations in this Phase I to develop a climate change education partnership project for urban centers, called the Urban Climate Education Partnership (UCEP). These four organizations are The Center for Climate Systems Research, a unit of the Earth Institute, Columbia University, The University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out of School Environments (UPCLOSE), Carnegie Museum of Natural History, New York Hall of Science, and Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Science. GRG will serve as the external evaluator for the project and will conduct the front-end and the summative evaluation during this Phase. GRG’s front-end evaluation of the CCEP program involves a needs-assessment related to the target audiences’ concern and engagement with environmental issues. To that end, GRG will conduct one focus group with each of the CCEP’s target audience groups. The proposed summative evaluation is two-fold: evaluation of UCEP network and the evaluation of inventories of climate science resources.                                                                                                
  • George Mason University, Washington, DC                                                                            With funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media has created Teachinghistory.org with the goal of making U.S. history content, teaching strategies, resources, and research accessible to all K-12 teachers. GRG is evaluating the site for its overall accessibility and utility. In addition to visitors’ self-reported use and feedback, GRG is monitoring the website’s visitors using Google Analytics and AWStats website tracking tools.                                                                                                                                                                                                    
  • Jim Henson Company, Sid the Science Kid, Hollywood, CA                                                                                      GRG is conducting evaluation of the weeklong pilot of Sid the Science Kid (STSK) Head Start camp curriculum program. STSK is a show for pre-school children with a focus on early science exploration. Head Start teachers in two cities, Los Angeles and New York, will participate in the online training and implement the weeklong curriculum program in their classrooms. GRG will assess short term teacher and student outcomes from participation in the program through pre-and post-surveys, classroom observations, and comparison with a control group of Head Start classrooms.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
  • Massachusetts Linking Experiences and Pathways, Cambridge, MA                                                  In March 2010, GRG received its own grant from the National Science Foundation, Division of Gender in Science and Engineering. Our research project, the Massachusetts Linking Experiences and Pathways (M-LEAP) study, is designed to answer the question: How do students’ in-school and out-of-school experiences shape their choices related to their future careers? M-LEAP is a longitudinal study of 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade elementary school students who will be followed for three years. Their parents, teachers, district subject matter specialists, and community program representatives will also provide data. We have selected a diverse sample of 10 school districts in Massachusetts to participate in the study.  These schools are a mix of urban, suburban, and rural in different parts of the state, and the sample provides diversity in terms of socioeconomic status and of race/ethnicity.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             The research team consists of GRG staff members Irene F. Goodman, Ed.D., Principal Investigator; Karen Gareis, Ph.D., co-PI and Project Director; Elizabeth Bachrach, Ph.D., co-PI, and Helena Pylvainen, B.A., Research Assistant. The two other co-PIs are Jacque Eccles, Ph.D., University of Michigan, and Robert T. Brennan, Ed.D., independent consultant. Dr. Eccles is the creator of the Eccles et al. Expectancy Value Model of Achievement-Related Choices.  Dr. Brennan is a statistical methodologist who specializes in the complex statistical modeling techniques that will be necessary to analyze the data from the M-LEAP study.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
    • MIT Terrascope Youth Radio, Cambridge, MA
      GRG is in the third year of a four-year process and outcome evaluation of Terrascope Youth Radio, an NSF-funded project in which urban teens develop, report, write, produce, and host a regularly broadcast radio program on environmental and Earth-system science. Participating teens report on science topics that are engaging and relevant to their lives at the same time as they learn radio production skills. In addition to providing interactive learning experiences for local teens, the initiative aims to serve as an impetus to increase coverage of environmental science, and other STEM topics, in youth radio programming nationally. Finally, the program proposes to establish a model for university researchers and students to engage and work with youth in their communities.                                                      
    • New Jersey Academy for Aquatic Sciences, Camden, NJ
      In the Communities of Learning for Urban Environments and Science (CLUES) project, funded by NSF’s Informal Science Education (ISE) program, four museums are collaborating to build community capacity for STEM education and increase STEM learning opportunities for underserved families. CLUES provides apprentices from the community with intensive professional development in informal science education; in turn, apprentices train and mentor presenters in providing accessible family education programs on neighborhood environmental issues. GRG’s process evaluation focuses on the implementation of the apprentice and presenter professional development activities and the family STEM education programs. GRG will also evaluate outcomes, including community STEM education capacity; apprentices’ and presenters’ knowledge, skill, confidence, and interest in informal science education; and families’ knowledge of and connections to their urban environments.                                                                                                
    • Ohio State University, Lima, OH

      It’s About Discovery is a STEM curriculum for students in grades 8–10 developed by OSU Lima and funded by NSF’s ITEST program. The program, founded on new science modules from the Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies (PAS) curriculum, aims to extend student readiness to engage in STEM careers and equip teachers to use a challenging curriculum that brings STEM careers and content to life; technology is integrated throughout the program. GRG’s external summative evaluation is focusing on changes in student knowledge of and attitudes about STEM subjects, skills, and careers and teacher knowledge of how to educate students on these topics; we also examine student and teacher attitudes toward technology.

                                                                                           

    • Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
      GRG's evaluation of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program in Indiana is in its third year of a five-year grant. The LSAMP Indiana program was established in 2003, uniting Purdue West Lafayette, Purdue Calumet, IUPUI, Ball State, and Indiana University Bloomington in their goals to increase the number of underrepresented minority students earning baccalaureate degrees in STEM. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the program recently entered Phase II of its implementation. The current Phase II goal is to triple the number of baccalaureate degrees earned by program participants within the next five years. GRG’s evaluation is gathering process and feedback data to assess the successes of the program.                                                                                      
    • Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

      In September 2011, GRG began a study focused on the Midwest Crossroads Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP), a consortium of three universities in the Midwest region. This short-term study collected data from graduate students, faculty mentors, program staff, and administrators. Collecting data through interviews, focus groups, and a web-based survey, we will attempt to uncover institutional practices and policies at the university, school, and/or department level that students and faculty report that encourage or deter underrepresented minority persistence in graduate education in the STEM fields.

                                      

    • The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, Boston, MA
      After completing an evaluation of their signature Schwartz Center Rounds® program in 2008, GRG is conducting process and outcomes evaluation of a new Schwartz Center pilot project. Funded by the patient safety and medical malpractice company CRICO/RMF, the Schwartz Center Connections pilot program is designed to build communication across healthcare professionals to mitigate adverse outcomes and malpractice risk. GRG’s outcomes evaluation is a pre-post study of program participants with a comparison group of providers who do not attend the program.                                                                                                                                                   

    • Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education, Arlington, VA

      The Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program, administered by the Triangle Coalition and the Department of Energy–Office of Science, offers outstanding K–12 mathematics, technology, and science teachers the opportunity to serve in the public policy arena. Fellows bring their expertise to Congress and appropriate branches of federal government and gain insights into national educational issues that can then be brought back to the classroom. GRG’s evaluation is examining the impact of the program not only on the Einstein Fellows themselves, but on the federal branches in which the Fellows serve and the schools to which the Fellows return. These outcomes include the Fellows’ familiarity with national STEM policy, legislation, and funding opportunities; the value added to the host branch of having a Fellow; and the benefits to the school and district to which the Fellow returns.                          

              
    • University of California, Los Angeles, CA

      As a follow up to the Systems Response to Improving Education on Aging in California (SAGE) project, we are starting up an evaluation of a new FIPSE-funded project, the Evidence-based Health Promotion (EBHP) Educator Certificate Program. Our evaluation questions are focused on the job market preparation and outcomes for community college students who complete the Career Technical Education (CTE) and the professional development outcomes for faculty who complete the faculty development program and teach the new certificate courses.

    • University of California, Biobridge, San Diego, CA
      The BioBridge professional development model, developed by educators and scientists at the University of California, San Diego, consists of a four-phase training model for high school science teachers. The four-phase model was developed over three years by using an iterative process. In 2008 the BioBridge team and GRG were awarded a research grant form the United States Department of Education to conduct a study of the BioBridge model. The purpose of the study is to gather data that can be used to systematize and strengthen the existing BioBridge training. Evaluation activities include surveys, observations, and a secondary analysis of student test scores. The final deliverable for the project is an Implementation Manual that can be used to replicate the BioBridge model and GRG’s evaluation in other sites.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
    • University of California, National Science Festival Network, San Diego, CA
      GRG is conducting a multi-method process and summative evaluation to demonstrate the success of the National Science Festival Network project. Science Festivals are currently held annually at San Diego, CA and Cambridge, MA. Two new sites will be added to this network in the upcoming year – Bay area, CA and Philadelphia, PA. GRG will contribute to all of the coalition conference meetings planned for the project, as well as the NSFN Web site. GRG’s process evaluation will focus on Planning and Implementation Variables, Festival and Year-Round Event Variables, Audience Variables (by Festival site), and Network variables. During the three years of the evaluation, GRG will carry out summative evaluation activities that explore the success of the four Festivals and hands-on science experiences that participating K-12 children have with local scientists. In addition, GRG will conduct online focus groups each year with key staff, key partners, and key collaborators from each Festival site. During the third year, GRG will carry out the evaluation of the Networking/Collaboration Support Services offered by the NSFN.                                                        
    • WGBH-TV, Boston, MA                                                                                                                                                                                  

      Since 1992, GRG has conducted numerous evaluations of public TV programs, web sites, educational print materials, and outreach initiatives developed by WGBH. Most recently, GRG evaluated NOVA ScienceNOW season 5 (having previously evaluated the first four seasons), and the fourth season of the children's series PEEP and the Big Wide World.  Following is a partial list of current and past projects that GRG evaluated for various WGBH departments (e.g., Educational Print and Outreach, Children’s Programming): Africans in America, Arthur, Between the Lions, Building Big, Design Squad, Einstein’s Big Idea, Fetch, Lives in Science, NOVA: Making Stuff Mini-series, Oliver Twist, Peep and the Big Wide World, Saved by the Sun, and ZOOM.

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
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