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Session Title: Building Evaluation Capacity in College Access and Success Programs
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Panel Session 328 to be held in La Jolla on Thursday, Nov 3, 11:40 AM to 12:25 PM
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Sponsored by the College Access Programs TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Wendy Erisman, Strix Research LLC, werisman@strixresearch.com
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| Abstract:
This session examines lessons learned from two strategies designed to build evaluation capacity in college access and success programs. The first strategy is an online toolkit that helps program staff design and implement effective evaluations with or without the help of external evaluators. The second strategy involves offering funding to college access and success grantees for evaluation capacity-building through technical assistance provided by external consultants. The session will examine the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy, provide recommendations for using the strategies successfully, and discuss future plans for evaluation capacity-building work in the college access and success field.
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The Evaluation Toolkit: An Online Resource for Developing an Evaluation Mindset and Evaluation Culture Among College Access and Success Programs
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| Chandra Taylor Smith, The Pell Institute, chandra.taylorsmith@pellinstitute.org
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In 2010, The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Education in partnership with The Pathways to College Network launched an online Evaluation Toolkit. The toolkit is designed to help college access and success program staff, including staff for federal TRIO programs, undertake small scale, high quality evaluations of their programs. The toolkit includes advice to help programs design and implement evaluation plans, collect and analyze data, and use evaluation findings for program improvement. This presentation will demonstrate the toolkit's features, discuss the challenges of designing an evaluation toolkit intended for use by program staff with limited evaluation experience, illustrate the approach to engaging college access professionals to utilize the toolkit as an exercise in developing an evaluation mindset and evaluation program culture as well as describe future plans for the project, including efforts to incorporate empowerment and culturally responsive evaluation approaches into the toolkit.
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Including Evaluation Capacity-Building in College Access and Success Program Grants: Lessons Learned from Technical Assistance Projects
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| Wendy Erisman, Strix Research LLC, werisman@strixresearch.com
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College access and success funders recognize the importance of evaluation for understanding and improving program outcomes and are more often providing financial support for evaluation in their grant-making. For many programs, however, hiring an external evaluator to conduct an evaluation is not sufficient. Program staff also need to build their internal capacity to collect, analyze, communicate, and use evaluation findings. This presentation describes lessons learned from a series of funder-sponsored evaluation technical assistance projects. Topics addressed include project scope and cost, timing, content, and approach as well as thoughts about how programs can pitch such work to prospective funders.
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