Evaluating for Improvement: Assessing the Implementation and Effectiveness of Strategies for Change Within a Continuous Improvement Cycle

Session Type: Professional Development Course

Abstract

This mini-course will introduce participants to “evaluation for improvement,” a methodology for helping state and district education agencies integrate data and evidence into their continuous improvement efforts. The course will walk through the critical steps to design and carry out two types of formative assessments: “road tests” to improve implementation of a change strategy and “rapid cycle evaluation” to assess the effectiveness of a change strategy. The course will consist of short lectures by instructors interspersed with interactive, small-group activities that engage participants in the process of identifying opportunities, planning, and conducting evaluation for improvement. Participation will include a hands-on demonstration and practice with a free online toolkit for planning and conducting rapid cycle evaluations. Through participation in this course, participants will learn to recognize opportunities to embed data and evidence into the normal course of improvement efforts, understand the steps to plan and conduct evaluation for improvement, and get hands-on experience planning a hypothetical evaluation for improvement through small-group activities. This course is appropriate for researchers and evaluators with a basic understanding of research methodology and program evaluation in education, and who wish to develop skills for working with states, districts, or schools on continuous improvement efforts. Participants should bring a laptop and come with an evaluation question or problem of practice in mind.

Sub Unit

• Professional Development and Training Committee

Instructors

• Alexandra Resch, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

• Sara E. Woodruff, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc