ERC evaluates educational programs for school districts, county offices of education, institutions of higher education, private and municipal organizations, and other non-profit organizations. Our evaluation reporting experience is varied, and includes federal, state, and local reports.
ERC's evaluations in progress include: Foster Youth Educational Services, 21st Century Community Learning Centers (after school), Improving Teacher Quality, National Science Foundation - GK-12, California Math Science Partnership, School Leadership, Teaching American History, Smaller Learning Communities, Mentoring, Carol White Physical Education Program, Elementary and Secondary Counseling, School-Based Voluntary Drug Testing, Professional Development for English Language Acquisition, Refugee Assistance and Even Start.
Effective communication with stakeholders begins with their involvement in the process. In our work with clients, we first immerse ourselves in the client's mission, goals, objectives, needs, and strengths. ERC works in partnership with the client to clarify goals and expectations and to develop plans for an effective evaluation plan geared to meet the client's objectives. This is usually oriented toward the goal of determining the level of program impact and effectiveness and addressing such issues as: effectiveness of processes being used for program implementation, levels of collaboration and commitment of partnering agencies, how well resources are being used to meet program objectives, perceptions of participants and community regarding program services, and measurable outcomes that demonstrate achievement of goals. Stakeholders are involved throughout the process through planning groups, site visits, surveys, focus groups and dissemination meetings.
We believe the primary purpose of evaluation is to promote program improvement. To that end, ERC engages in several levels of reporting: live presentations to program staff involved in daily implementation, meetings to interpret and discuss evaluation results with planning teams, comprehensive district level reports intended for administrators and board members, individual school reports which place school results in the context of a comparison group, and briefer publications that highlight program accomplishments and needs intended for community partners.
Reports typically include easy-to-read charts, graphs, and illustrations to illuminate findings. One of the purposes of our evaluation team is to assist clients in experimental and quasi-experimental design. Some of the services we offer include data collection, statistical analysis, and report writing. ERC also develops and maintains online databases and management systems designed to assist programs in data management. Comprehensive data analysis is enabled through use of evaluations software programs such as SPSS and STATA.
ERC's evaluation design for Sanger Unified School District's Central Valley Math Project (2009) was cited as a "best practice" in an annual report submitted by the California Math Science Project, California Department of Education, to the U.S. Office of Education. ERC's evaluation design for Teaching American History (TAH) was featured as an effective model at the national TAH evaluation conference in 2008. These citations are evidence of ERC's commitment to excellence in evaluation.
A list of some of these evaluation projects are provided to the right under Evaluation Experience. If you think ERC is a good fit for your evaluation needs, please fill out our online Inquiry Form. To access our Inquiry Form, select the Contact Us section or click HERE.