The proposal submitted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison is aimed at designing a conceptual framework to assess the effectiveness of the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), including the collection and reporting of evidence on the value of the program. The framework will describe the evidence needed to make judgments about the effectiveness of EPSCoR to meet its goals, the important evaluation questions, the evidence that needs to be produced, how this evidence will be collected from the jurisdictions, the analytic models that need to be used to attribute outcomes to the program's activities, and the format that will be used for reporting findings. It will include an annual timeline for acquiring evidence and will identify the needed instruments and procedures for collecting this evidence.
The pursued framework will be developed with significant input from local leaders of the program's 27 jurisdictions. Input from EPSCoR's leaders will be obtained through their participation in a series of regional evaluation workshops currently being organized by the EPSCoR Office, and technical assistance in the field provided by evaluation experts. Dr. Norman Webb, Senior Research Scientist, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Dr. Rose Shaw, President of Metrica, Greeley, Colorado, will provide the necessary technical assistance and will be responsible for the development of the aforementioned framework. Dr. Webb will oversee the writing of the framework. Dr. Shaw will serve as an evaluation specialist and will provide significant input to developing the framework
