The Collaborative Evaluation Communities in Urban Schools (CEC) project will create school-based collaborative evaluation communities to achieve the following goals:
1. Improve the evaluation capacity of urban schools. 2. Develop graduate level educational leaders with the knowledge and skills to evaluate science and mathematics programs. 3. Provide teachers of science and mathematics professional growth by improving their capacity to use evaluation data and engage in continuous improvement and data based decision-making.
The collaborative evaluation communities created by the CEC project will serve as professional growth activities for science and mathematics teachers, and as training grounds to help graduate students develop evaluation skills. By engaging schools in evaluation the team will assist teachers and graduate students in the collection and analysis of data, the examination of student assessment results, the evaluation of school programs, and the analysis of science and mathematics instructional practices. The CEC project will assist partner districts in the creation of an evaluation culture designed to support the continual evaluation of programs with the ultimate intent of improving the educational opportunities for all students.
Intellectual Merit:
The CEC project will create a total of eight collaborative evaluation communities over the three-year grant period; four collaborative evaluation communities in the Kansas City, Kansas School District and four in the St. Paul School District. The collaborative evaluation communities will be co-led by a faculty member and a lead science or mathematics teacher in the schools. The faculty will also help supervise graduate students in each community who will help lead and develop the collaborative evaluation community. The lead teacher will serve as the liaison between the university and other classroom teachers who are in the same school as the lead teacher. There are various ways that the collaborative evaluation communities can interact, and it is expected that this project will inspire new ways for the schools and universities to collaborate on evaluation activities.
The use of collaborative evaluation communities to build evaluation capacity in urban schools is a unique and important activity for the field of evaluation. The schools are in need of teachers who can use evaluation and assessment data to make decisions regarding science and mathematics education. The CEC project will advance knowledge and understanding of how to help schools engage in evaluation. The investigators are very well qualified to design and implement the CEC project. They have extensive experience in the field of science and mathematics program evaluation, and will be able to use this experience to develop graduate students and help schools engage in evaluation. In addition, the CEC project will be externally evaluated by an expert in the field of science and mathematics program evaluation.
Broader Impact:
The activities of the CEC project will advance discovery and understanding regarding the use of collaborative evaluation communities for teachers in urban schools. In addition, the CEC project will promote teaching, training, and learning for graduate students. The CEC project will broaden the participation of underrepresented groups by enhancing the evaluation capacity of teachers in urban schools who serve a diverse student population. The investigators on the CEC project also have the ability to recruit graduate students of diverse backgrounds. The results of the CEC project will be widely disseminated to the education and evaluation community. The project has great potential to benefit society by developing the evaluation capacity of urban schools, and by developing the evaluation abilities of graduate students who can go on to serve society. All in all, the CEC project will create lasting collaborative evaluation communities in urban schools in order to develop schools' capacity to engage in evaluation and to help all students achieve in science and mathematics.
