With the publication of the IPCC report, it’s not difficult to conclude that our current political leadership is not going to take us where we need to go, and we can’t wait anymore. The scientists are telling us right now, in clear language, that the time is up: Major transformations in our thinking and behavior around energy use must happen right now.
Our approach to program evaluation increases the usefulness of all estimates produced as part of an impact analysis. We replace the “no-treatment” counterfactual condition (i.e., children who were not exposed to an afterschool program) with low-implementation conditions (e.g., children who were exposed to lower-quality practices) in order to describe the impact of optimal implementation on child outcomes.
Pattern-centered theory and methods (PCM) can be used to tell simple and accurate stories about how real persons grow in real school and afterschool classrooms. Stories about the quality and outcomes (i.e., causes and effects) that are modeled using PCM are particularly useful because they can address questions related to “how” programs and classrooms work and “how much” children grow skills.
Are programs producing weak or no effects? Or are gold-standard designs missing something? In our third White Paper, Realist(ic) Evaluation Tools for OST Programs: The Quality-Outcomes Design and Methods (Q-ODM) Toolbox, we extend from the neuroperson framework for socio-emotional skills to a focus on evaluation design and impact evidence.
In this second white paper, Measuring Socio-Emotional Skill, Impact, and Equity Outcomes, we share hard-won lessons from two decades of work attempting to describe the actual outcomes of “broad developmentally-focused programs.” We answer this key question: Why are many SEL skill measurement constructs likely to be inaccurate despite psychometric evidence of reliability and validity?
In conjunction with the release of our first white paper, “A Framework for Socio-Emotional Skills, Quality, and Equity,” we answer the following questions: What are socio-emotional skills? Why are they important? Why are organizations and policies struggling to implement socio-emotional skill reforms? How can our framework help increase the effectiveness of reform?
The first in a series of four, “Socio-Emotional Skills, Quality, and Equity,” provides a translational framework for understanding our relatively unique view of the key parts of a socio-emotional skill set. We develop a case for supplementing the traditional focus on student beliefs and behavior with a much more extensive focus on students’ emotional life and the attention skills necessary for becoming the primary authors of their own development.
In early 2020, COVID-19 rates were soaring. Masks, cleaning supplies, and clear information were in short supply. This was especially true for schools across the country. Teachers, parents, and students were unsure about what was going to happen next. On Thursday, April 1, 2020 (in-person) school was still in session in the Genesee Intermediate School … Continue reading A Compassionate Evaluation using the GOLD Assessment in Genesee Intermediate School District
Compassion has a lot of definitions, but most have to do with recognition of suffering, action to alleviate suffering, and tolerance of discomfort during the action.[i] By April of 2020, we knew that our afterschool partners in Genesee County (including the city of Flint) Michigan, and many of the children and families that they served, … Continue reading What Exactly is Compassionate Evaluation?
During times of crisis when programs are under tremendous pressures, evaluation and assessment can be challenging. Programs enter triage mode, putting their limited time and energy into the most urgent tasks. This heightens the need for evaluation that reduces strain and improves capacity. When conditions that created the crisis are long-lasting, like the coronavirus pandemic, … Continue reading Continuous Quality Improvement and Evaluation in 2020: A Plan for 21st Century Community Learning Centers
