Current Projects
Tools for studying student skills and Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs), as presented at AECT 2022 (Oct 24)
Skills Dashboard for Startup Generation : Entrepreneurship Curriculum
Download Paper | See Full Size Poster
Ravitz, J., Gerry, J. & Heine, C. (2022). A tool for measuring student skills in a successful entrepreneurship curriculum. Paper presented at Annual Meetings of the Association of Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), October 24, 2022. Las Vegas, NV. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.21850.82884
Evaluation by Design has provided a dashboard of learning experiences and perceptions of skills for Startup Generation. This has useful for 4 cohorts in reporting to funders, program leads, coaches and giving feedback to learners.
Weekly Reflection Dashboard for Rutgers University (DIMACS) and REUs
Download Paper | See Full Size Poster
Ravitz, J., Gallos, L.K., Ravitz-Dworkin, A. (2022). Dashboarding research experiences for undergraduates. Paper presented at Annual Meetings of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), October 24, 2022. Las Vegas, NV. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.29111.39848
The Center for Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science (DIMACS) was founded as a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center. It has a long-running Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, attracting and nurturing strong students with bright futures in graduate school, research careers, and CS and math-related fields.
New Mexico Family and Community Engagement Solutions
Evaluation by Design co-authored and evaluated $1M New Mexico Public Education Dept. Datacasting Action Research Teams (DART) pilot using Public Broadcasting System (PBS) technologies to provide access to media and data pending broadband arrival. The report is not public but we learned many lessons that we hope to share soon. These are now being re-launched with the new Family and Community Engagement Solutions (FACES) new initiative.
Last Mile Education Fund - Strategic Research Plan
Last Mile Education Fund crafted a successful business plan with Evaluation by Design leading on research and measurement, raising approximately $17M to date. Check out the theory of change and pilot findings — presented in slides (PDF) at the NSF RESPECT conference — or read more about our peer-reviewed study in the full paper (PDF)
Ravitz, J. Farmer, R. Grady, K., & Clash, K. (2021) Emergency funding for women in undergraduate computing: Toward an asset-based model and research framework.
Most scholarship programs seek to identify ‘top’ talent and reward them with support…as long as they stay on top. Last Mile is different. Providing financial support that recognizes the value of “persistence over perfection” for low-income women in computing is a potential game changer. Visit (lastmile-ed.org) to learn about funding for low-income women to complete their computing degrees. More info ->
Data Interoperability and Sharing Cooperative (DISCO) for School Based Health Centers
Evaluation by Design helped obtain a $600K data integration grant for work in Delaware with School Based Health Centers (SBHCs). A planning report was submitted earlier this year and second report for the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) and School-Based Health Alliance (SBHA) is due at the end of the month. Dissemination of lessons learned will begin in the coming months based on the work of an emerging evaluation collaborative.
Social-Emotional Learning Research Study & Measures
Evaluation by Design helped Envision Your Future, a Santa Fe-based SEL non-profit, receive a $70,000 research grant from Gift of Hope Foundation.
“We are very pleased to support the further validation of Envision Your Future (EYF) for the academic and educational communities. We believe the work that Dr. Patty O’Sullivan (founder and developer of Social/Emotional Learning (SEL) Programs) and EYF are doing to improve the Social/Emotional Intelligences of our youth is essential for their success as citizens and living their own hopes and dreams.” — Donna Vassil, CEO of Gift of Hope Foundation
An online pilot with a Girl Scouts program set this work on track by creating short reliable survey measures that are sensitive to change and provide evidence of impact.
The resulting research is now receiving national recognition via a blog post for American Educational Research Association’s Social Emotional Learning Special Interest Group (AERA SEL SIG).
See also – past projects