Looking for the “so what?” in our data If you’ve read this blog for any period of time, you’ve probably figured out that data tracking is kind of my thing. My super Type-A personality gets a lot of satisfaction from crossing every “t” and dotting every “i” and making sure that I can quickly access all of the data at
Use your data to celebrate families Educators: you’ve made it! It’s finally the end of the school year. And what a school year it was. I’m sure that there are all kinds of celebrations happening as this confusing, exhausting, stressful, and probably scary year comes to a close. But if you’ve been tracking your student and family engagement data this
Whose Evidence Is It? I’ve been talking a lot about evidence lately, but I feel I’ve been missing a crucial piece. As a reminder, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), our country’s primary federal education legislation, requires that programs and interventions purchased with federal education dollars must have be evidenced-based. Most people know these federal dollars better as “Title I,”
ESSA Level 4: Getting your foot in the door In my last post, I talked about how the recent American Rescue Plan Act will bring an influx of funds specifically for out-of-school time (OST) — after-school and summer — programs, as well as for community schools and wraparound services. This is a huge win for those working tirelessly in family
Funding is Coming: Get Your Evidence Ready! Here’s a sentence we don’t often get to say in education: the motherlode of funding is coming our way! The recently-passed American Rescue Plan Act has set aside … brace yourself … over $2 BILLION for out-of-school time (OST) — after-school and summer — programs!Not to mention, there is funding for community schools
Your data tracking cheat sheet In my last post, I talked about how logic models — although they can be a chore — can actually be a great visual roadmap of your program’s components, benchmarks, and goals. Working collaboratively to develop a logic model can be a unifying experience for teams, a way to get everyone on the same page
From “Ugh” to “Ooh!” – Reframing Logic Models “Ugh, they’re making us submit a logic model? What is the point of a logic model anyway? “I don’t understand all that technical jargon. What am I supposed to put in a logic model?” These are the thoughts I imagine my clients having when a funder or state department of education requires
Use Google Maps to explore your data in a new way Isn’t it so gratifying to learn a new skill and get to apply it? One thing I’ve been learning lately is how to use ArcGIS, a super fancy mapping tool that allows you to collect, analyze, and visualize all sorts of data. I’ve talked about mapping with clients and at
More than a feeling It’s the end of the year, when we reflect on the past year and look forward to new beginnings. I haven’t done any rigorous data collection about this, but I think it’s fair to assume that most people would rate 2020 as a giant dumpster fire. So let’s take it back to 2019. Last year was
Word Clouds and Key Quotations: Making Qualitative Data Work for You This week I’ve got a co-author to help me continue my qualitative data series! Sarah Dunifon is Founder and Principal Evaluator of Improved Insights LLC, an educational evaluation firm focused on STEM and youth-based programming. She is based in Cleveland, Ohio and is a fellow board member of the Ohio Program Evaluators Group.
