Research and Evaluation
Education (K-12 and higher education)
Building Evaluation Capacity in Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program
Principal Investigator: Laurie Van Egeren
Additional CERC members: Jason Almerigi; Tomuel Scott
Funder: Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP); University Outreach and Engagement
MSU Partners: Community Evaluation and Research Center; MSU Pre-College Programs
Community Partners: Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP); participating universities
Project Description: This project is developing a database to track students participating in DAPCEP's program, which is designed to increase interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). This project also assesses the extent to which participants enroll in and graduate from college, particularly with concentrations in STEM areas. Information from the database will be linked to school achievement data from Detroit Public Schools and the National Student Clearinghouse database.
Please contact Laurie Van Egeren for more information
Character Education in Genesee County
Principal Investigator: Jessica Barnes
Additional CERC members: Jason Almerigi
Funder: U.S. Department of Education
MSU Partners: Community Evaluation and Research Center
Community Partners: Genesee Intermediate School District
Project Description: The Genesee Intermediate School District has been funded to coordinate character education strategies and initiatives for the ten public districts, providing oversight and guidance for each district to design a local initiative. Local district projects are mandated to take into consideration the views of parents, students, students with disabilities (including those with mental or physical disabilities), and other members of the community, including members of private and nonprofit organizations, in the design and implementation of the character education programs. To evaluate this initiative, we are implementing a time series, quasi-experimental design to: 1) track all project activities provided to each student; 2) collect information on project implementation; and 3) collect information concerning student outcomes.
Please contact Jessica Barnes for more information
College-Going Rate of MSU Pre-College Participants
Principal Investigator: William Edwards
MSU Partners: MSU Pre-College Programs; University Outreach and Engagement; Office of Admissions; Student Affairs and Services
Project Description: MSU Pre-College Programs serve an important outreach function of the university, offering a wide range of educational opportunities to PreK-12 students. The project involves building institutional capacity to assess the rate at which MSU pre-college program participants attend postsecondary institutions. Working collaboratively with program directors/coordinators, data items are being identified and a system employed for data collection. The participant database will be cross-referenced with national enrollment records.
Please contact William Edwards for more information
Coordinated Community Student Survey Project (C2S2)
Principal Investigators: Jessica Barnes; Jason Almerigi
Additional CERC members: Tomuel Scott
Funder: Genesee Intermediate School District; Flint Community Schools; United Way of Genesee County; C.S. Mott Foundation; Ruth Mott Foundation; U.S. Department of Education
MSU Partners: Community Evaluation and Research Center; Department of Psychology; Department of Statistics and Probability
Community Partners: Genesee Intermediate School District; all 21 school districts in Genesee County, including Flint Community Schools; United Way of Genesee County
Project Description: In 2003, a research team that included research staff at Michigan State University and program staff from schools, districts, and the ISD in Genesee County convened to create a survey instrument called the Coordinated Community Student Survey (C2S2). The C2S2 tracks student outcomes across the county. An asset-based, developmental methodology was adopted, allowing the research team to examine how student outcomes change over time. The guiding research questions proposed are:
- What are student needs and strengths, and do these needs and strengths differ across communities?
- What are the critical ages to begin prevention activities across different domains of student outcomes?
- What are the differences in needs and strengths for males and females?
- How do the home, school, and neighborhood environments influence student outcomes? How do these influences change as the student ages?
- How does participation in support services offered at school influence student outcomes?
The Genesee Intermediate School District, Flint Community Schools, and all 20 school districts in Genesee County are using the Coordinated Community Student Survey to provide information about student needs and about the effectiveness of the health, safety, and nutrition services available to K-12 students across the county.
Please contact Jessica Barnes for more information
Creating School Readiness in Head Start Children Through an Early Childhood Science Curriculum
Principal Investigator: Laurie Van Egeren
Funder: MSU Families and Communities Together (FACT) Coalition
MSU Partners: Community Evaluation and Research Center; Department of Horticulture
Community Partners: Capital Area Community Services; Grand Valley State University
Project Description: Head Start on Science is an early childhood science curriculum. Teachers in two Head Start classrooms were trained in the curriculum and their outcomes and the outcomes of children in their classrooms were compared to classrooms that did not receive the training. Child outcomes assessed included cognitive, social-emotional functioning, and language, as well as scientific reasoning; teacher outcomes included attitudes about science education and use of active learning strategies in teaching science activities. Although the overall classroom behaviors of the intervention and comparison teachers were similar, intervention teachers were more likely to use the strategies and intervention children displayed more advanced scientific reasoning.
Please contact Laurie Van Egeren for more information
Evaluation of Network for Young Children School Readiness
Principal Investigator: Laurie Van Egeren
Funder: Michigan Department of Education; W.K. Kellogg Foundation
MSU Partners: Community Evaluation and Research Center
Community Partners: Calhoun County Intermediate School District
Project Description: The Network for Young Children (NYC) was initially funded by the All Students Achieve--Parent Involvement and Education (ASAP-PIE) initiative to increase school readiness outcomes in children aged 0-5 through home visiting, parent education, and developmental and health screening. After that funding stream was discontinued, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation provided additional funding to obtain school-entry outcome data. The results of the NYC evaluation suggested that the majority of participating children with developmental delay improved in their developmental outcomes during their time in the program; moreover, parents exhibited increases in behaviors likely to stimulate school readiness.
Please contact Laurie Van Egeren for more information
Flint Safe Schools/Healthy Students
Principal Investigator: Jessica Barnes
Additional CERC members: Jason Almerigi
Funder: U.S. Department of Education; Department of Juvenile Justice; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
MSU Partners: Community Evaluation and Research Center; Department of Psychology
Community Partners: Flint Community Schools; Genesee County Community Mental Health; City of Flint Police Department; Genesee County Family Court Division
Project Description: Flint Community Schools, Genesee County Community Mental Health, City of Flint Police Department, and Genesee County Family Court Division have jointly conducted a community assessment and developed a comprehensive Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) plan for the students of Flint. The school district and its partners have developed a system of care to support safe and nurturing learning environments for students. To evaluate the effectiveness of this system, multiple sources of quantitative and qualitative data are being gathered and analyzed to address process and individual-level outcomes. Information concerning project activities, the dosage of project services, and the quality of project services are being documented by project staff. Surveys and interviews are used to collect information from project staff, teachers, parents, and students concerning interest, engagement, and satisfaction in project activities and services. Finally, data regarding student outcomes is being collected via the Coordinated Community Student Survey.
Please contact Jessica Barnes for more information
Great Parents, Great Start (GP, GS) Evaluation Project
Principal Investigator: Celeste Sturdevant Reed
Additional CERC Members: Laura V. Bates, Miles McNall
Funder: GP,GS Grantees (a portion of their GP,GS grant was reserved for evaluation)
Community Partners: Midland County Educational Services Administration and Michigan Department of Education Office of Early Childhood and Family Services
Project Description: The state-wide Great Parents, Great Start Evaluation has three main purposes: 1) documenting the relationship among the intermediate school district (ISD; the grantee), the local child care services community and others; 2) identifying the type collaborative that exists between the ISD and community partners involved in delivering GP, GS services; and 3) identifying the types of universal and targeted services provided and the volume of families receiving the services. The method being used for this evaluation is a document review of the ISD’s 2005-06 and 2006-07 GP, GS Proposals. CERC products from this evaluation project include: an evaluation report, a review of the early childhood community services system literature and a review of the approaches being taken by the most progressive states to serve families with young children. In addition, two parent opinion surveys were designed – one for families receiving home visiting services and the other for families participating in parent-child play groups – and were made available to the ISDs for their own use.
Please contact Celeste Sturdevant Reed for more information
Increasing Technical and Evaluation Capacity in Mayor's Time
Principal Investigator: Laurie Van Egeren
Additional CERC members: Tomuel Scott
Funder: Mayor's Time, through grants from the U.S. Department of Education and the Skillman Foundation
MSU Partners: Community Evaluation and Research Center
Community Partners: Mayor's Time; Thomas Kelly Software Associates; Detroit Public Schools
Project Description: Many community-based youth-serving organizations lack the technical capacity to collect data for evaluation and sustainability. This project provides technical assistance and training on EZreports, a Web-based attendance tracking system, that can provide organizations with data to present to stakeholders and funders and use for program improvement. Data is then linked to school achievement information to assess relations among site characteristics, activities provided, and school outcomes.
Please contact Laurie Van Egeren for more information
Internationalizing Student Outreach Research and Evaluation
Principal Investigators: Jason Almerigi; Tomuel Scott
Additional CERC members: Jessica Barnes
MSU Partners: Community Evaluation and Research Center; Department of Psychology; Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies; College Assistance Migratory Program; Office of Study Abroad; Office of Student Affairs and Services; Internationalizing Student Life
Funder: Michigan State University Office of Student Affairs and Services; University Outreach and Engagement
Project Description: The Internationalizing Student Outreach Research and Evaluation project is a multi-part study. First it is an evaluation of three MSU student programs that match international experiences with outreach activities. The evaluation is a mixed-methods approach that emphasizes student outcomes and contains elements of on-site observation of student-staff interactions and student and staff interviews. The second part is a research study that seeks to develop a quantitative model and measurement tool for student outcomes related to international outreach experiences. The model is based on life-span development, dynamic systems, and developmental contextualism theory. The model also contains a comprehensive measurement of character development and internalization of an orientation towards global community. The last part is an initiative to promote, through research, the inclusion of student outreach activities within international studies and programs.
Please contact Jason Almerigi for more information
Meta-Analysis of Campus Climate and Inclusion Research at MSU
Principal Investigator: William Edwards
MSU Partners: Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives
Project Description: The project involves synthesizing current research and task force reports related to campus climate and inclusion at MSU to support the creation and implementation of university-wide initiatives to promote equity, respect, civility, and accountability. Potential areas of institutional research about diversity and inclusion will be identified.
Please contact William Edwards for more information
Michigan Evaluation of School-Based Health (MESH)
Principal Investigator: Miles McNall
Additional CERC members: Brian Mavis; Celeste Sturdevant Reed; Laura Bates; Lauren Lichty; Jason Forney
Funder: Michigan Department of Community Health
MSU Partners: Community Evaluation and Research Center; University-Community Partnerships
Community Partners: Michigan Department of Community Health; School-Community Health Alliance of Michigan; Henry Ford Health System; Oakwood Health Care System; University of Michigan Health System; Health Delivery, Inc.; Center for Family Health; county health departments in Ingham, Chippewa, and Van Buren/Cass counties; and 18 Michigan public schools from Sault Ste. Marie to Jackson
Project Description: More than 60 school-linked health centers are providing a range of primary, preventative, and early intervention services to more than 100,000 children at all grade levels throughout Michigan. To date, there has been no statewide evaluation to assess the impact of these centers on the health outcomes and health care costs of the children they serve. The MESH project is studying the impact of school-based health centers on the health outcomes, healthcare costs, and school attendance of children in public schools throughout Michigan.
Please contact Miles McNall for more information
Outcome Assessment of MSU Inclusion Initiatives
Principal Investigator: William Edwards
MSU Partners: Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives
Project Description: The Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives works to encourage a culture of inclusion at MSU. The assessment involves developing systems (metrics) to measure, analyze, and report on the impacts of MSU inclusion initiatives. Additionally, quantitative and qualitative metrics currently used to evaluate ongoing campus programs intended to support inclusion are being refined.
Please contact William Edwards for more information
State Evaluation of 21st Century Community Learning Centers
Principal Investigators: Laurie Van Egeren; Celeste Sturdevant Reed
Additional CERC members: Laura Bates; Beth Prince; Megan Platte
Funder: Michigan Department of Education
MSU Partners: Community Evaluation and Research Center; College of Education; Department of Family and Child Ecology
Community Partners: Michigan Department of Education; High/Scope Educational Research Foundation; Thomas Kelly Software Associates; Learning Point Associates; 32 school districts and community-based organizations across Michigan
Project Description: The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) are federally funded out-of-school time programs for high-poverty, low-performing schools administered by state departments of education. This project is an ongoing comprehensive evaluation of statewide program implementation and effectiveness for 21st CCLC programs in about 200 sites coordinated by 32 grantees across Michigan. The evaluation is centered around identifying characteristics important for continuous program improvement and better academic and socioemotional outcomes. To communicate results, the evaluation team is developing community briefs on links in academic programming between school-day and after-school programs, the roles of community-based organizations in after-school programming, and other key issues. The team has also developed a state-of-the-art data collection system in conjunction with High/Scope Educational Research Foundation and Thomas Kelly Software Associates.
Please contact Laurie Van Egeren for more information
State Evaluation of All Students Achieve--Parent Involvement and Education (ASAP-PIE) Program
Principal Investigators: Hiram Fitzgerald; Marguerite Barratt (now at NIH); Laurie Van Egeren
Additional CERC members: Celeste Sturdevant Reed; Laura Bates
Funder: Michigan Department of Education
MSU Partners: Institute for Children Youth, and Families; University Outreach and Engagement
Community Partners: Michigan Department of Education; 23 intermediate school districts
Project Description: The All Students Achieve--Parent Involvement and Education Program (ASAP-PIE) was a statewide initiative designed to increase school readiness through home visits, parent-child play groups, parent education groups, developmental screening, and vision/hearing screening among children aged 0-5. Twenty-three intermediate school districts received funding; the evaluation assessed the implementation and outcomes resulting from the initiative. View reports
Please contact Laurie Van Egeren for more information
