- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Expand
SPR is conducting a formative and summative evaluation for The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Local Proof Points initiative, under its Washington State Strategy. This initiative funds local improvement networks, including diverse actors from local schools, pre-K, and out-of-time providers working collaboratively in the school and community ecosystem, grounded in family engagement and racial equity, to improve student success. SPR is studying the formation and implementation of local improvement networks in South King County, as well as their resultant activities and outcomes and progress toward closing the achievement gap.
Laying the Groundwork for the Renton Innovation Zone: A Case Study in Community Collaboration
- The Bush Foundation. Expand
In our first phase of work for the Bush Foundation, SPR recently investigated the degree to which schools in the Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota region are implementing individualized learning strategies to promote positive student outcomes. This involved administering surveys to 2,000 area school principals and conducting 45 telephone interviews with field leaders to document key practices, successes, and challenges of individualized learning and the metrics used by schools and districts to measure student success.
- The Sobrato Family Foundation. Expand
SPR is partnering with the Foundation to fine-tune their strategy for funding advocacy, research, field-building, and policy work that benefits English Learner students in California. As experts in the field of education, we are developing a theory of change, logic model, and an evaluation framework and metrics for assessing progress towards goals and strategies to advance policy change for English Learner students.
- The National Science Foundation Expand
SPR is supporting AIR in a qualitative multi-year descriptive study, which explores four Master’s to Ph.D. bridge programs in STEM aimed at increasing the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities in the field. Data collection included interviews with key Bridge program staff, students, faculty, and university administrators, as well as observations of key program activities.
- The Orfalea Foundation. Expand
SPR’s evaluation of the Orfalea Foundation’s Resilience, Education, Adventure, and Community (REACH) Program assessed individual-level outcomes of a four-year experiential education program for high school- and college students. The evaluation used a mixed method approach to document short-term academic and youth development outcomes and the program’s successes, challenges, and lessons learned.
- Google for Education. Expand
This formative and summative evaluation assessed the effects of the pilot program launched by Google to support the efforts of 10 school districts and charter management organizations (CMOs) to improve their talent management systems. This involved observations, interviews, post-workshop evaluations, and pre-post surveys to create a participant and organizational growth index.
- San Francisco Beacon. Expand
SPR re-examined the existing quality standards, evaluation methods, and evaluation processes of the Beacons Centers, afterschool programs located in San Francisco schools, as a basis for implementing continuous improvement.
- NALEO Educational Fund. Expand
SPR provided consultation to NALEO on its Educational Leadership Initiative, which included training and capacity-building for Latino school board members to ultimately improve the educational experiences of Latino students. This project was part of NALEO’s Campaign for High School Equity (CHSE) project, which was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
- The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Expand
SPR’s evaluation of the California Education Policy Fund (CEPF) examined the efforts of 18 organizations working in different niches of education policy reform—including finance reform, college readiness, data systems, standards, and effective teachers—to improve California’s education policy system. Using an organizational assessment and social network surveys, SPR documented the intermediate outcomes of grantees’ policy change efforts.
- The Spencer Foundation & The Carnegie Corporation. Expand
SPR conducted a five-year study of six high schools in California to examine the effects of contextual influences and the impact of secondary school interventions on intergroup relations.
- The James Irvine Foundation. Expand
The Foundation’s Forum for the Future of Higher Education serves as a learning community for leaders from select colleges and universities across the country. This evaluation assessed the goals of the Forum and the impact of its work.
- Institute for Higher Education Policy. Expand
SPR conducted a three-year evaluation of the Pathways to College Network, a large collaborative formed to improve access to higher education among traditionally underserved youth. The Network comprised foundations (including the Irvine Foundation), nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and the U.S. Department of Education.
- Institute for Educational Leadership. Expand
SPR conducted a formative and summative evaluation for the National High School Alliance, a partnership of over forty organizations focused on promoting the achievement and development of high school-aged youth. This project included an analysis of NHSA’s collaborative structure to understand its effect on progress, measuring progress toward its goals, and identifying primary challenges and factors of success.
- Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (now Trellis Company). Expand
Our evaluation for Texas Guaranteed involved examining the outcomes of its Public Benefit Grant Program, a program designed to increase college access and success among underrepresented students in Texas. SPR documented grantee-level outcomes and assessed the gaps between the impacts/outcomes that were anticipated and those that actually occurred. Project activities included a document review of 87 grantees, an online survey, telephone interviews with 30 grantees, site visits to five grantees, and staff and board member interviews.
- San José Public Library Foundation. Expand
SPR is working with the Foundation to understand the influence of its investments in high-quality out-of-school programs for San José students in kindergarten – 3rd grade. This includes analyzing administrative student data, documenting dialogue and learning among participating districts, and serving as a thought partner to the Foundation as it considers next steps.
