SPR has over 20 years of experience conducting mixed-methods education evaluations ranging from early childhood to early college for nonprofit and public sector clients. We pride ourselves in our long-standing commitment to equity in education, and bring an equity lens to every stage of our work. In addition to traditional evaluation services, we act as critical thought partners for our clients to help them utilize evaluation in order to advance their own continuous improvement and effectiveness.
Baseline Evaluation of Individualized Learning for the Bush Foundation
Authentic learner-centered education is individualized to each student and grounded in their unique learning styles, aspirations, and cultural identities. SPR had the privilege of working with the Bush Foundation to conduct baseline research about what schools are doing to individualize learning throughout their region of focus—Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and the 23 Native Nations that share the same geography. Over the course of a year, we documented many strategies being employed throughout the region to attend to students’ college and career interests, cultural identities, and to their preferred modalities and styles of learning.
Learn More
Executive Summary
Final Report
The Bush Foundation Education Initiative website
Specialized Areas of Expertise
Pre-K Education
SPR helps clients analyze critical data on the needs of children ages 0–5 and their families so that they can strengthen their service delivery systems.
- Oakland Fund for Children and Youth (OFCY) Evaluation: Early Childhood Strategy. Expand
Since 2014, SPR has served as the evaluator for OFCY’s early childhood strategy, which focuses on engaging and supporting parents of young children, and strengthening preschool quality to meet young children’s behavioral, social-emotional, developmental, and mental health needs. In this capacity, SPR collects and analyzes data to measure progress against program goals, and works closely with the grantees of this strategy to support them in understanding how to use evaluation data towards continuous program improvement, and to refine evaluation measures to ensure utility as well as relevance and sensitivity to Oakland’s diverse cultural contexts.
- Monterey County Office of Education, Region XVI Migrant Education Program: Comprehensive Needs Assessment. Expand
SPR conducted a thorough analysis of early childhood education programs for migrant youth and their families. SPR’s team collected qualitative data to learn about the county’s home-based and center-based early childhood education programs in 13 school districts in the county, such as the Migrant Even Start program. SPR conducted interviews with early childhood teachers, home-based providers, and parents, and analyzed district-level child assessment scores from the Migrant Education School Readiness Program (MESRP). The scores include both pre- and post-assessment measures using a variety of measures, including the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening, the Brigance Early Childhood Screening III, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Other data sources analyzed included data from parent observation guides and student score sheets used by early educators to document student progress.
- First 5 Ventura County Evaluations. Expand
For over three years, SPR has served as the evaluator for First 5 Ventura County, analyzing program, survey, interview, and focus group data to understand the needs of First 5 Ventura County’s diverse service population, and to examine the extent to which its programs are meeting their needs. We collaborate with the County to consider areas for improvement and growth, to strengthen its data collection instruments and processes, and ensure that their instruments align with the agency’s strategic goals.
- Evaluation of Preschool Special Education Practices. Expand
As part of this national-level evaluation for the U.S. Department of Education, SPR collected extant data on preschool special education practices and eligibility criteria across the fifty states for the categories of developmental delay, speech or language impairments, and autism.
- Evaluation of Early Childhood Education and School-Linked Services in Orange County. Expand
This three-year project for the Children and Families Commission in Orange County, CA examined the county’s Performance Outcomes Measurement System (POMS) to identify whether pre-school and elementary school children receiving Commission-funded services performed better in school, as measured by statewide educational exams.
K-12 Education
Our work in K-12 examines efforts at the school, district, and system levels to identify how programs and policies affect students.
- Early Elementary Learning
- Evaluation of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Washington State Strategy Local Proof Points Initiative. 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, which include diverse actors from local schools, pre-K, and out-of-school-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 progress toward closing the achievement gap.
Laying the Groundwork for the Renton Innovation Zone: A Case Study in Community Collaboration - Departmentalized Instruction: Impact Evaluation. Expand
SPR is supporting Mathematica on this multi-year project that assesses the impact of departmentalized instruction in math and English language arts in 4th and 5th grade classrooms. Using quasi-experimental design, this evaluation uses administrative data from school districts, surveys from teachers, and video-observations of classroom instruction to assess teacher- and student-level outcomes of departmentalized instruction.
- Learner-Centered Education
- Evaluation of the Bush Foundation’s Individualized Learning Intermediary Investments. Expand
SPR is conducting a developmental evaluation of the Foundation’s Individualized Learning Intermediary Investments initiative, which funds the efforts of organizations working with schools to transform learning environments and make education more relevant to students. SPR is supporting the Foundation with a rigorous formative and summative evaluation designed to understand the outcomes of these investments on multiple levels: intermediaries, schools, students, and systems.
- Baseline Evaluation of Individualized Learning for the Bush Foundation. Expand
In its first phase of work for the Bush Foundation, SPR investigated the degree to which schools in Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, and the 23 Native Nations that share the same geography 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.
- Evaluation of the Assessment for Learning Project (ALP). Expand
This evaluation is examining a unique learning community focused on promoting assessment reform. The project is fundamentally a “field building” or movement building initiative designed to lift promising formative assessment practices and create a network of learning organizations. Along with our partners at the Stanford Center for Policy and Opportunity in Education (SCOPE), we are “capturing the story” of the ALP initiative using interviews, observations, social network analysis, and surveys to assess their theories of change and action, and identify the conditions at the local grantee level that enable change.
- Study of Student-Centered Instruction and Assessment. Expand
SPR was commissioned by the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) to produce an in-depth case study of City Arts and Technology (CAT), a charter high school in San Francisco. The case study assesses CAT’s student-centered educational model, which features project-based learning, portfolio assessment, interdisciplinary exhibitions, teacher collaboration, and strategies for student personalization and differentiation.
- Afterschool Programs
- Evaluation of the Youth Workforce Development Programs of San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth, and their Families (DCYF). Expand
For this project, SPR assessed the employment and educational outcomes of youth who participated in one of more than 30 school-based programs in San Francisco using client data systems and academic data from the San Francisco Unified School District. The project includes an examination of program best practices, and explores the relationships between program quality and outcomes.
- Evaluation of the Specialized Teen, Youth-Led Philanthropy (YLPhil), and Youth Organizing (YLOrg) programming of San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth, and their Families (DCYF). Expand
This project evaluated the educational and developmental outcomes for youth participating in one of 68 afterschool programs in San Francisco, along with an investigation of what program practices are associated with performance. Data sources included phone interviews with staff members at 17 case study programs, site visits to 12 “best practice” programs, an online youth survey, and administrative data from SFUSD.
- Evaluation of San Francisco Beacon Initiative. Expand
Beacon Centers are afterschool programs located in San Francisco schools. SPR helped SFBI review its existing theory of change, quality standards, evaluation methods, and processes for continuous improvement through in-depth interviews of program directors, observations, and parent and student focus groups. In addition, SPR analyzed student administrative data and existing survey data to provide information on the Beacon Centers’ progress towards improving outcomes for youth.
- Evaluation of Oakland’s Fund for Children and Youth: After-School and Summer Programs. Expand
Since 2014, SPR has served as the evaluator for OFCY’s community-based after-school Student Success and Youth Development and Empowerment programs. The evaluation analyzes data from youth and parent surveys, structured site visits, quality self-assessments, interviews and focus groups, and administrative program data, providing ongoing feedback to OFCY and its grantees on the quality and outcomes of its programming.
- San José Learns 2.0: Evaluation and Learning Project. Expand
SPR is working with the San Jose Public Library 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.
- High School to Postsecondary Transitions
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Technical Assistance on P-16 Initiative. Expand
SPR is supporting the Foundation’s internal evaluation of the P-16 Initiative in multiple data collection areas, including focus groups with P-16 team members and staff survey development, administration, and analysis.
- Technical Assistance for Minnesota’s “World’s Best Workforce” Education Initiative. Expand
SPR provides technical support for the Midwest College Readiness Research Alliance (MCRRA), a partnership between the Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Midwest at AIR and the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). SPR is building the capacity of MDE to support school districts to: (1) increase their capacity of to understand and use evidence-based practices to implement their World’s Best Workforce (WBWF) plans, and (2) learn about best practices and challenges in meeting their goals to promote school readiness, close the achievement, and provide equitable access to high-quality teachers.
- Evaluation of the California Career Pathways Trust Program (CCPT) of the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE). Expand
This evaluation examined student and system-level outcomes of a career pathways initiative being implemented at 17 school districts and eight community colleges in San Diego County. Through interviews, site visits, and administrative data analysis, SPR documented student enrollment in and completion of career and technical education (CTE) courses and pathways, coordination between school districts, community colleges, and employers to strengthen work-based learning opportunities, CTE-focused professional development, and cross-curricular integration, as well as resultant changes in student outcomes. This project also involved collaborating with SDCOE to improve the quality of the data collected from school sites.
- Evaluation of Youth Career Connect. Expand
SPR is collaborating with Mathematica on this five-year evaluation and examining the efforts of 24 Youth CareerConnect (YCC) programs, which funds evidence-based high school models that focus on integrated academic and career-focused learning, work-based learning, employer engagement, individualized career and academic counseling, and post-secondary education and training integration. The evaluation includes 79 school districts and 134 high schools that are seeking to strengthen create industry-relevant educational pathways for youth.
- Evaluation of the Resilience, Education, Adventure, and Community (REACH) Program. Expand
This evaluation assessed individual-level outcomes of a four-year mentorship and experiential education program for students in Santa Barbara County during their late high school and early college years to support this transition. SPR implemented program participant surveys, interviews of parents and program staff, observations, and analyzed administrative data to document short-term academic and youth development outcomes and the program’s successes, challenges, and lessons learned.
- Evaluation of the Pathways to College Network. 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. The purpose of the evaluation was to assist the Network refine its goals and make organizational adjustments to ensure continued Network success, and to assess program-level outcomes.
- Evaluation of the National High School Alliance (NHSA). 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.
- Evaluation of Texas Guaranteed’s (TG) Public Benefit Grant Program. Expand
This project examined the outcomes of the 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.
- School Improvement and Policy Reforms.
- Evaluation of Washoe County Public Schools’ School Turnaround Supports. Expand
SPR is partnering with Washoe County School District to assess the impact of school turnaround efforts on student academic and behavior outcomes. SPR is utilizing a quasi-experimental design, comparing academic and behavioral outcomes for students at schools receiving intensive supports to strengthen data-driven decision making and leadership development to students with similar observable traits at other schools in the district.
- Design and Feasibility of an Impact Study of Magnet Schools. Expand
SPR is supporting Mathematica to design and assess the feasibility of an impact evaluation of approximately 40 federal Magnet School Assistance Program (MSAP) grantees from FY 2016 and 2017. This impact study would use school lotteries to compare outcomes of students who win a spot in a magnet school through lottery to students who do not, and would test the hypothesis that magnet schools boost student achievement.
- Theory of Change Development for the Sobrato Family Foundation’s English Learner Policy Portfolio. 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.
- Impact Evaluation of Race to the Top (RTT) and State Improvement Grants (SIG). Expand
This five-year study assessed the implementation of RTT and SIG, and determined the extent to which the increases in state and district capacity as a result of RTT grants and SIG strategies improved student outcomes. SPR, a subcontractor to Mathematica Policy Research on this project, was responsible for recruiting states, districts, and schools, and conducting telephone interviews with 30 school districts to inform the implementation analysis and assist with the interpretation of the results from the impact analysis.
- Evaluation of California Education Policy Fund (CEPF). Expand
This evaluation, funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, 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.
- Evaluation of Authentic Teaching, Learning and Assessment (ATLAS) Communities’ Comprehensive School Reform Model. Expand
This two-year formative and summative evaluation explored how the ATLAS Communities School Reform Model impacted both teaching and learning at sixteen schools nationwide. SPR studied implementation of the model and the effect of reform efforts on students, teachers, parents, and schools.
- Evaluation of School District-Based Strategies for Reducing Youth Involvement in Gangs and Crime. Expand
This project examined the efforts of five school districts with the highest dropout rates in the country to increase student achievement, promote work readiness skills, and reduce youth involvement in gangs and violent crime through a work-readiness approach. Data collection included site visits to 36 high schools and youth programs, which included interviews of school staff, program staff, employees, and students, and an analysis of administrative and outcomes data.
- Evaluation of Mentoring, Educational, and Employment Strategies to Improve Academic, Social and Career Pathway Outcomes in Persistently Dangerous Schools. Expand
This project examined comprehensive school reform efforts at nine urban high schools that have been classified as “persistently dangerous” under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The initiative funded mentoring programs, academic interventions, workforce interventions, programs to improve school climate, and case management services for students who are most at risk of school failure or disengagement. The evaluation draws on site visit, interview, and administrative data to understand how these nine schools planned, designed, and implemented programs, interventions, and services under these grants.
- From Intolerance to Understanding: A Study of Intergroup Relations Among Youth. Expand
This five-year study of six high schools in California, funded by the Carnegie Corporation and the Spencer Foundation, examines the effects of contextual influences and the impact of secondary school interventions on intergroup relations.
- Educational Leadership.
- Impact Evaluation of Support for Principals. Expand
SPR is subcontracting with Mathematica Policy Research on this multi-year project to examine the impact of professional development for elementary school principals on principal practices, school climate, teacher effectiveness and retention, and student achievement. This randomized control trial will include elementary school principals at 100 schools in 10 school districts.
- Evaluation of Google’s Talent Academy. 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.
- Evaluation of NALEO Education Fund’s Campaign for High School Equity (CHSE). Expand
SPR provided consultation to the NALEO Educational Fund 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.
Post-Secondary Education
Our studies in post-secondary education examine efforts to support successful transitions to college and careers. We work with our clients to identify policies and practices that are effective in helping students succeed in college and beyond.
- Impact Evaluation of the Pell Grant Experiments. Expand
This six-year project for the U.S. Department of Education examines the effects of expanding Pell Grant eligibility by allowing individuals with bachelor’s degrees and individuals interested in short-term training to receive Pell funding. The project includes a large-scale random assignment study to measure impacts, and collection and analysis of administrative data on educational enrollment and completion, employment, and earnings for up to three years after random assignment.
- Evaluation of the Forum for the Future of Higher Education. Expand
The Forum for the Future of Higher Education serves as a learning community for leaders from select colleges and universities across the country. This evaluation, carried out for the James Irvine Foundation, which provides grant funding for the Forum, assessed the goals of the Forum and the impact of its work.
- A Study of the Cultural Factors Affecting Underrepresented Minority STEM Doctoral Students and Academic Pathway and Transition Programs. Expand
SPR is supporting AIR in this qualitative multi-year descriptive study, funded by the National Science Foundation, 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.
- Washoe County Public Schools. Expand
SPR is partnering with Washoe County School District to assess the impact of school turnaround efforts on student academic and behavior outcomes. SPR is utilizing a quasi-experimental design, comparing academic and behavioral outcomes for students at schools receiving intensive supports to strengthen data-driven decision making and leadership development to students with similar observable traits at other schools in the district.
- San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE). Expand
SPR’s evaluation of the California Career Pathways Trust Program (CCPT) examined student and system-level outcomes of a career pathways initiative being implemented at 17 school districts and eight community colleges in San Diego County. Through interviews, site visits, and administrative data analysis, SPR documented student enrollment in and completion of career and technical education (CTE) courses and pathways, coordination between school districts, community colleges, and employers to strengthen work-based learning opportunities, CTE-focused professional development, and cross-curricular integration, as well as resultant changes in student outcomes. This project also involved collaborating with SDCOE to improve the quality of the data collected from school sites.
- Monterey County Office of Education. Expand
Through SPR’s Needs Assessment of the Migrant Education Program in Monterey County, SPR conducted a thorough analysis of early childhood education programs for migrant youth and their families. SPR’s team collected qualitative data to learn about the county’s home-based and center-based early childhood education in 13 school districts in the county, such as the Migrant Even Start program, summer program, and others. SPR conducted interviews with early childhood teachers, home-based providers, and parents, and analyzed district-level child assessment scores from the Migrant Education School Readiness Program (MESRP). The scores include both pre- and post-assessment measures using a variety of measures, including the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening, the Brigance Early Childhood Screening III, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Other data sources analyzed include data from parent observation guides and student score sheets used by early educators to document student progress.
- First 5 Ventura County. Expand
For over three years, SPR has served as the evaluator for First 5 Ventura County, analyzing program, survey, interview, and focus group data to understand the needs of First 5 Ventura County’s diverse service population, and to examine the extent to which its programs are meeting those needs. We collaborate with the County to consider areas for improvement and growth, to strengthen its data collection instruments and processes, and ensure that their instruments align with the agency’s strategic goals.
- City and County of San Francisco: Department of Children, Youth, and their Families (DCYF). Expand
- Evaluation of the Youth Workforce Development Programs. For this project, SPR assessed the employment and educational outcomes of youth who participated in one of more than 30 school-based programs in San Francisco using client data systems and academic data from the San Francisco Unified School District.
- Evaluation of the Specialized Teen, Youth-Led Philanthropy (YLPhil), and Youth Organizing (YLOrg) programming. This project evaluated the educational and developmental outcomes for youth participating in one of 68 afterschool programs in San Francisco. Data sources include phone interviews with staff members at 17 “case study” programs, site visits to 12 “best practice” programs, an online youth survey, and administrative data from SFUSD.
- Evaluation of Juvenile Alternatives to Suspension (JASP). This project evaluated a school-based intervention designed to reduce suspensions among San Francisco’s most vulnerable middle school students. SPR studied planning and implementation and documented short-term student-level outcomes using student records and case study interviews.
- City of Oakland: Oakland Fund for Children and Youth (OFCY). Expand
Since 2015, SPR has served as the evaluator for OFCY’s community-based youth programming, ranging from Early Childhood Education programs to Youth Workforce and Violence Prevention. The goals of the evaluation, which is being carried out in close collaboration with OFCY, are to provide ongoing feedback to OFCY and its grantees on the quality and outcomes of its programs. The evaluation includes an analysis of youth and parent surveys, structured site visit data, interview and focus group data, and administrative program data on an annual basis.
- Orange County: Children and Families Commission . Expand
This three-year evaluation of early childhood education and school-linked services examined the county’s Performance Outcomes Measurement System (POMS) to identify whether pre-school and elementary school children receiving Commission-funded services performed better in school, as measured by statewide educational exams.
- Minnesota Department of Education / REL-Midwest. Expand
SPR provides technical support for the Midwest College Readiness Research Alliance (MCRRA), a partnership between the Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Midwest at AIR and the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). SPR is building the capacity of MDE to support school districts to: (1) increase their capacity of to understand and use evidence-based practices to implement their World’s Best Workforce (WBWF) plans, and (2) learn about best practices and challenges in meeting their goals to promote school readiness, close the achievement, and provide equitable access to high-quality teachers.
- 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.
A Regional Scan of Individualized Learning - 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.
- University of Kentucky’s Center for Innovation in Education Expand
SPR is evaluating the Assessment for Learning Project, a collaboration between the University of Kentucky’s Center for Innovation in Education and EDUCAUSE’s Next Generation Learning Challenges. ALP is a movement-building initiative designed to lift promising formative assessment practices and create a network of learning organizations. Along with our partners at the Stanford Center for Policy and Opportunity in Education (SCOPE), we are “capturing the story” of the ALP initiative, assessing their theories of change and action, and identifying the conditions at the local grantee level that enable change.
- Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE). Expand
SPR was commissioned by the SCOPE to produce an in-depth case study of student-centered instruction and assessment at City Arts and Technology (CAT), a charter high school in San Francisco. The case study assesses CAT’s student-centered educational model, which features project-based learning, portfolio assessment, interdisciplinary exhibitions, teacher collaboration, and strategies for student personalization and differentiation.
- Harvard Graduate School of Education: ATLAS Communities. Expand
SPR conducted a two-year formative and summative evaluation explored how the ATLAS Communities School Reform Model impacted both teaching and learning at sixteen schools nationwide. SPR studied implementation of the model and the effect of reform efforts on students, teachers, parents, and schools.
