Services
As part of a
contract with the U.S. Department of Education, Synergy Enterprises
Incorporated (SEI) and the Center for Evaluation and Education
Policy (CEEP) at Indiana University are providing evaluation
resources and evaluation technical assistance to TAH project
directors and their external evaluators. Evaluation resources such
as individualized feedback and evaluation technical assistance are
available to TAH grantees at no cost to the TAH programs.
Evaluation technical assistance includes guidance, resources, and
information needed to implement the best possible TAH evaluation
plans. Evaluation services available to TAH grantees include the
following:
Website
The website is regularly updated with new articles, resources, and
information to best meet the evolving and changing needs of
grantees. The website provides
comprehensive resources and links to relevant topics for TAH
grantees, including both basic and advanced evaluation topics. In
addition to providing access to high quality resources already
available on various topics of interest, materials have also been
specifically developed and tailored for TAH grantees. Also, the
home page of the website provides
“spotlights” with monthly updates and issue briefs, including the
following:
-
Hot Topics: Brief article written by either CEEP staff, or a guest
contributor (e.g., someone from ED, an expert from the field,
etc.) that focuses on a relevant, current topic of interest to
TAH grantees and their evaluators.
-
“Grantee Focus” Overview of the evaluation methodology and/or results of a TAH
grantee, intended to provide insight into how other grantees are
approaching their evaluation as opposed to presenting any single
“best way” of evaluating TAH programs. The overview
includes, for example,
the key evaluation questions being address; the specific
instruments being used as part of the evaluation; ways in which
grantees are addressing the performance indicators, etc.
-
Resource Spotlight: Each month a key resource (e.g., book, toolkit,
website, etc.) is
discussed, including the benefits of the resource and the ways
in which the resource might be useful to TAH grantees. These
resources will not necessarily be new resources, but will be
chosen to represent some of the most useful, informative and
beneficial resources available to TAH grantees.
-
Announcements/News:
This section will feature
meetings, upcoming deadlines, new developments) or highlighting
information or new resources that might be useful to grantees
(e.g., recent evaluation discussions on H-Net)
Each
of these homepage features
also will be archived so that TAH grantees can easily access past
“Hot Topics” articles, Grantee Focus interviews, etc.
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Individualized
Evaluation Technical Assistance
The teleconferences, web-site information and resources, etc.
will address many common evaluation questions and issues encountered
by TAH grantees. However, both the Teaching American History
Program Office and CEEP/SEI realize that there are highly
individualized questions that cannot be addressed via these other
means. Therefore, individualized evaluation technical assistance is
available to all TAH grantees at NO COST to your program or grant.
Unfortunately, CEEP cannot actually do the evaluation itself for
your TAH grant, or complete your 524B forms for your grant.
However, CEEP can help answer any other evaluation or methodology
questions you may have; and will help you to address any concerns or
issues related to evaluating your TAH program. The personalized
technical assistance can be accessed via the following means:
Grantees may call for one-on-one evaluation assistance Monday
through Friday during regular business hours (Eastern Standard
Time). Dr. Courtney Brown serves as the primary contact for the
evaluation technical assistance, although she will utilize other
resources and staff at CEEP as needed for specific expertise. Dr.
Brown can be reached at (812) 855-4438.
E-Mail Assistance
Grantees have access to one-on-one technical assistance via e-mail.
All e-mail should be sent to
TAHeval@indiana.edu.
Web-Based Technical Assistance Form
Grantees may complete a form online in order to receive technical
assistance on a number of topics. Click
here to access the
Web-Based Technical Assistance Form
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Teleconferences:
These teleconferences provide the opportunity for a group of
grantees to both hear from experts in a variety of content areas,
and to have productive discussions amongst grantees.
Teleconferences have been offered during the past two years on a
variety of topics for the 2003 and 2004 TAH grantees with
experimental and quasi-experimental design, and the upcoming topics
will be based on current grantee needs. Past topics have included
the following: how to maintain your sample size, how to measure
impact on students and teachers, how to analyze data and calculate
effect sizes, developing and/or refining logic models, and advanced
data analyses techniques.
In addition to continuing to conduct
these teleconferences on topics of interest to TAH grantees,
web-based teleconferences will also be used for key topics to
provide high-quality, cost-effective, and targeted technical
assistance. Using web-based technology, participants will be able to
view PowerPoint slides, listen to presentations, and join group
discussions from offsite locations. Online discussion boards will
allow participants to type questions during conferences and send
them either directly to conference moderators or to the whole group.
In addition, each conference will be archived and easily accessible
via the internet for complete replay of presentations and
discussions.
Announcements about upcoming teleconferences will be e-mailed to
our list of project directors and evaluators. If you do not receive
these notices, please send an email to
TAHeval@indiana.edu to
ensure that we have your correct contact information.
Notices about upcoming teleconferences will also be available in
the Announcements/News and
“EVENTS”
sections of this website.
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Discussion Network:
This discussion network is intended to serve as a means for
communication among grantees and evaluators, and a means of sharing
resources. In addition, CEEP staff will regularly monitor, and
participate in the discussions on the network.
Access to the discussion network is open to the public.
However to ensure the quality of the discussion, only TAH grantees
will be able to participate in the discussion network conversations.
To participate in the discussion or to submit comments, questions,
etc., go to the
Discussion Network page and login using the link on the left
side of the page. To register
click here.
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Electronic Newsletter:
An electronic newsletter is distributed that focuses on the
regularly updated information provided in the “spotlight” section of
this website. The electronic newsletter provides another mode of
distributing the information, and also includes a link to the full
website.
To be placed on the distribution list for this electronic
newsletter click here.
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Toolkits and Web-based Courses:
Toolkits and/or web-based courses will be developed to provide
TAH grantees and/or evaluators with accessible and comprehensive
information on key topics. These toolkits and/or web-base course
will provide detailed information, examples, and step by step
instructions in various areas. For example, developing and/or
refining logic models for your TAH program; selecting the best
instruments for your TAH program for measuring teacher content
knowledge, “Evaluation 101,” etc. The first toolkits and/or
web-based course is expected to be out of the development phase and
available to grantees during late Spring 2007.
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Please Click here
to download TAH brochure in pdf format.
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