Evaluations

The concept of measuring outcomes surrounds us - starting with a child's growth, to grades in school, and then job-related performance. You can count on highly qualified HWF staff members to help you plan and conduct your evaluations. Our consultants will help you learn how to collect and analyze your data to answer meaningful questions, increase your impact, and even make your case to funders.

Success Story: Connecticut State Department of Education

"HWF was invaluable to the success of our School-Family-Community Partnerships project. They helped our state team identify critical questions and designed data collection strategies that were minimally intrusive to the participating schools. Their formative reports were instrumental in helping us make ongoing management decisions, and their final report helped us understand the most critical components of the project and provided insightful recommendations for project improvements. HWF has been responsive to the state team and the individual schools throughout the project, often going above and beyond to deliver an evaluation we were proud to share with other states and national leaders."

- Judy Carson, Education Consultant, Connecticut State Department of Education

The School-Family-Community Partnerships (SFCP) model helps schools establish Action Teams consisting of educators, parents, and community members. The Connecticut SFCP State Team trained more than 100 schools in the SFCP model from 1995 to 2001, but an HWF evaluation found that many schools did not sustain their Action Teams, leading the State to pilot a three-year, district-level approach to promoting and sustaining SFCPs and Action Teams.

In 2004, the State called on HWF to determine the effectiveness of this approach and provide data to improve the project. HWF: 1) collected and reviewed relevant documents; 2) participated in and documented State Team meetings with districts; 3) collected quantitative and qualitative data during multiple site visits to each district; 4) synthesized national research on the impact of SFCPs; and 5) produced annual reports and facilitated "reflection sessions" to present and discuss evaluation findings.

This evaluation found substantial evidence that pilot districts were institutionalizing SFCPs, and highlighted key project components contributing to success. The State Team utilized these findings to design its successful Parent Information and Resource Center (PIRC) grant, which will expand the district pilot to high-need urban and rural districts across Connecticut.

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