BUILD PROGRAMS INFORMED BY EVIDENCE
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Shaffer Evaluation Group is a trusted partner for program design, performance monitoring, evaluation, and capacity building.
Founded in 2006, the Shaffer Evaluation Group is a small, highly respected organization that has worked with its clients -- school districts, colleges and universities, government agencies, and nonprofits -- on an ongoing basis across projects and years. Our expertise in education is deep -- our research staff also brings professional experience as K-12 teachers, college faculty, and/or school district administrators, which informs our program design and capacity building work with school districts and postsecondary institutions.
The Shaffer Evaluation Group brings strong capability in program evaluation and monitoring of K-12 and postsecondary educational initiatives. Our team has implemented evaluation studies using a wide range of research designs, including performance measurement, non-experimental designs (fidelity studies, formative/process monitoring, case studies), quasi-experimental evaluations that utilize comparison cohorts, and experimental studies with random assignment.
Our team members are grounded in a participatory approach to evaluation that includes stakeholder input in program design, evaluation planning, data collection, analysis, and reporting. We work cooperatively with our clients to build a deep understanding of the program and context, which enhances our ability to develop an appropriate evaluation plan/matrix that is aligned with the program and can be successfully implemented. The participatory approach supports active involvement of stakeholders that facilitates both evaluation implementation and use of evaluation findings by the project staff and the educational institution.
We also offer evaluation capacity building services to assist our partners in improving their ability to measure and strengthen the impact of their professional learning initiatives. Workshops focus on valid assessment instruments that are available for low or no cost, as well as other available resources to assist in developing a plan for documenting and monitoring the effectiveness of professional learning efforts and their impact on student performance outcomes.