New Research Associate Joins Team

Diana Theisinger joins the Shaffer Evaluation Group as a Research Associate. Diana, a doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Educational Technology at the College of William & Mary, has served as

managing editor of The William & Mary Educational Review since 2014. Her approach to educational research and evaluation is informed by her experience teaching English/language arts at middle and high school and working as an assistive technology coordinator. During her time at William & Mary, she has performed both quantitative and qualitative research and presented her research at state and national conferences. Diana holds a B.A. in English from Texas A&M University and an M.Ed. in Secondary Education (English) from Mercer University in Atlanta, GA. During her first six months at the Shaffer Evaluation Group, she will work on several evaluation studies involving military-connected students. Welcome aboard, Diana!

SEG Team Attends DODEA Grant Meeting Supporting Military-Connected Students

It's all hands on deck for the Shaffer Evaluation Group team in Norfolk, Virginia. On October 18-19, Patricia, Kristi, Cliff, and Valija will participate in a DODEA kick-off meeting for new grantees. Several Shaffer Evaluation Group clients who received DODEA funding for projects supporting military-connected students will attend this meeting: Burkburnett Independent School District (TX), Kittery School District (ME), Lackland Independent School District (TX), Norfolk Public Schools (VA), Poquoson City Public Schools (VA), Prince George County Public Schools (VA), and Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VA).

Evaluation of Strategic Foreign Languages Expansion Program Grant Concludes

The Shaffer Evaluation Group completed its evaluation of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools’ Department of Defense Strategic Foreign Languages Expansion Program (S-FLEP) project. The goal of this project was to expand the success of the district's STARTALK Elementary Summer Chinese Program into a completely articulated Mandarin Chinese program. The S-FLEP grant enabled the school district to offer Mandarin Chinese in targeted middle and high schools through a combination of face-to-face and distance learning instruction. As part of the project evaluation, the Shaffer Evaluation Group conducted annual site visits to participating schools, observing classroom instruction using the Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning (TELL) observation protocols and interviewing school administrative and counseling staff.