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.

Evaluation support for Americorps

We're pleased to announce that Shaffer Evaluation Group was awarded a contract from the Virginia Department of Social Services, Office on Volunteerism and Community Service, to improve the capacity, understanding and achievement of performance measures of organizations currently receiving support for AmeriCorps State and/or Volunteer Generation Fund (VGF) programming. We will work collectively and individually with up to 20 AmeriCorps and VGF programs across the Commonwealth of Virginia to enhance their knowledge, skills, and implementation related to effective program design, measurement, and evaluation in alignment with Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) guidelines.