Evaluation & Assessment

Evaluation activities include:

• Document analysis: A review of any pertinent documents related to the project
• Focus groups and interviews: Inquiries are structured around the stages of the project: planning, early implementation, continuous improvement, and later implementation. Project staff, students, educators, and industry representatives are included.
• Surveys and questionnaires: As appropriate, further information will be gathered through this modality. New Growth has varied experience in survey construction, implementation, and analysis.

The evaluation will allow for both formative and summative inquiries. Activities informing the formative evaluation will focus on how the project is being implemented, how implementation compares to the intent, the likelihood of successful completion of the objectives, feedback that can be used for continuous improvement, and budget considerations. Activities informing the summative evaluation will depend on data collection throughout the project and focus on measuring outcomes to answer the evaluation questions.

Evaluation Report: EARN 2019

About The New Growth Group

The New Growth Group LLC will serve as the external evaluator for this project. New Growth is an evaluation and analytics firm based in Cleveland, Ohio, specializing in workforce development. A veteran-owned business, new Growth was founded on the principle that people are the most important parts of business success and regional growth. New Growth has extensive experience conducting large-scale, multi-stakeholder evaluations of community college-led projects using qualitative, mixed methods, and comparative or quasi-experimental approaches. For example, New Growth has evaluated or is evaluating nine U.S. Department of Labor grants in Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training.

The evaluation team will be led by Chris Spence, New Growth’s principal. Mr. Spence has over 15 years of experience in workforce development, project evaluation, and analytics. He holds two master’s degrees from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service. His experience has incorporated designs including experimental and quasi-experimental, and formative and summative. His clients have included colleges and universities, school districts, government agencies, philanthropies, and community organizations throughout the U.S.