| Our mission in
evaluation is to inform clients about
effective practices that promote meaningful educational change by building on
rigorous research. The trademark of our approach centers on
systems theory--studying
the context in which programs operate, how they are designed and implemented,
and their impact on students, school staff, parents. Additionally, we study the interrelationships of
the context, design, implementation, and impact variables. In doing so, we
can provide educators with information about the real-life practicability and
effectiveness of a program.
Most of our studies call for well-crafted
rigorous research designs--experimental
and quasi-experimental--artful
sampling; sophisticated survey methodology; qualitative data collection through
observation, in-person interviews, and focus groups; and creative analysis
techniques. MI is equally skilled at conducting large-scale longitudinal
studies to help guide decision making for thousands of students and small-scale
case studies focusing on one or two classrooms, schools or districts.
Our work routinely incorporates methods for
determining what audiences want and need to know, how best to gather this
information, and how best to feed back the results in usable formats.
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