Guiding Well-Informed Policy and Practice

The Collaborative for Evaluation and Assessment Capacity (CEAC) is a field-based initiative in the School Leadership Program, within the University of Pittsburgh's School of Education's Department of Administrative and Policy Studies. CEAC addresses pressing evaluation and assessment needs by drawing on resources throughout the University of Pittsburgh's School of Education and the evaluation community at large. Through interdisciplinary and interagency collaboration, CEAC merges technical, evaluative, research design, with statistical and theoretical expertise to address practical evaluation and assessment issues. Every CEAC evaluator has completed training with the University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board and has applied for and received Act 33/34 clearance.

For each particular grant or project, CEAC develops work groups of affiliates to consider the evaluation and assessment issues. Groups may be temporary by project, or more permanent by area of study. Affiliates include faculty, graduate students, and evaluation practitioners who can add expertise and perspective to the work. Affiliates work together; merging technical, evaluative, research design, including statistical, and theoretical expertise. Clients benefit from our affordable evaluation and assessment alternatives, while affiliates benefit from professional development and a work-study experience.

From help with writing the evaluation section of your grant proposal to the final assessment report, CEAC provides cost-effective solutions to meet the needs of your organization. Our network of expertise allows us to offer a full menu of services.We provide services that span evaluation areas from needs assessment, evaluation planning and design, to formative and summative evaluation. Some of the services we offer are:

  • Assistance in writing the evaluation / assessment portion of your grant application
  • Creating agency-appropriate and situation-specific measurement instruments
  • Instrument review and development consultation
  • Creating and conducting surveys of individuals and/or agencies
  • Conducting specialized focus groups
  • Event observation and documentation
  •  Evaluation capacity-building through consultation and coaching
  • Needs assessment
  • Logic model development
  • Interviews and guided discussions
  • Case studies involving a diverse menu of activities
  • Pre-Post and Retrospective Pre-Post assessments
  • Software consultation for reporting
  • In-depth data analysis, tailored to your specific needs
  • Progress reports for decision-makers and program staff
  • Annual reports for targeted audiences
  • Final reports for funding agents and stakeholders

 

CEAC adheres to the:

   Guiding Principles of the American Evaluation Association (AEA)

Program Evaluation Standards published by:

 The Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation

 

 

 

Contact CEAC