An Example of TEC's Evaluation Consultancies
TEAMS
The Education Coalition is principal evaluator of the TEAMS / Project IMPACT, (Improving Achievement through Converging Technologies), for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. This Star Schools grant promotes educational telecommunications and technology for students and teachers in twenty-three states, the District of Columbia and several territories. The areas served range from Maine to the Marshall Islands, Hawaii, and most of the islands in the South Pacific. This evaluation includes research on the effect of TEAMS Distance Learning on those students and teachers. TEAMS programs are provided over cable or broadcast television and are received in millions of homes in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, all of Colorado, most of Arizona and most of Missouri; and the cities of Charlotte, NC, Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, and Detroit. The Education Coalition evaluates the TEAMS / Project IMPACT grant to determine if the funds are being spent in accordance with the grant application. We are currently in the third year of this evaluation on behalf the US Department of Education.
The Education Coalition is in its third year of evaluating the Star Schools Project Grant for the Mountain-Plains Distance Learning Partnership. Central Wyoming College is the managing partner for this Star Schools Project. STARS is an acronym for "Seamless Technology for Access by Rural Schools. The STARS Project Mountain-Plains Distance Learning Partnership is creating an electronic virtual campus to serve Wyoming, Colorado Utah, and Montana. The Education Coalition is in their third year of this Star Schools grant evaluation for the US Department of Education.
The Education Coalition is in its first year of a four-year grant evaluation from NASA for STEP (Student and Teacher Excellence Project). TEC is providing consulting and evaluation services for the NASA funded STEP project which is based at the San Bernardino County (CA) Superintendent of Schools Office. This project is largely based on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) which has shown that students are not performing at desired levels. American students' scores have significantly declined below the average in both general and advanced mathematics and science. By identifying this problem and correcting the project to meet these needs, STEP endeavors to engage learners and their imaginations through the compelling exploration of space.
The Education Coalition is the principal evaluator of the PBS Certificate Program in Teaching with Technology. This projects' goal is to promote effective technology use in K-12 schools and colleges and to provide high quality educational programs to pre and in-service teachers that help them apply technology in the curriculum. It will also provide effective training in technology education use to individual pre and in-service teachers. This evaluation is of the model, evaluation materials development, implementation and adoption and the evaluation of learners and the application of the content in the classroom.
