Office of Educational Innovation & Evaluation

Office of Educational Innovation & Evaluation

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OEIE has provided more than 40,000 hours of evaluation services and proposal development and evaluated more than 120 projects totaling $40 million. Below is a selected listing of our sponsored projects along with a brief summary of each project.

Project Name	Project Description
A Systematic Approach to Infusing Science Research into K-12 Classrooms (2007 - 08) Sponsor: Kansas Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research	The primary goal of the Infusing Science project is to develop a systematic approach for infusing science research into K-12 classrooms. The specific objectives include establishing (1) a web-based infrastructure by which classroom-tested lessons on science research can be made available to science teachers throughout Kansas; (2) a network of middle- and high-school science teachers to assist in field testing, modifying, and disseminating these lessons; (3) selection procedures for research applications that support diversity goals; and (4) a summer workshop format for generating the lessons to be field tested and made available through the web. The project’s beneficiaries are university researchers, middle- and high-school science teachers, and middle- and high-school science students. Gender and cultural sensitivity will be frameworks utilized as primary criteria in the development of educational materials and coordination of all aspects of the project, with the ultimate goal of attracting and actively engaging female students and members of other under-represented groups into the sciences. The main outcome of the project is to generate quality field testing and student learning outcome data to sustain the effort and secure future funding in the area of K-12 STEM teaching and teacher learning about scientific inquiry. The Office of Educational Innovation (OEIE) will assist the PIs in developing the IRB application, develop and administer a web-based student reflective content-oriented outcome measure, develop and administer a web-based teacher reflective content-, methodological-, and pedagogical- oriented outcome measure, and collaborate with the PIs to develop rubrics for assessing teachers’ science lessons by utilizing two main criteria: namely, how attractive and how exiting the developed lessons are for female students and members of other under-represented groups. OEIE will then analyze the data from the above mentioned measures and submit a summative annual performance report.
ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Institutional Transformation at Kansas State University (2003 - 08) Sponsor: National Science Foundation	The goal of the ADVANCE: Institutional Transformation at K-State program is to create an institution that attracts, retains, supports, and advances women in the disciplines of science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM). More specifically, ADVANCE program objective are to: 1) foster a gender-equitable climate within partner departments by implementing changes in existing departmental policies, procedures, and tenure and promotion practices; 2) attract more women applicants by expanding and enhancing recruitment; 3) implement initiatives that encourage the retention of women faculty through tenure and promotion; 4) propagate the successes achieved in targeted partner departments to all SEM departments. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation has implemented a variety of methods to evaluate the success of the ADVANCE program including analyzing archival data, and tenure documents, administering surveys, and conducting interviews and focus groups for program participants (i.e., university administration, department heads, tenured and tenure-track faculty).
Advancing Content Understanding in Mathematics through Effective Networks (ACUMEN) Project (2004 - 07) Sponsor: Kansas State Department of Education	The Advancing Content Understanding in Mathematics through Effective Networks (ACUMEN) Project is to improve learning opportunities for all students through improving teachers’ knowledge in three areas: content, curriculum, and children. The success of this project is based on a three-tiered professional development model. First, teachers’ content knowledge for understanding is targeted. Second, teachers have the opportunity to interpret their learning and link it to K-8 curriculum. Lastly, focus on the child. Interventions include intensive 2-week summer institutes incorporating the threefold professional development focus. The Content, Curriculum, and the Child (C3 Academy) in 2004 focused on Geometry. Number Sense/ History of Mathematics was the focus in 2005 and Algebra/ Data Analysis the focus in 2006. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) is responsible for the statistical analysis of data obtained by the principal investigator instruments developed. In addition, OEIE analyzes student mathematics performance on the State of Kansas Performance Assessments and synthesizes student performance results reported in teacher action research projects.
Athletic Department: Student Athlete Survey (2005 - 10) Sponsor: Kansas State University Intercollegiate Athletics - Academic Learning Center	The purpose of the Student Athlete Survey is to collect information to address the following objectives: Determine student athletes’ general attitudes and level of satisfaction toward services and programs provided at KSU and Provide a demographic profile of KSU student-athletes. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will submit IRB application for approval, create 400 copies of cover letter and surveys in scantron format, receive collected surveys, scan, edit and clean data from the completed scantron surveys, and conduct data analysis and generate report with agreed upon criteria. The agreed upon criteria consist of: scale being included in all tables (Extremely Satisfied, Satisfied, Unsatisfied, Extremely Unsatisfied, N/A), tables arranged in similar format to previous reports with an overall sports table categorized by gender and similar additional tables of each sport, unsatisfied and extremely unsatisfied percentages over 20 highlighted in grey, ethnicities not being listed where groups are entirely homogenous; exception being football and track and field, scholarship status only reported for rowing and equestrian, and the report will not be generated until all surveys are received.
Athletics Football Survey 2004 (2004) Sponsor:	The K-State Football Survey was a pilot study of football season ticket holders conducted by the Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) in contract with the Athletics Department. The purpose of the study is to better understand season ticket holders’ attitudes and behaviors related to various aspects of K-State home football games. An existing survey was modified into two instruments which were administered utilizing the K-State On-line Survey System. The first on-line survey targeted General season ticket holders while the second was geared towards Student season ticket holders. Results were reported to the Athletics Department through a formal presentation, as well as a final written report. Results were presented in summary form disaggregated by age, income level, and seat location. This evaluation provided the Athletics Department with feedback that gave department officials a view of the current attitudes and behaviors of season ticket holders and an idea of where to focus future marketing efforts.
Building Capacity to Engage Latinos in Local Food Systems in the Heartland (2007 - 08) Sponsor: U.S. Department of Agriculture	The study assumption is that the population of Latino farmers in Iowa and Kansas is fast growing and will continue expanding. There is an emerging need for educating agricultural professionals about strategies to engage this population of producers in local food systems and providing experiential learning opportunities to gain cross-cultural knowledge and skills. Hence, the project target beneficiaries are professional educators and technical service providers (i.e., professionals) in Iowa and Kansas with Cooperative Extension, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), regional resource Conservation and Development offices, Farm Service Agency, Iowa and Kansas departments of Agriculture, and community colleges. The long-term goal is successful Latino farmers engaged in local food systems. The specific objectives are two-fold; short term and intermediate term. In the short-term professionals will gain (a) increased awareness of Latinos as valued community member and current/future farmers, including opportunities in local food systems, (b) improved skills in engaging Latino audiences, and in analyzing and developing local food systems, and (c) ability to integrate knowledge and skills gained to develop strategies for sustained support programs. Project evaluation will measure short-term impact of the project on participants. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will Document and compile number and demographics of final participants at both sites, Design pre- surveys (paper and on-line options for participants) for both sites to establish a base-line of participant characteristics, awareness and knowledge of Latino families and their issues; analyze data, Design post- surveys for both sites to measure changes in behavior and in awareness and knowledge; analyze data, Design one instrument or protocol for assessing change in behavior from experiential learning visits, multicultural training, and local foods training at both sites (combined); collect data and analyze results, and provide brief evaluation report at the end of the project.
Campus IT Needs Assessment (2008) Sponsor: Kansas State University Vice Provost for Academic Services and Technology	The goal of the IT Campus Needs Assessment is to determine what K-State students and faculty think about the current campus IT system and what changes they need and want. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will provide full facilitation services for 15 targeted focus groups and five open forums for the Information Technical Service Office. The services are based on the following assumptions: OEIE will work in collaboration with Principal Investigator, Lynn Carlin, and with the IT Advisory Committee to establish the number of attendees per forum and their contact information. The focus groups will be 2 hours in length and have approximately 3-4 main questions that will frame the discussion. After conducting the focus groups, OEIE will then identify themes from each focus group and aggregate results from all forums for the final report. A formal report of processes and outcomes will be prepared.
Carter Opportunity Award (2007 - 12) Sponsor: E. Eugene Carter Foundation	This multi-year Carter Opportunity Award project originated as a gift from the Eugene Carter Foundation to forgive the Stafford Loans of 20 undergraduate under-represented females who graduate from Kansas State University with engineering degrees. The ultimate goal is to retain those female engineering students who are first generation to college Latinas by providing them with a network of support systems, both academic and financial. Through a matched, dependent pair’s experimental research design, the Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will continue to provide consultation in every aspect of this research project. Beyond identification of sampling frame (i.e., all KSU engineering majors with Stafford Loans), the sample selection stratification levels are gender, first generation to college status, and ethnicity, appearing in order of stratification. In addition to these selection criteria, the following demographic characteristics were used to pair the participants for placement in treatment and control groups: number of household members in college, major, household income, household size, income per family member, Fall 2006 grade point average, high school size, high school academic quartile rank, and home state of origin. Random placement into treatment and control ensued. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation will conduct all forthcoming evaluation endeavors which include in-depth interviews and focus groups of the award recipients as well as systematized quantitative data collection cycles.
CCAMPIS (2005 - 09) Sponsor: U.S. Department of Education	The Child Care Access Means Parents in School Program (CCAMPIS) supports the participation of low-income parents in the postsecondary education system through the provision of campus-based childcare services. The K-State Child Development Center’s CCAMPIS grant will (a) make childcare affordable by providing subsidies in the form of childcare scholarships (childships) utilizing a sliding fee scale, (b) increase the availability of quality infant and toddler care for student parents, (c) provide a safe and developmentally appropriate playground for infants and toddlers, and (d) improve parental satisfaction and increase parental involvement by providing a parent/ student meeting room and parent resource library. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation will compile and analyze data over a five year period by developing and administering a web-based parent survey.
Center for Civic Education Survey (2008) Sponsor: Center for Civic Education	CCE is interested in surveying university faculty who have attended one of their professional development opportunities in last 4 years (roughly 150 people). The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation will transform the survey developed by CCE into an online version, track those who respond and who don’t, perform simple descriptive statistics on the survey data, deliver data sets and statistics to the Principal Investigator.
COE Assessment (2003 - 10) Sponsor: Kansas State University College of Education	The College of Education Assessment project is a component of the college-wide program evaluation designed to guide and improve the undergraduate and graduate student experience in the Kansas State University College of Education. Students in the undergraduate and graduate programs, recent graduates, Kansas employers of first-year teachers, and faculty are assessed for completion of student learning outcomes, benchmarks achieved, qualifications, and adherence to the college’s conceptual framework and mission. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation requests archival data from state education agencies, administers hard-copy surveys to undergraduate and graduate students and Kansas school principals, maintains webforms and databases, analyzes data from surveys and webforms, and generates reports.
Collaborative for Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement in STEM (CORES): GROWing diversity in STEM at a student-centered land-grant university (2006 - 09) Sponsor: Kansas State University Targeted Excellence	The Targeted Excellence Collaborative for Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) (CORES): GROWing Diversity in STEM at a Student-Centered Land-Grant University project aims to develop partnerships with other Kansas State University (K-State) outreach programs that have the common objective of increasing recruitment and retention of females and under-represented minorities in the STEM fields. Through this partnership, a collaborative network will form to create a common entry portal for students, develop a database of program participants capable of monitoring academic progress, and conduct recruitment project activities at participating community colleges. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation will assist in instrument development and data collection to assess the effectiveness of the collaborative network, analyze collected data, and report findings to the Principal Investigator.
Combined Research-Curriculum Development (CRCD) in Geoenvironmental Engineering (2003 - 06) Sponsor: National Science Foundation	The focus of the Combined Research Curriculum Development (CRCD) Project was to develop a graduate certificate program in geoenvironmental sciences and engineering (GSE). The CRCD project team invited experts to meet at KSU for one day to help define the scope of the graduate certificate program under development. As a result of this meeting, GSE was defined and three courses were developed to form a core GSE curriculum. The experts were invited back at a later date to assess these courses, which had since been implemented. This assessment centered around three major curriculum objectives: to prepare graduates for careers in GSE; to promote interdisciplinary educational experiences in GSE; and to enhance interactions among faculty and students in the allied science and engineering disciplines related to GSE. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) facilitated the experts’ discussion in that resulted in the working definition of GSE as well as the assessment of the curriculum. During these facilitated activities, OEIE recorded ideas generated by the GSE experts and facilitated their use of an evaluation rubric designed to measure the extent to which the curriculum achieved its objectives.
Community Environmental Decision-Making (EDM) Institute Feedback Survey (2005) Sponsor: Kansas Association for Conservation & Environmental Education	The Community Environmental Decision Making Institute was sponsored by the Kansas Association for Conservation & Environmental Education and K-State Research & Extension. The purpose of the training at the Institute was to provide community teams with tools, resources, and processes to assist in making better, well-informed decisions concerning issues that impact their local environment. The Institute organizers asked each community to assemble a team of local leaders. Each team consisted of three to five people who are involved in local level decision-making. The Institute took place over a two-day period during which participants explored different methodologies to assist their communities in making more knowledgeable decisions that impact the environment, notwithstanding land management and water resource protection. Participants developed their own community action plans based on the environmental decision-making framework, and implemented the plans in their home communities. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will construct and administer an online survey to measure the influence of the Institute on the participants and their community action plans. Further evaluation will be extended to the planning committee members via a hard-copy questionnaire that assess their expectations for the Institute and the community action plan outcomes.
Comprehensive School Reform - Abilene H.S. NCLB Standards (2004 - 06) Sponsor: Abliene USD 435 (Kansas State Department of Education)	A locally designed Comprehensive School Reform Model was developed by Abilene High School based on the work of the Mid-Continent Research in Education and Learning (McRel) Center. The goals and activities of the model were written into the North Central Association (NCA) and Quality Performance Accreditation (QPA) plan for the school. During the three-year grant period, Abilene High School teachers receive training in the nine research-based strategies identified by McRel for increasing student achievement. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will use summative and formative evaluation methods. Summative aspects consist of annual analysis of student performance on the State of Kansas Performance Assessments and analysis of parent, teacher and student responses on the NCA/QPA Climate survey. Formative methods employed include content analysis of parent meetings, interviews with project personnel, student focus groups, document analysis of teacher instructional strategy notebooks, attendance reports and discipline records. Comparative analysis of teacher perceptions and student perceptions is conducted to determine effectiveness of particular strategies on student learning and motivation. Findings are reported annually to the principal investigator and used in the report submitted to the funding agency, in teacher training sessions and communications with the public.
Council for Public School Improvement (CPSI) Survey (2006 - 07) Sponsor: Council for Public School Improvement	The Council for School Improvement (CPSI) is a separate center located in Kansas State University’s College of Education. CPSI’s objective is to foster high quality, low cost professional development designed to enhance student learning. CPSI membership is open to any school district wanting to collaborate on school effectiveness and school improvement issues through sharing resources and participating in professional development programs, activities and research. The purpose of the 2007 CPSI Needs Assessment Survey is to gain feedback from approximately 640 superintendents and principals (who are both CPSI members and non-members) in East-Central Kansas in order to help identity educational issues that will assist CPSI in determining school improvement needs. The Office of Educational Innovation will launch a web-based version of the 2007 CPSI Needs Assessment Survey for all 640 school administrators and conduct quantitative analyses on the survey items.
DEM: Seeing Gender: Tools for Change (2003 - 06) Sponsor: National Science Foundation	The goal of the Seeing Gender project was to reduce gender bias in K-12 classrooms and university programs within the STEM disciplines. In order to meet the project’s goal, the Seeing Gender: Tools for Change Compact Disc (CD) interactive tutorial was created in 2005 as an instructional tool for pre-service and in-service high school teachers, teacher education faculty, and college faculty in STEM fields. Its intent was to 1) introduce educators and future educators to the research literature on gender schemas and gender socialization; 2) sensitize users to the gender bias that is often present in STEM classrooms and programs; and 3) provide users with classroom strategies and interventions designed to increase participation and interest of female students in STEM. To evaluate the Seeing Gender: Tools for Change CD, program staff conducted an alpha test in which a group of experts focused on improving the content of the CD, including refinement of the theoretical background and references. Next, evaluators distributed a beta version of the CD along with a survey to pre-service and in-service educators. The second phase of the evaluation employed an experimental design (i.e., pre-test survey, viewing or withholding of the Seeing Gender: Tools for Change CD as the treatment/control, and post-test survey) for the assessment of the field test version of the Seeing Gender: Tools for Change CD.
DEM: Women on the Prairie: Bringing Girls into Science through Environmental Stewardship (2001 - 04) Sponsor: National Science Foundation	The Girls Researching Our World (GROW) project was created to support and reinforce women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines and form a network to encourage girls to enter STEM careers. In this 5-year demonstration project, a collaborative network of faculty, public school teachers, counselors, and professionals delivered activities designed to bolster and reinforce the interest of middle-school girls in STEM fields and careers. The GROW activities were based on research that demonstrated access to role models, career information, and hands-on activities have beneficial effects for middle-school girls. The formative evaluation activities for this project include pre- and post-surveys of participants, parents, escorts, chaperones, tour guides, and workshop presenters, workshop observational data, and a content analysis of student reflection papers in two courses. Summative evaluation activities for the GROW project consist of a longitudinal analysis that compared the STEM course-taking patterns and course grades of GROW participants to a matched sample of girls who did not participate in GROW activities.
Determination of the Effectiveness of Various Training Techniques for enhancement of the DVM student experience in Basic Veterinary Surgery: Lecture instruction, audiovisual modules, inanimate models, and live animal surgery for castration of calves (2007 - 08) Sponsor: College of Veterinary Medicine - RIPE	The focus of the Enhancement of the DVM Student Experience project is the use of multi-modal teaching methods to: 1) provide the student with experience operating equipment necessary for calf castration, 2) improve the students’ confidence and competence to perform the initial procedure, and 3) significantly decrease pain and distress experienced by live calves having castration done by these students. The goal of the project is to prove that diverse teaching styles (e.g. didactic lectures, audiovisual modules, inanimate surgery models, and live patient surgery) result in varied learning of procedures. It is expected that the multi-modal approach to surgery training will decrease pain and distress on the live animal because of improved student performance. Should inanimate models positively impact student performance of basic surgery skills, this may greatly diminish the number of animals or repetitions required for entry level competence and diminish pain and distress in the calves. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation will assist in instrument development, data collection and analysis, and report findings to the Principal Investigator.
Developing Lessons in a Land Ethic through the Leopold Education Project for non-formal audiences (Pheasants Forever) ( - ) Sponsor:	The primary goal of the Developing Lessons in a Land Ethic through the Leopold Education Proiect is to develop and provide a series of hands-on activities for staff and volunteers at nature centers, parks and zoos that are adapted from the Leopold Education Project's Land Ethic curriculum, which will meet the needs of the non-formal audiences they serve. Activities will initially be developed for nature centers, parks, and zoos, while other organizations and groups will be surveyed to determine their specific needs. The evaluation of the project encompasses surveying those who facilitate the activities to determine usefulness and effect of materials. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will: develop a hardcopy survey to determine educator feedback on effect and usefulness of activities, provide protocol consultation and final packets for PI'S administration of mailed surveys, enter, clean, and code all data in the Statistical package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), analyze data and interpret the findings, and submit a summative report of pilot findings.
Development of a Comprehensive Watershed Program Evaluation Framework (2008 - 09) Sponsor: Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources & the Environment	KCARE and the Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will partner to plan a comprehensive watershed evaluation framework. The proposed framework will be designed to address the critical knowledge gap in understanding the combined biophysical and behavioral impacts of watershed programs through development and refinement of a novel evaluation framework that: utilizes a comprehensive approach, includes assessment of both physical and behavioral impacts, is participatory and involves all stakeholders, builds capacity at the local, state, and national level, and provides data for science-based decision-making and management practices. It is anticipated that the study results will contribute to the development of novel social and behavioral sciences principles and practices associated with improvement of effectiveness of conservation practices and programs and protecting or improving resources to achieve water resource goals. OEIE will meet regularly to plan development activities and plan for future funding, develop a preliminary evaluation framework to assess physical and behavioral impacts of water quality projects, interview stakeholders regarding expected human/behavior impact of water quality projects in Kansas, and work with KCARE to pilot the initial evaluation framework and materials (e.g. assessment tools).
Development of a National Educational and Outreach Program for Food Safety and Food Defense (2006 - 09) Sponsor: U.S. Department of Agriculture	The goal of the Development of a National Educational and Outreach Program for Food safety and Food Defense project is to utilize a scientifically sound process to identify the desired skills, knowledge, behaviors and attitudes upon which to develop, deliver, and evaluate a graduate level and a professional development curriculum for food safety and food defense. Hence, the specific objectives include (1) development of the National Food Defense Knowledge Domain using key stakeholder input (by utilizing DACUM process); (2) utilization of educational competencies to develop and organize an applied educational food safety and food defense curriculum at the graduate level, (3) development and coordination of a national food safety and food defense outreach program for practitioners involved in food safety and food defense, emergency management, and emergency response, and (4) development of capstone experiences, involving food defense stakeholders and graduate student, to complement learning concepts from the educational curricula. Overall desired outcome is that the curriculum will equip both university graduate students (via classroom education) and professionals (via distance education) to become an integral part of national efforts to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural or human caused disasters effecting the nation's food supply. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will validate the content and evaluate the knowledge gain of the developed applied graduate curriculum in food safety and food defense, conduct formative and summative evaluation of the content of ten food safety and food defense distance learning modules, evaluate the FDCS (one day event) aimed at determining the participants rationale for and impacts of decision making process, and provide descriptive evaluation of the developmental processes of Year 1 activities as a tool for improvement, specifically (a) follow-up with panel participants regarding the process; (b) interview project directors/co-directors.
Earth Awareness Researchers for Tomorrow's Habitat (2006 - 07) Sponsor: Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources & the Environment	Earth Awareness Researchers for Tomorrow's Habitat (E.A.R.T.H) is an environmental education program designed for Kansas middle schools. It provides youth with innovative, experiential learning opportunities that encourage the development of skills that will help Kansas youth become wise stewards of their environment. E.A.R.T.H.'s goals are to introduce students to environmental issues and teach tools they can use to identify, prevent and/or solve environmental problems. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) is working in collaboration with E.A.R.T.H.'s program coordinator to develop and implement an evaluation plan and conduct focus groups and interviews. OEIE is developing and administering a web-based survey to collect feedback or suggestions for program improvement. A formal evaluation plan will be developed, and results from focus groups, face-to-face interviews and surveys findings will be presented at the end of the collaboration.
Educational Leadership - COE (2005 - 08) Sponsor: Kansas State University College of Education	Kansas State University’s Educational Administration and Leadership Department of the College of Education is committed to the on-going review and refinement of their assessment plan for evaluating their graduate degree programs. This initiative involved identification and potential revisions of assessment instrumentation and data warehousing, in addition to the identification and execution of applicable analyses and reporting to the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE), the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and University and College constituents. Sources of data included past and present student degree candidates, faculty, university administrators, internship site administrators, and archival records. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will assist in the development of instrumentation, complete construction of a data warehouse system for future data collection efforts, analyze data, and report on pre-/post- changes in knowledge, skills and dispositions among graduate students.
Epsilon Corps: Expanding STEM Talent through Exploration, Mentoring, and Sequenced Curricular (2004 - 09) Sponsor: Kean University (National Science Foundation DUE)	The Epsilon Corps: Expanding STEM Talent Through Exploration Mentoring and Sequenced Curricular Support project aims to enhance STEM recruitment and retention among the highly diverse students at Kean University, an urban, comprehensive, public university in northern New Jersey. Project goals include: build and sustain a synergistic STEM community of active learners and peer mentors in order to increase STEM recruitment and retention, motivate, engage and support the diverse students at Kean to increase the total number of students entering and completing STEM degree programs, bring about long-term culture-shifting and institutional changes to sustain enhanced STEM recruitment and retention efforts, gather experience on transforming existing courses into a sequenced curricular support infrastructure to sustain peer motivation and interaction for all STEM majors, and provide a transferable model for integrating and institutionalizing STEM recruitment and retention efforts in similar institutions nationwide. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will develop a comprehensive evaluation plan matrix with detailed description of specific evaluation tasks, develop telephone interview protocol and conduct individual interviews with Epsilon Corps Summer Institute participants; transcribe and analyze data, collaborate in the review and revision of the existing Fall Student Survey, providing feedback specific to the instrument’s psychometric integrity, administer annual Web-based Student Survey; analyze data and interpret results, collaborate in the development and/or review and revision of Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) data collection protocols and measures; analyze data collected by project leaders and interpret results, develop interview and/or focus group protocols for former PI, current Co-PIs, and current Faculty Working Group evolutionary accounts of the development and administration of Epsilon Corps, and conduct on-site data collection visits. The data analysis will then be submitted in an annual report.
Equity & Access: Enhancing Teacher Quality through Multi-institutional Partnerships (2004 - 09) Sponsor: U.S. Department of Education	The purpose of the Teacher Quality Enhancement (TQE): Equity and Access Partnership is to design, implement, evaluate, institutionalize, and disseminate a multi-institutional collaborative teacher preparation model to address the continuum of teacher development from recruitment, through undergraduate preparation, early career induction and continued professional growth. All aspects of this model address state and national needs of Hispanic American students and English Language Learners. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will develop and implement a comprehensive evaluation plan that provides principal investigators with formative and summative information to guide project implementation and fulfills funding agency reporting requirements. Annually, OEIE compiles evaluation data obtained from document reviews, interviews, surveys, pre-existing sources, and observation. Quantitative and qualitative analysis are conducted and summarized in a report which includes measures of program outcomes and progress toward meeting project goals and objectives aligned to address GPRA.
Establishing a Geophysical Test Site (2005 - 08) Sponsor: National Science Foundation Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement	The NSF CCLI Adaptation and Implementation Geophysical Test Site project aims to establish a geophysical test site (GTS) on the campus of Kansas State University (KSU). In developing the GTS, a variety of objects will be buried beneath a designated piece of land, and the students will use an existing array of comprehensive geophysical instruments to enhance active learning and hands-on experience by conducting field measurements of the geophysical anomalies generated by the objects, processing the data in the computer lab, and making interpretations of the analyses. The GTS will be integrated into several KSU undergraduate courses, with students enrolled in Field Geophysics (GEOL 642) being the primary users of the GTS. Systematic and comprehensive assessment of student learning outcomes using the GTS will be conducted by the Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) at KSU.
Evaluation of the Implementation of the Chalkwaves Instant Video Library (2005 - 07) Sponsor: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation	The Chalkwaves™ Digital Video Library (Chalkwaves™) is an electronic warehouse of over 22,000 digitized video clips that were selected for their educational value in providing robust visual presentation of classroom concepts. The Chalkwaves™ partnership formed 32 years ago among Illinois, Kansas, and Missouri public broadcasters, educational service centers, and 240 school districts, who came together to create the Chalkwaves™ Digital Video Library. With the Chalkwaves™ hard drive, classroom teachers may select video clips to incorporate in their lessons to introduce new concepts, supplement previously presented information, or provide remediation experiences for individual learners. Teachers may also utilize the Chalkwaves™ Website (www.chalkwaves.org) to explore the Chalkwaves™ database for previously developed lesson plans. These plans are organized by topic areas and aligned by ever-evolving educational State standards. In addition, teachers may submit their own newly-developed, state standard aligned lesson plans that employ Chalkwaves™ video clips for other classroom teachers’ use. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will conduct a quasi-experimental, multi-method evaluation of the implementation of Chalkwaves, which includes the use of one-on-one interviews, focus groups, and quantitative surveying of participating teachers and administrators.
Evaluation of the Library Services and Technology Act Five-Year State Plan 2003-2007 for the State Library of Kansas (2006 - 07) Sponsor: State Library of Kansas	The State of Kansas Library Five-Year Plan for use of Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds runs from 2003 – 2007 with a final report to the funding agency in February 2007. OEIE will conduct the five-year evaluation. The LSTA Five-Year State Plan 2003-2007 will serve as the framework for the evaluation, determining the extent to which the identified goals and objectives have been met. The results from the evaluation will be integrated into the State Library’s strategic planning process and used as the summative report to the funding agency. The evaluation will consist of two main components, an overall examination of the progress made on the Five-Year State Plan, and an in-depth look at the LSTA funded projects. The evaluation methodology will consist of a variety of data-gathering techniques and comply with all Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) requirements. Document review, on-line surveys, and select interview and focus group response sessions will be used to collect data. In this mixed-methodology progression, the OEIE team will capture contextual data for the Kansas State Library to use in their report to IMLS and as a foundation for their strategic planning process.
Facilitating Case Reuse During Problem Solving (Jonassen CCLI) (2006 - 08) Sponsor: National Science Foundation Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement	The objective of Facilitating Case Reuse During Problem Solving Project is to conduct design-based research on methods for supporting case reuse when learning to solve problems in diverse disciplines; develop more and scalable comprehensive methods for assessing different dimensions of problem-solving performance; design, develop, disseminate instructional materials for supporting problem solving in different STEM disciplines; and contribute to a developing theory of problem solving in STEM disciplines. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will (1) collaborate with team members to develop a detailed schedule for data collection, analysis and reporting that aligns to the project implementation cycle; (2) conduct document analysis of project materials; (3) administer questionnaires or conduct interviews to obtain team member/course instructor/student perceptions and; (4) write a report documenting project implementation and the degree to which project goals have been met.
Facilitation Services for State Library and Library Systems Meeting (2006) Sponsor: State Library of Kansas	The State Library of Kansas (SLK) and the Kansas Regional Library Systems have participated in a series of meetings to explore possibilities for collaboration and partnering to enhance library service in the state. As part of this process, the group met at the South Central Kansas Library System office in South Hutchinson on September 18th, 2006 to continue efforts towards strategic planning. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) was contracted to facilitate the discussion at the meeting and develop a summary report of the day’s activities. The report included a narrative description of the meeting’s outcomes, along with supporting documentation in the appendices.
Flint Hills Writing Project (3) (2004 - 05) Sponsor: National Writing Project	The Food and Culture project, funded by a grant from the Kansas State University Tilford Group, promotes multicultural awareness and understanding in KSU students by providing a course in the Department of Hotel, Restaurant, Institution Management and Dietetics and learning modules in the College of Education on American foodways. This examination of American foodways furthers the understanding and appreciation of class, ethnic, and racial contributions to modern American culture. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will employ a variety of methods to evaluate the success of the KSU Food and Culture project including: developing assessment rubrics, constructing and administering surveys, and conducting observations. OEIE will analyze the resulting data and report the findings.
Fort Riley Educational Needs Assessment (2006) Sponsor: Kansas State University Division of Continuing Education	The Fort Riley Consortium of Colleges and Universities contracted with the Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation to develop a Needs Assessment to determine the educational desires of the Fort Riley Community. Through this process, the partner institutions in the Consortium will be better positioned to address the identified needs. The long-term goal of this evaluation project is to establish a systematic needs assessment that will be conducted on a regular basis to maintain current information and to track any trends as they relate to participation in post-secondary education by soldiers, military families, and other personnel at Fort Riley. The questionnaire was developed after reviewing partnership documentation and consulting with Fort Riley Educational Services and other Consortium members. An on-line survey instrument was developed to collect feedback from the diverse audience represented on base including soldiers, officers, family members, retirees, and civilian employees. The on-line survey was developed to provide customized analysis and reporting. The overall report to consortium members was submitted in December of 2006.
Geoscience Assessment Workshop (2006) Sponsor: Kansas State University Geology Department	Project PI and graduate Geology students developed a digital online tutorial to enhance student understanding of the link between large-scale tectonic processes and the record of these processes in micro-scale textures, discussed in Introduction to Geophysics, Petrology, and plate tectonics courses at Kansas State University (KSU). This tutorial means to stimulate graduate and undergraduate students to use optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and computers to present and synthesize micro-scale data related to macro-scale processes. Graduate students in the GEOL 608 course collaborated in collecting and preparing the necessary resources for tutorial development. This program allowed for the measurement of both the conceptual knowledge gained through the use of the CD by undergraduates in the GEOL 502 and graduate students’ perceptions of the tutorial development process as well as certain aspects of teaching and assessment. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation facilitated the Institutional Review Board process, provided instrument development consultation, conducted interviews of graduate students in a focus group setting, analyzed the pre- and post-test data, and submitted a summative evaluation report to the principal investigators.
Global Awareness of the International Dimensions of Agriculture (2006 - 08) Sponsor: U.S. Department of Agriculture International Science and Education Competitive Grants Program	Global Awareness of the International Dimensions of Agriculture project at Kansas State University uses distance education in an international environment to collaboratively teach undergraduate and graduate level courses. The project focuses on the many elements of food and agribusiness management in multiple countries. The program is funded through the United States Department of Agriculture. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation will develop, administer, and analyze data from pre-test and post-test surveys designed to measure the impact of both the technology used to deliver course content and the effectiveness of international lecturers on course activities.
Global Research on Water-Based Economies: Positioning Kansas For Non-EPSCoR Funding (2006 - 09) Sponsor: Kansas Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research	The Water and Society Course at Kansas State University is a one semester interdisciplinary course designed to immerse a student/faculty team in a cooperative learning, discovery focused approach to learning the natural and human elements involved in managing water resource systems. The team addresses traditional disciplinary procedures, theory and models used to understand and quantify dynamic relationships existing between natural and social systems interwoven in water resource systems. Teams identify, confront and resolve new approaches for integrated problem solving, management and policy. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation will document the process of implementing, and the impact of using, a constructivist approach (discovery-based, problem based, cooperative learning, interdisciplinary) to teach a graduate level course. Findings will be used for course modifications, applications for future grant funding and article publications.
HHMI: Undergraduate Science Education Program (2002 - 07) Sponsor: Howard Hughes Medical Institute	The Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Biological Sciences Education Program (HHMI) at Kansas State University (KSU), funded by the HHMI, seeks to attract talented undergraduate students into careers in biomedical research, medicine, and biology education; and to generally improve the quality of science education. More specifically, the objectives of HHMI are: to continue to involve the brightest undergraduates in an intensive research experience that will prepare them for careers in biomedical research and result in more of them choosing post-baccalaureate education in graduate biology or medical programs, or that will prepare them for excellence in biology teaching; to provide graduate students with a better foundation in the skills outside the research arena, which they will need as future university faculty members; to provide a footing in the principles and process of science for a large number of students, by continued improvements of our laboratory class offerings and creation of a new, research-based course. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will contact various groups involved in HHMI to evaluate the success of the program.
Improving Teacher Quality Through the KSU PDS Partnership (1999 - 04) Sponsor: U.S. Department of Education	The purpose of the Professional Development School Improving Teacher Quality project was to develop, implement, assess, revise, institutionalize, and disseminate information about a performance-based teacher preparation program based on national standards. The project was designed to meet the needs of K-12 schools to prepare quality teachers with the content knowledge, technological capabilities, and teaching skills necessary to effectively teach all K-12 students, particularly those with the greatest needs. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) evaluation process will look at the Project outcomes over a five-year period through the use of test data, survey and interview data, and reform decisions made by the College of Education in its teacher preparation program.
Infinite Mathematics Project (IMP) (2007 - 10) Sponsor: Kansas State Department of Education	The Infinite Mathematics Project is a 3-year professional development plan that aims to improve student achievement through a comprehensive approach to improving teacher quality. Project partners include Dodge City, Garden City, Geary County, Ulysses, and Kansas City, Kansas School Districts. The project emphasizes the development of deeper content knowledge among teachers, as well as a focus on the associative pedagogy aligned with a standards-based approach to content teaching. Additional emphasis will be placed on differentiated instruction for underrepresented populations. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation will conduct statistical analysis of participant content test exam performance, participant self ratings on a confidence/ comfort in teaching survey and State Assessment results for participant classroom teachers.
Kan-ed Evaluation - Phase V (2006 - 08) Sponsor: Kansas Board of Regents	Kan-ed is an initiative enacted by the Kansas Legislature and administered through the Kansas Board of Regents. The purpose of the program is to expand the collaboration capabilities of Kan-ed's member institutions, specifically K-12 schools, higher education, libraries and hospitals, by providing a private, secure network to serve the informational and educational needs of these institutions. As the external evaluators for this statewide initiative, OEIE annually collects and reports formative data to aid in the implementation of the network. In addition, OEIE documents the impacts and other summative results on Kan-ed member organizations and the state as a whole. Further information about the Kan-ed initiative, and its evaluation, can be found at www.kan-ed.org.
Kan-ed Evaluation - Phase VI (2007 - 08) Sponsor: Kansas Board of Regents	Kan-ed is an initiative enacted by the Kansas Legislature and administered through the Kansas Board of Regents. The purpose of the program is to expand the collaboration capabilities of Kan-ed's member institutions, specifically K-12 schools, higher education, libraries and hospitals, by providing a private, secure network to serve the informational and educational needs of these institutions. As the external evaluators for this statewide initiative, OEIE annually collects and reports formative data to aid in the implementation of the network. In addition, OEIE documents the impacts and other summative results on Kan-ed member organizations and the state as a whole. Further information about the Kan-ed initiative, and its evaluation, can be found at www.kan-ed.org.
Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) Funding Model Report (2006 - 09) Sponsor: Kansas Board of Regents	The Kansas Board of Regents Institutional Research (IR) office has contracted with the Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) to assist in compiling data and conducting specified research projects to support the IR office during the 2008 Kansas Legislative session and for on-going data needs during the project period (through June 30, 2008). Activities for this period will include conducting calculations for a funding model (state appropriations per FTE), contributing to strategic planning discussions to generate and/or refine research and analysis, and conducting targeted research to support the funding model.
Kansas Center for the Book (KCFB) (2008) Sponsor: State Library of Kansas	The Kansas Center for the Book (KCFB), a program of the State Library of Kansas (SLK), is now renewing its 3-year affiliation with the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. SLK conducts a document review of existing data collected from KCFB activities (Kansas Reads, River City Reading Festival, Kansas Book Festival, etc.) and writes a summary of progress. This data collection and summary may be conducted by the Library School student as practicum. The data collection methodology and summary will be coordinated by SLK and the student’s University advisors. The summary will serve three purposes: 1) provide background data for SLK staff and OEIE to use in the development of key questions to be asked of stakeholders; 2) provide evidence, from existing documents, of accomplishments for the past three year period; and 3) provide background data to key stakeholders prior to soliciting their feedback. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will: refine and finalize the set of key questions for the evaluation of KCFB, conduct a one-day focus group or phone interviews with a random selection of “Affiliates”, and expand the data collection to include a broader range of stakeholders (other stakeholders could include “Fellows”, SLK staff and persons participating in KCFB).
Kansas Environmental Leadership Program (KELP) (2006 - 07) Sponsor: Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources & the Environment	The Kansas Environmental Leadership Program (KELP) offers a new approach to community leadership training. KELP provides a combination of activities about leadership studies, water resources, and water quality information. The result is an experience in leadership that will prepare participants to be catalysts for water quality protection and improvement. The Kansas Environmental Leadership Training is based on the idea of collaborative leadership. While one person can make a difference, it is only through the shared and organized efforts of citizens that long term, sustainable change will occur. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will develop and administer an online survey to KELP graduates. The instrument is designed to collect feedback from past KELP participants regarding how they have utilized the skills and knowledge acquired from the KELP training, as well as any recommendations they have for future KELP trainings. Additionally, OEIE will perform a curriculum alignment of the KELP training handbook.
Kansas Hospital Education & Research Foundation (KHERF) Survey (2006) Sponsor: Kansas Hospital Education & Research Foundation	The Kansas Hospital Association and Kansas Department of Health and Environment are compiling data to submit to the Federal Government regarding certain hospital preparedness measures for the end of the current fiscal year. To help in this endeavor they requested that all hospitals that received Hospital Preparedness/Bioterrorism Grant Funding from KHERF/KHA complete an online survey to help provide information for certain items. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation will administer the online survey of hospitals who received this funding. Survey data will be downloaded, cleaned and returned to KHA for further analyses.
Kansas State University Institute for Social Studies Teachers: Teaching and Learning the United States Constitution (2006 - 07) Sponsor: Center for Civic Education	The primary goal of the KSU Social Studies Institute project is to assess the effect of Institute on basic knowledge of Civics. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will create an instrument for pre and post institute administration, analyze data from pre and post test (test for difference in performance score), and provide results of analysis to PI (in form of tables with brief interpretations).
K-State STEP: Increasing the Number and Diversity of Students Graduating in STEM Fields at Kansas State University (2005 - 09) Sponsor: National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education	K-State STEP will create an integrated program of change to improve the successes of undergraduates from all demographic groups in science and engineering study. The primary focus will be on student learning, achievement, and retention through six initiatives: Scholars Assisting Scholars (SAS), CampuS Internships (CSI), STEM Shadows, Hands- On STEM, Turbo Math, and Connect: Family Connections. The ultimate goal is to increase student enrollment and graduation in STEM fields while focusing on the recruitment, inclusion, and retention of under-represented groups through the development of, participation in, and institutionalization of the six initiatives. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will provide instrument consultation for evaluation of initiatives and annual survey of STEM majors; provide potential evidences of validity and reliability for instrumentation used in data collection for each of the six initiatives, interview stakeholders regarding their experiences in the various STEP initiatives and analyze and report on gathered data.
KSU Mathematics Teacher Preparation Partnership (2002 - 05) Sponsor: National Science Foundation	The Kansas State University – Mathematics Teacher Preparation Partnership project was initiative intended to develop, pilot test, institutionalize and disseminate a comprehensive program intended to prepare, and retain future K-12 mathematics teachers who have deep content knowledge, effective pedagogical skills, and technological capabilities necessary to enable all K-12 students to attain high standards of mathematical achievement. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) is responsible for gathering data, conducting descriptive and content analysis, and reporting findings to the funding agency annually and in a final report summarizing the three-year study. Sources of data to conduct evaluation services include state assessment performance data, College of Education (COE) enrollment records, COE pre-service teacher scores on Principals of Learning and Teaching and State Content exams, surveys, school district mentoring records, and documents provided by the project staff and external stakeholders.
Leadership Studies Program (LSP) Evaluation (2007 - 09) Sponsor: Leadership Studies Program \ Foundation	Leadership Studies and Programs (LSP) at Kansas State University includes undergraduate academic coursework, a value-centered learning community, and an array of programs that include civic leadership and service-learning activities. LSP was founded in 1997 and is housed in the College of Education, although it serves the wider University community. A major evaluation of LSP will provide a dynamic retrospective study of the past 10 years of the program, as well as provide essential data for staff and stakeholders to use for ongoing program improvement and strategic planning. In order to evaluate LSP and capture the complexity of the various program components, the evaluation plan is multidimensional in nature and based on the overarching mission of LSP. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will use multiple evaluation strategies including: on-line surveys and interviews to assess the short-term and long-term impact of the LSP participation on students in LSP courses and in the minor. The evaluators will develop databases for the outcome data and conduct periodic formative and summative analyses and reports.
Leveraging an Existing Summer Research Program (SUROP) into an AGEP Submission (2005 - 06) Sponsor: Kansas Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research	The Summer Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (SUROP) is an Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research or EPSCOR-affiliated projects. The purpose of SUROP is to provide undergraduate students from under-represented groups (first generation college students, members of ethnic minority groups and other under-represented groups) an opportunity to experience the research process first-hand to better prepare them for graduate school and other advanced study. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation evaluated the Program by reviewing and refining existing surveys utilized to assess the experiences of current and past SUROP participants. OEIE also provided a feedback form at the Graduate Recruitment Fair in October, 2005, which included SUROP participants, chairs/program directors, and other graduate students.
Listo! Sharp and Ready: Strategies for ELL Student Success (2007 - 12) Sponsor: U.S. Department of Education	¡Listo! aims to improve the ability of teachers to meet the needs of English Language Learner (ELL) students. The project is a collaborative led by Texas A&M University-Commerce and includes the Garland, Texas ISD, Greenville, Texas ISD, and the Texas Education Agency’s Region X Education Service Center. Education faculty at TAMU-C will participate in activities to increase their own knowledge of ELL students and revise the undergraduate teaching curriculum to ensure that all program completers leave the university with a solid knowledge base of relevant theories and a repertoire of effective instructional tools. In addition, two model programs will be established in the partner school districts through professional development and graduate course work for in-service teachers to enhance teachers’ skills in teaching ELL students. These programs will allow pre-service teachers to work with mentors during their intern and residency semesters. The project also includes a parent involvement component that will focus on parent support and advocacy for the program and early preparation for college.
Master Teacher Survey Project (2007 - 08) Sponsor: Master Teacher	The Master Teacher project is designed to define the characteristics of a Master Teacher. Characteristics may include attitudes, competencies, philosophies of teaching, behaviors, and other characteristics. The survey research will utilize the Dillman Tailored Design Method (Dillman, 2007), and focus on several stakeholder groups in education. The development of the survey instrument will utilize content from current literature (mainly meta-analyses of teacher attributes published in the last five years), standards of educational organizations, state departments of education, and accrediting bodies in teacher preparation. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will research characteristics and align those results with the DeBruyn Model. OEIE will then develop a survey based on those characteristics. This survey will be administered to a random sample of stakeholders stratified by demographics of interest. The collected data will be analyzed, interpreted and a summary of the results will be delivered in report format to the client.
Midwest Equity Assistance Center (2005 - 08) Sponsor: U.S. Department of Education	The Midwest Equity Assistance Center (MEAC) serves local and state educational areas in Region VII (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska). The primary objective of the MEAC is to provide assistance in the areas of race, gender, and national origin equity to promote equal educational opportunities for all students. At the request of public school districts, including charter and magnet schools, MEAC staff provides a variety of free services and resources, including professional development workshops, institutes, conferences, and in-service training for teachers, administrators, and parents. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation evaluates workshops, conferences, and other activities sponsored by MEAC to provide information for improvement in the delivery of services and measure the broader impact of services provided.
Modern Miracle Medical Machines (2004 - 08) Sponsor: National Science Foundation	The Modern Miracle Medical Machines (MMMM) project is a research-based curriculum enhancement program for the Department of Physics at Kansas State University (KSU). The major goal of the program is to use scientific procedures in the development of educational materials and methods to use in introductory physics courses for pre-medical students. The final products will be integrated into pre-med physics courses to offer students hands-on and minds-on activities, combine written materials, interactive multimedia, and utilize visualization techniques as an integrative process to create an understanding of how contemporary physics are used in modern medical machines. To evaluate the first phase of the program, the Principle Investigator, select faculty, and graduate students were interviewed. Upon analysis of the collected data, results will be used as formative data for modifications in the current design and as the program advances into its second phase. To evaluate the long-term success of the program, a second phase of evaluation will be conducted to assess the use and effectiveness of the educational materials in the classroom. Field tests are proposed to take place at Kansas State University, Norfolk State University, and the University of Texas- El Paso. Similar to the first stage, graduate student and faculty participants will also be interviewed to gather feedback about the project’s progress.
Multicultural Academic Program Success (MAPS) (2007 - 08) Sponsor: Kansas State University College of Engineering	The Kansas State University (K-State) Multicultural Academic Program Success (MAPS) project is a 6-week summer bridge program designed to prepare incoming multicultural science or engineering students for successful college careers. The evaluation of the MAPS project includes development and administration of a Web-based survey to glean MAPS program students’ (N = 10) perceptions of academic readiness, familiarity of the K-State campus and community, science efficacy, and knowledge of cultural and community networking opportunities on campus.
Off to a Good Start 21st Century Community Learning (2002 - 03) Sponsor: Manhattan USD 383 (U.S. Department of Education)	The Bluemont 21st Century Community Learning Center (Bluemont CLC) was developed after two years of piloted programs, and focus on providing students expanded learning opportunities and activities supervised by caring adults. The Bluemont CLC used volunteers from the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) of Riley County and students from Kansas State University. Two years into implementation, Bluemont Elementary school was closed and the students were transferred to four neighboring schools. After consultation with the U. S. Department of Education, the Bluemont CLC was moved to Northview Elementary School for the completion. Thus, students that participated in the final year of data collection and the evaluation were not the same ones involved in the first two years of the grant. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation conducted a multi-method integrated evaluation of the program which included student attitude surveys, parent surveys, analysis of grades, an attitude survey of volunteers, and interviews with the director, principal and assistant principal. In addition, OEIE tracked progress toward the CLC Project goals by facilitating a Continuous Improvement Management plan with the stakeholders.
Pathway II: Addressing the Needs of the Nation's Physics Teachers through State-of-the-Art Video Applications and Contemporary Pedagogy (2005 - 10) Sponsor: National Science Foundation Teacher Professional Continuum	The Pathway II project will improve the quality of physics teaching and the number of available physics teachers by providing virtual expert help on issues of pedagogy and content. In particular, the system will convey, by example and explanation, contemporary ideas about the teaching of physics. A major component of the effort will be virtual agents at the Pathway website. The virtual agents will address questions using recorded video of several master teachers. The users can ask follow-up questions and can create their own on-line library to store elements used in their lessons. The three main goals of the project include: 1) preparation of Synthetic Interviews and video to address the pedagogy and full range of content taught in high school physics; 2) continual evolution of the video system through assessment of its use and feedback from users, and; 3) developing connections with the public and private sector institutions that have an interest in the improvement of physics teaching and the development of on-line resources for teacher improvement. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will work with the KSU PI and staff to document the development of the synthetic interview library. This will include reviewing the log analysis conducted by project staff and noting modifications made to the system (i.e., user interface, index, etc). Feedback from project staff will also be collected to document progress of the overall project. In addition, OEIE will examine how teachers (in select pilot districts) and pre-service teachers (in select teacher education programs) use the resources and information provided through the project. These data will be collected through the use of on-line surveys and comments submitted through the Pathway website.
Project WET (2006) Sponsor: Kansas Association for Conservation & Environmental Education	Project Water Education for Teachers (Project WET) provided professional development opportunities for formal and non-formal educators serving kindergarten through college-aged students. In Project WET workshops, educators focused on water-related topics they could use to enhance their curriculum, in order to better educate their students. Workshops included such topics as atmospheric, surface, and ground water, water history, chemistry, watersheds, water economics, and water stewardship. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will conduct a literature search on the impact of environmental education programs, interview key educators who had Project WET training on how they have applied what they learned at the workshops, and gather evidence of the impact of the curriculum by interviewing students. In addition, OEIE will develop a plan for regularly evaluating the workshops and the impact of the program on future Kansas students.
PT3/KITE (2003 - 04) Sponsor: U.S. Department of Education	The Knowledge Innovations for Technology in Education (KITE) is a database of practicing teachers’ stories of technology uses in the classroom. The database was developed as part of a University of Missouri (MU) initiative. For the period September 2003 to June, 2004, MU subcontracted with several Colleges of Education (COE) in the United States to design projects that would investigate how pre-service teachers could use stories/interviews from practicing teachers to increase their knowledge and skills about effective integration of technology into classroom lessons. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) created and implemented an evaluation plan for this project. OEIE developed, pilot and field tested instruments that gathered qualitative data as part of a one-day instructional lesson presented in three COE pre-service teacher education courses. Data collection included pre- and post-responses embedded in a classroom activity. Responses were scored using a rubric containing the criteria for effective integration of technology in the classroom.
Sandi Stith Scantron Project (2007 - 08) Sponsor: Family Studies & Human Services	Dr. Sandi Stith, of the Family Studies and Human Services department, has contracted with the Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) to develop an answer scantron sheet for a 237 question survey to be administered to students. OEIE will create the answer scantron sheet, print 2,000 copies, scan resulting data into an Excel file, number the answer sheets from 1 to 2,000 and spot check to make sure scanning data is accurate.
Scale Up of Math and Science K-12 Education Reform in a Large Urban District (2007 - 09) Sponsor: National Science Foundation	The goal of this project is to contribute to the capacity of urban school districts and educational researchers to work collaboratively in the effective planning, implementation, scale-up, adaptation, documentation and evaluation of systemic educational reforms, specifically in the areas of math and science education. The project proposes to do so through a multi-dimensional study of one such systemic reform effort- the Chicago Math and Science Initiative (CMSI) of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). This complex study will draw on a corpus of high quality, qualitative and quantitative longitudinal empirical data documenting the CMSI’s systemic reform over five years: from the stages of design, planning, and initial implementation through scale up and adaptation. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will provide consultation and any other services as needed.
Social Responsibility in Textile, Apparel, And Footware Industry Supply Chains: Development Of A Post-Baccaluareate Core (2004 - 09) Sponsor: U.S. Department of Agriculture Challenge Grant	The three major purposes of the Social Responsibility Project are to: 1) Develop a core set of three Internet-based courses providing competencies for socially responsible textile, apparel, and footwear industry supply chain management; 2) Develop a portfolio of four to nine multimedia case studies incorporating multinational perspectives on social responsibility in textile, apparel, and footwear industry supply chains; 3) Deliver and assess outcomes of the courses at the partner institutions. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will develop a Delphi framework for gathering feedback from industry experts on content to be included in the Social Responsibility courses, and will engage in regular correspondence with Social Responsibility team members to document relevant project activities such as the development of case studies. OEIE will also provide feedback on the Delphi panel process conducted by Social Responsibility team members, review documents generated by the Social Responsibility team relevant to refining the course curricula, materials, and technology, and facilitate the pilot testing of these course components.
Social Skills Training for Children with Autistic Spectum Disorder (ASD) by the Use of an Avatar in a Virtual Environment (2006 - 07) Sponsor: Kansas State University University Small Research Grant	The Social Skills project will allow the pilot testing of a computer based social skills instruction unit for children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of the project is to research the possibility of providing computer-based training to students with ASDs in the area of recognizing emotional cues in others. Students will be divided into control and treatment groups to test a computer based social skills training module. The students in the treatment group will participate in training sessions with the hope of improving their ability to recognize emotional cues. Scores on the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy 2 (DANVA 2) will be used to determine if the treatment is effective. OEIE will analyze the data for group differences and will provide a summary of the data using tables with brief interpretations.
Socioeconomic Impacts of the Biofuels Revolution (2007 - 08) Sponsor: Kansas State University Research & Extension	The goal of this pilot project is to provide a better understanding of the socioeconomic and cultural implications of biofuels development for rural communities and to contribute to more informed policy development regarding bioenergy. This project will focus on a community with an existing ethanol plant (Russell, KS) in order to understand: the social, cultural, economic, and demographic impacts of bioenergy development, the decision making process involved in bioenergy development and the community’s prior expectations, current perceptions, ad future concerns/expectations. Activities for the project will include demographic and economic analysis, field research in the form of interviews, a, community survey, community focus groups, with all the results from the study W 1 g presented in regional conferences at the end of the project period. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will provide consultation for project coordination, consultation for the sampling frame and layout to be used in the community survey as requested, coordinate survey packet creation and mail-out using a modified Dillman approach, enter data from community survey, and provide raw data to project team in spreadsheet format, and provide summary report (project documentation) to PI by December 31,2008.
South Central Kansas Library System Survey (2008) Sponsor: South Central Kansas Library System	The South Central Kansas Library System (SCKLS) will conduct a planning and evaluation process in late Summer and early Fall 2008 which includes a survey of the SCKLS member libraries and a SWOT exercise with about 80 of the member librarians. The system has 149 member libraries including 73 public, 55 schools (K-12), 14 academic and 7 special libraries. As part of the planning process, SCKLS is primarily interested in evaluating and improving existing services and gathering suggestions for future goals. SCKLS has contracted with the Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation to administer the survey and conduct the SWOT exercise. In addition, OEIE will provide a brief summary report of the results from both activities.
State Library of Kansas Broadband Summit (2007) Sponsor: State Library of Kansas	The SLK Broadband Summit project focused on the lack of internet connectivity in Kansas. On September 18, 2007, 45 individuals interested in the future of broadband access in Kansas assembled in Manhattan Kansas to attend a Broadband Summit hosted by the State Library of Kansas. The goal of this summit was to encourage communities to establish strategies for broadband access and to propose actions or policies at the state level to support these community strategies. In order to achieve this goal, the Broadband Summit agenda was constructed to promote discussion of the specific Broadband issues effecting Kansans and ensure directed collaboration between participants.
State Library of Kansas Talking Books Summit (2007) Sponsor: State Library of Kansas	The Kansas Talking Books Service (KTBS), a program of the State Library of Kansas (SLK), convened a statewide summit in July, 2007, to discuss outreach issues relating to KTBS. During the 2007 session, the Kansas Legislature approved additional funds (aside from the standard budget) for the Talking Books Service to conduct outreach activities. The purpose of the statewide summit was to solicit recommendations from a variety of stakeholders on how to reach out to eligible participants to maximize the impact of these funds. Participants were invited from a number of organizations, including the KTBS advisory council, advocacy groups, sub-regional talking books libraries, and several Regional Library Systems. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation facilitated the event and prepared a summary report for the SLK.
Targeted Excellence in Ecological Genomics: Building a Research Intiative into an Institute (2005 - 10) Sponsor: Kansas State University Targeted Excellence	The Targeted Excellence in Ecological Genomics: Building a Research Initiative into an Institution project focuses on building an already successful research and training program into an internationally recognized research institute focused on the genetic basis of ecological interactions. The intent is for KSU to become the premier place to study ecological interactions to characterize genome function. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) provided instrument development consultation. OEIE will conduct interviews of Ecogen members in a focus group setting, analyze all data, and submit a summative evaluation report to the Principal Investigators.
The Queens Borough Bridge: An NSF-Funded Consortium between a Two-Year College, Four-Year College and National Laboratory (2008 - 12) Sponsor: National Science Foundation	The Queens Borough Bridge project will increase the enrollment, retention and graduation of STEM students by involving them in high-caliber research during their first year of study and integrating research throughout their undergraduate education; increasing their skills, confidence and commitment to STEM during the critical first semesters; and establishing Science Academies, through which small cohorts of students will study and progress to graduation together. The project builds on the strengths and success of the partner institutions’ science programs as well as existing faculty-student collaborations between Queensborough Community College (QCC), a two-year college; Queens College (QC), a four-year college; and the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). Both academic institutions are part of the City University of New York and are located in Queens, the nation’s most ethnically diverse county. BNL is a multi-program national laboratory operated by Brookhaven Science Associates for the United States Department of Energy, and is located on Long Island in Upton, New York. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will: review existing documentation and conduct a site visit, create a comprehensive five-year evaluation plan matrix with detailed description of specific evaluation tasks, provide guidance and feedback to the Project Team related to development, testing and implementation of evaluation tools, provide guidance on the structure for data collection so data from all five program years can be tracked and aggregated for reporting, provide recommendations for data collection and analyses, aid in the development of annual reports in consultation with the Project Team and assist with meeting requirements for the three-year review and final report, and If travel funding permits, conduct a site visit in years 3 and 5 to finalize NSF three-year and final report.
Totten Analysis Projects: An Investigation of Geology Students' Preconceptions, Attitudes, and Beliefs (2006 - 07) Sponsor: Kansas State University Geology Department	The Totten Analysis Project PI has collected data from students in several Geology and General Education courses. She intends to utilize the Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation’s (OEIE) services to assist in developing the following three different research lines: attitudes and beliefs about intelligent design among 36 Origins students in fall 2005 and fall 2006 (Origins research), attitudes and preconceptions about Geosciences Research among 459 Geology 103 Lab students in the fall 2005 and spring 2006 semesters (Geosciences Research), characteristics of students’ demography in the use and value of “Clicker” data collection techniques as related to their content knowledge among 78 students enrolled in GEOL 100 and GEOL 102 in the fall 2006 semester (Clicker Research). Basic descriptive analysis as well as comparative and correlational analysis will be performed by OEIE. Three separate evaluation reports will then be submitted to the Principal Investigator.
Urban Farmer Development Project (2005 - 08) Sponsor: U.S. Department of Agriculture	The Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture was established to promote community-based, entrepreneurial agriculture in Kansas City. Through a USDA Community Food Project program, the team will provide technical assistance and education to people interested in urban farming. Additional initiatives of this project include new farmer development, creating an urban farmer network, and promoting urban farming policy advocacy. OEIE is evaluating program implementation and its impacts on farmers’ production, their satisfaction with the project, and community perception of urban farms.
Veterinary Medicine: Veterinary Research Scholar (VRS) (2005 - 09) Sponsor: College of Veterinary Medicine	The Veterinary Research Scholars program is an intensive research-oriented experience directed towards attracting the most talented professional students into biomedical research careers. The program exposes veterinary students to critical thinking processes inherent to hypothesis-driven research activities, methodologies involved in design and execution of laboratory experiments and multi-center clinical trials and ethical issues pertinent to biomedical research. Veterinary Research Scholars (VRS) participate in the 3-month program beginning mid May and concluding mid August. The program consists of mentored research training by program faculty and weekly research workshops. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) will interview the Research Scholars, administer a 7-point efficacy survey to students, analyze interview and survey data and report the summarizing results to the PI.
Water Quality Improvement Through Service Learning (2005 - 09) Sponsor: Kansas Department of Health and Environment (Environmental Protection Agency)	The goal of WaterLINK is to engage Kansas colleges and universities with local communities as partners in water-quality restoration and protection through service-learning, with the ultimate goal of improving water quality in high priority watersheds. The four project objectives are: 1) identify community/watershed needs and link them to college/university potential technical resources; identify potential partnerships in service learning projects aimed at water quality improvement, based on needs and available resources; 2) provide training and support of communities and college/university partners in ways to effectively design and implement service learning projects in watersheds in need of restoration and protection; 3) foster communication and information flow among potential participants and provide public information about the opportunities and accomplishments of service learning; 4) monitor and evaluate the service-learning process. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation provides feedback to and supports WaterLINK program stakeholders on project activities, assists in identifying college/university technical resources and possible service-learning opportunities through community events, conducts facilitations and site visits, and creates and administers surveys and interviews to program participants (i.e., faculty, students, and community partners).
Women in Engineering and Science Program Summer Survey (2005) Sponsor: Kansas State University College of Engineering	The fourth annual EXCITE! Workshop was held at Kansas State University campus in June 2005. EXCITE! Workshops are sponsored by the K-State Women in Engineering and Science Program (WESP). EXCITE! is designed to introduce young high school women to engineering and science fields. More specifically, EXCITE! offers girls entering 9th and 10th grades the chance to participate in a four-day hands-on residential science and engineering camp that includes five different tracks of activities: robotics, aeronautics, web page design, nano-scale technology, and rocketry. EXCITE! 2005 workshop participants also toured companies that employ professionals from science and engineering fields. The Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) administered pre- and post- surveys for EXCITE! Workshop participants and their parents/guardians before and after the summer workshop. Additionally, a six-month follow-up survey was administered in December 2005 to EXCITE Workshop participants.