Berkeley Policy Associates
BPA Reports Released, New Contracts Awarded (April 2012)
Two BPA Rigorous Impact Study Reports Released on IES Website
Final reports of two random assignment evaluations led by BPA for REL West are now available on the Institute for Education Sciences website. Staff of BPA have worked on these studies over the past six years. The two reports, Evaluation of Program for Infant/Toddler Care: An On-Site Training of Caregivers and Evaluation of Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) Professional Development may be accessed at:
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/
BPA is a New Partner of REL Midwest
BPA is a partner of REL Midwest under a new five-year Regional Educational Laboratory contract awarded by the Institute of Education Sciences to the American Institutes for Research (AIR). BPA staff will be participating in REL technical assistance and applied research activities carried out through a working relationship with regional alliances of state and local education agencies. Phyllis Weinstock and Fannie Tseng are leading this effort at BPA.
BPA Conducts Formative Evaluation for ConnectEd
BPA is conducting a formative evaluation for ConnectEd: The California Center for College and Career of the pilot implementation of instructional and assessment tools aligned with Common Core State Standards. Founded by the James Irvine Foundation in 2006, ConnectEd is dedicated to advancing practice, policy, and research aimed at helping young people prepare for both college and career. The Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and Math Design Collaborative (MDC) tools under study were developed by a network of experts and funded by the Gates Foundation, which has provided a grant to ConnectEd to implement these tools in several California districts. ConnectEd has partnered with BPA to provide an independent formative evaluation of this year's work (2012). BPA is conducting observations of professional development activities and classroom implementation of the LDC/MDC tools, and interviews with teachers, administrators, instructional coaches and professional development providers. The goal is to better understand the pilot implementation and to provide ConnectEd with information about how training and implementation can be improved moving forward. Nada Rayyes is leading this project at BPA.