There was no activity on this project during the month of September.

SECC staff provided consultation on an evaluation issue posed by MDE staff.

There was no activity on this project during the month of July.

SECC staff corresponded with MDE staff to inquire about needed support or assistance in maintaining the new office of program evaluation momentum. MDE staff stated that they had hired a new staff person and will be back in touch after the new staff person gets oriented.

SECC staff corresponded with MDE staff to inquire about needed support or assistance in maintaining the new office of program evaluation momentum. MDE staff noted that they are hiring a new staff person and will be back in touch after the new staff person gets “settled in.”

SECC provided the publication Evaluation Matters, distributed by the U.S. Department of Education, to MDE staff in the program evaluation unit at the Office of Educational Accountability. The publication provides information on essential program evaluation components in a user-friendly format and emphasizes the importance of and methods for incorporating evaluation into district and school programs.

SECC staff communicated through e-mail and conference calls with staff from the Office of Educational Accountability on frameworks for program evaluations. MDE staff expressed interest in continuing the conversation on data management/collection methods and will contact SECC staff after considering the evaluations that are upcoming.

SECC staff and staff from the Office of Educational Accountability had several conversations throughout the month on research and evaluation topics relevant to the ongoing work of the office.

No work on this project occurred during December.

SECC staff briefly visited with staff from the Office of Educational Accountability regarding the work with their Bureau of Program Evaluation. They commented that they were very satisfied and most appreciative of the TA SECC is providing, elaborating on how helpful the reviews were on the Superintendent Academy Evaluation Report as well as the assistance with the feedback from the request for information from all CC states about whether they had internal evaluation offices and the types of work those offices carried out.

SECC staff reviewed a survey that MDE evaluation staff developed to gain feedback about the services offered to districts statewide to blind and visually impaired students by the Mississippi Instructional Resource Center (MIRC). Feedback provided was intended to strengthen survey items and provide information on methods for administering and compiling survey results.

SECC staff facilitated a second conference call between SEA staff from Mississippi and Alabama on internal program evaluation. The call was held on September 22. The conversation began with Mississippi and Alabama SEA staff sharing their expectations and purposes for the ongoing discussion and collaboration between them on internal program evaluation. They next shared topics that they were interested in pursuing. Topics included selecting appropriate evaluation approaches, methods for creating final evaluation reports and products, and the benefits of both formative and summative evaluation information. It was proposed by the SEA staff that communications between the two state staffs could occur as needed outside of a formal, large group meeting, and that the larger group meetings could be held every two months to review progress being made. Several resources were discussed and forwarded to SECC staff to coordinate distribution of to SEA staff. These included logic model information, select sections of Government Auditing Standards, and information on the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM).

SECC staff initiated an interstate conversation requested by SEA staff from Mississippi and Alabama on internal program evaluation. A draft agenda was developed for the conference call discussion between SEA staff on potential collaborative opportunities to gain increased knowledge about states’ internal program evaluation efforts. The conference call was held on August 11 and was facilitated by SECC staff. Participants on the conference call introduced themselves and discussed current evaluation projects, challenges, and future collaborative activities. A date for the next collaborative conversation was scheduled for September 22. In addition, resources were forwarded to MDE staff from the Bureau of Program Evaluation that included information on a webinar for planning, designing, and conducting surveys, a webinar on strategies for ensuring high-quality, rigorous interview data, and sample evaluation report templates to guide the compiling and reporting of data results.

A conference call was held with staff from the Mississippi Office of Program Evaluation on March 13 to finalize the procedures to elicit information about policies and procedures for internal evaluation offices in other states. An email was constructed to send to regional comprehensive center staff to inquire about their knowledge of internal evaluation offices in the state in their region. Nine comprehensive center directors/staff responded to the email, providing contact information for states in their regions that may have internal evaluation offices. SECC staff shared the information received with staff from the Mississippi Office of Program Evaluation, which will follow up with the contacts.

A conference call with staff from the Mississippi Office of Program Evaluation was held in early February to clarify the technical assistance to be provided by SECC staff during Year 3 to support MDE staff as they design and roll out their new office. Three major strategies were agreed upon, and the work plan was adjusted to reflect the updated scope. SECC staff reviewed and provided feedback on the draft FY 2015 Policy and Procedures Manual for the MDE office. SECC staff also reviewed a list of questions to other SEAs to elicit information about the structure and procedures of their evaluation offices. Feedback was provided, and a future meeting will be set to finalize the questions and discuss which SEAs to survey.

SECC staff communicated with MDE staff from the Office of Educational Accountability via email, phone, and in-person to begin discussions on areas of support that SECC can assist with as they open their new Office of Program Evaluation (OPE). A conference call work session was held on January 30 to discuss MDE plans for introducing the office, its purpose, and relevant information to MDE program directors and staff. SECC staff provided feedback on the plans as well as on initial policies and procedures such as criteria for selecting programs to be evaluated by the office. During February, SECC staff will support OPE staff as they continue to develop FY 2015 Policies and Procedures.