Children in Liberia receive 2.2 learning-adjusted years of schooling, one of the lowest levels of educational attainment in the world. We study one approach to address low enrollment and low rates of learning: a 10-month accelerated learning program run by the Luminos Fund to help out-of-school children catch up to grade level. We conducted a…

We evaluate how the U-Links Centre for Community-Based Research (U-Links), a nonprofit organization that brokers research for community-based organizations with postsecondary institutions in Haliburton County, Ontario, has impacted this rural region of Ontario. Our approach uses contribution analysis and realist evaluation as layered tactics…

This article introduces the concept of "co-impact" to characterise the complex and dynamic process of social and economic change generated by participatory action research (PAR). It argues that dominant models of research impact tend to see it as a linear process, based on a donor-recipient model, occurring at the end of a project…

Funders, policymakers, and program leaders recognize the value of high-quality evidence. To make good use of a program evaluation, initiatives must contend with a set of fundamental questions first. Some of these are about the initiative itself: What outcomes does it seek to affect? Are daily activities in line with long-term goals? Others are…

In the 2013-14 school year, TASC entered the third year of its national demonstration of ExpandED Schools. Ten elementary and middle schools in New York City, Baltimore and New Orleans continued their partnerships with youth-serving community organizations, such as settlement houses or community development corporations. Together, principals,…

Well-known disparities exist in rates of obesity and drowning, two public health priorities. Addressing these disparities by increasing access to safe swimming and water recreation may yield benefits for both obesity and injury prevention. "Everyone Swims," a community partnership, brought community health clinics and water recreation…

Effective partnerships for education reform "require that schools view parents and communities not simply as customers or clients but as partners in the educational process" (Sanders, 2009, p. 1695). In 2012, seven Seattle area school districts and the Puget Sound Educational Service District (the PSESD) were awarded funding for the Road…

These appendices describe the matching process used to identify an appropriate set of comparison schools for use in the report evaluating Year 2 of the Expanded Success Initiative, "Changing How High Schools Serve Black and Latino Young Men." As described in Chapter 2 of the report, selecting schools similar to ESI schools to serve as a…

This cross-site analysis presents findings about the implementation, impact, and outcomes of the Young Adult Capacity Initiative (YACI), at 13 community-based organizations in New York City. These agencies received technical assistance and small incentive grants from the Fund for the City of New York Youth Development Institute (YDI) to build…

The purpose of this methodological study is to explore how well a process called "concept mapping" (Trochim, 1989) can articulate the theory which underlies a social program. Articulation of a program's theory is a key step in completing a sound theory based evaluation (Weiss, 1997a). In this study, concept mapping is used to…

Attention to preparing social workers for our aging society has increased with concern that there may be insufficient professionals to meet the need. Interest in training gerontologically-savvy social work students had led to the development of models to achieve this end. This article reports on a collaboration among a university's school of…

Communities In Schools, Inc. (CIS) is a nationwide initiative designed to connect needed community resources with schools to help students, particularly those identified as at-risk, successfully learn, stay in school, and prepare for life. As part of a comprehensive 5-year national evaluation of CIS, ICF International conducted a school-level…

A community school is a place and a set of partnerships connecting a school, the families of students, and the surrounding community. A community school is distinguished by an integrated focus on academics, youth development, family support, health and social services, and community development. The community school strategy is central to efforts…

Life in the Community is an action research project with three objectives: (1) To work with four organisations from the third sector to improve the daytime opportunities for up to 40 people with higher support needs and help them to be more included in the life of a community; (2) To develop the capacity of organisations in the not-for-profit…

This interpretive case study focused upon the outcomes of a 14-year collaboration between a PreK-4 elementary school serving a high percentage of low-income students and a church located in the same urban neighborhood. The purposes of the investigation were to (1) perform a qualitative study that identified central themes underlying this…