California Central Coast K-16 Education Collaborative

California recently released funding for regional K-16 collaboratives for both planning and implementation. These collaborative grants drive regional collaboration across the state of California. More information about the Central Coast Collaborative initiatives specifically can be found here.

The evaluation work for this project takes place in partnership with WestEd and includes collecting administrative quantitative data from the national Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), California Community College Data System, University of California Information System, and the California Department of Education. Data collected are used to evaluate student enrollment and completions in health, computing and engineering, and STEM education sectors across central coast institutions of higher education.

University of California, Student Academic Preparation and Educational Partnerships (SAPEP)

The University of California SAPEP portfolio focuses on supporting first-generation, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and English language learners in pursuing postsecondary education, graduate and professional school opportunities, and careers. More information on SAPEP can be found here.

The USCB SAPEP portfolio evaluation encompasses outcomes related to college access, persistence, and completion. Concepts measured to evaluate program quality include social capital, motivation, and academic engagement. Evaluation procedures include qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method designs to capture overall program quality and link longitudinal outcomes. Relevant data include focus group interviews at multiple school sites, California administrative data, and longitudinal data from the National Student Clearinghouse.

UCSB-NSF AI Institute for Agent-based Cyber Threat Intelligence and Operation (ACTION)

This NSF funded institute fosters collaboration between educational institutions, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and industry to improve methods for protection against constantly evolving security threats. More information on ACTION can be found here.

The evaluation project focused on education and workforce development goals, implementation, and student outcomes. Using theory from social science research, the evaluation focuses on social capital and student motivation in group contexts. Institute activities and outcomes are generally centered around academic preparation, research preparation, professional development & networking, and outreach and mentorship.

Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies

The UC Santa Barbara Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies and the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) launched a new Center for Global Studies at UERJ with generous support from the Fulbright Commission.

This evaluation project involved surveying students who participated in the inaugural program. We measured student sense of belonging relative to experiences with globally connected issues of social policy and human rights. Analysis of survey results concluded that students who had experienced more issues of human rights or social policy found higher levels of sense of belonging participating in political discussions and activism.

More details about the project can be found here. Please contact Travis for a copy of the evaluation report.