Policy and Program Implementation and Planning
Educational policy changes have an impact on administrators, teachers, students, and parents. Our top-notch researchers and evaluators identify and apply the most appropriate, sound, and innovative methodologies to make sure that changes help teachers teach and students learn. We can help you define or answer your policy and evaluation questions and make valuable data available anytime, anywhere, and in a format that maximizes its usefulness. The policies and programs we help plan and implement touch everyone from primary school students and superintendents to afterschool practitioners and Title I, III, and IV coordinators.
- Technical assistance: Our technical assistance and research experts work with the U.S. Department of Education's Regional Advisory Committees to assess the education needs of state and local education agencies within each of the Nation's 10 regions. Research analysts created state and regional profiles, conducted needs assessments, collected data, and provided a recommendations report for the Secretary of Education that detailed actual conditions and current needs within states. They also compared the data to detect and analyze service and need gaps, which will help establish priorities for the next generation of technical support.
- Best practice implementation and practitioner guides: We assess the quality of care provided to pre-K and kindergarten students in 21st Century Community Learning Centers programs. Researchers used interviews and onsite observations to prepare a best practices guide for dissemination in the afterschool field. The guide identifies resources needed to improve quality and articulates what state coordinators and program directors need to know to support quality program improvements.
- Literature reviews: For the U.S. Department of Education, SEI designed a literature review leading to development of a program implementation and evaluation guide on Language Instruction Educational Programs for education practitioners. Research experts designed key informant interview protocols for state and school district administrators, Title III coordinators, teachers, families, and community-based organizations to identify characteristics that influence the quality of K-12 English learning programs and policies.