Awards

Virginia Longitudinal Data System: Improving Virginia's Education and Workforce Systems

Sponsor: Virginia Longitudinal Data System
Principal investigator: Susan T. Gooden, Ph.D.
Award amount: $354,966
Grant period: July 2012-June 2014

A team of UVA and VCU researchers, led by co-principal investigators James Wycoff, professor, Curry School of Education and Susan T. Gooden, professor, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and executive director, Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute, were awarded a $350,000 Virginia Longitudinal Data System grant. The VLDS is designed to provide Virginia citizens, researchers, and policymakers with a single point of access to educational and workforce development program data from multiple, independent sources. The system is funded by the Statewide Longitudinal Data System grant program of the United States Department of Education, with support from the Workforce Data Quality Initiative grant program of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Community College System are project sponsors. The partnering state agencies include the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, Virginia Community College System, Virginia Department of Education and Virginia Employment Commission.

The UVA/VCU research team have designed and conducted research using available statewide education and workforce data. The research findings will be used to promote systemic performance enhancement across multiple partners and stakeholder groups, including K-12 education, postsecondary education, workforce development, and economic development.

Greater Texas Achieving the Dream

Sponsor: Greater Texas Foundation, Bryan, TX and MDRC, New York, NY
Principal investigator: Susan T. Gooden, Ph.D.
Award amount: $41,372
Grant period: August 2010–December 2011

With funding from the Greater Texas Foundation, several Texas colleges have joined the Achieving the Dream initiative. The primary goal of this project was to better understand how the modified coach and data facilitator model reflects Achieving the Dream’s goals and objectives. Formative feedback was provided to the colleges through a combination of written briefings and oral presentations.

Houston Achieving the Dream

Sponsor: Houston Endowment, Houston, TX an MDRC, New York, NY
Principal investigator: Susan T. Gooden, Ph.D.
Award amount: $200,000
Grant period: January 2007-October 2011

As part of the Achieving the Dream initiative, the primary goal the five-year research evaluation project was to better understand the experiences of the Houston Colleges reflect Achieving the Dream’s goals and objectives and to learn more about the specific implementation efforts of the initiative at the individual colleges. This is accomplished primarily through one- to two-day site visits to multiple Houston colleges through the duration of the study. Formative feedback was provided to the colleges through a combination of written briefings and oral presentations.

Achieving the Dream: Round One College Implementation Evaluation (Wave One and Two)

Sponsor: MDRC, New York, NY
Principal investigator: Susan T. Gooden, Ph.D.
Award amount: $175,286
Grant period: January 2005–May 2010

As part of the Achieving the Dream initiative of MDRC, the primary goal of this evaluation project was to better understand the experiences of the 26 Round One Community Colleges that joined the initiative in 2004. The wave two implementation evaluation was a follow up to the baseline evaluation (wave one) conducted in 2006. The primary goal of the implementation evaluation was to learn more about Achieving the Dream’s impact on institutional change, implementing a culture of evidence, using data to drive decision making, becoming student success centered, focus on achievement gaps, and progress or improvement in student outcomes particularly for students of color, first generation college students, and low-income students. The evaluation has both a quantitative and qualitative components. The quantitative component focused on determining measurable impacts using the cohort data the colleges submitted to the initiative. The qualitative component was collected through two-day site visits to the 26 colleges. During those visits, teams met with college administrators, faculty and staff involved and not involved with implementing Achieving the Dream efforts on their campus, external stake holders, and students involved in one the college’s strategies. Formative feedback was provided to the colleges through a combination of written briefings and oral presentations.