Services

Formative and Developmental Evaluation

We conduct robust qualitative research and provide actionable and timely feedback to improve implementation and foster continuous improvement. We approach this work through a culturally responsive and equitable practice that seeks to place the communities and stakeholders who are most impacted by each project at the center, ensuring their voices are guiding project activities and informing how products and lessons that emerge are framed and utilized to improve conditions. Our approaches also seek to examine the structural and systemic conditions that facilitate and hinder opportunities and outcomes for different groups.

Core methodologies include:

  • Document analyses
  • Landscape assessment
  • In-depth site visits
  • Virtual focus groups and structured interviews
  • Survey development, administration, and analysis
  • Participatory community review

Summative Evaluation

We conduct impact analyses to meet the highest standards of rigor as defined by the What Works Clearinghouse (U.S. Department of Education) and the Clearinghouse for Labor Evaluation and Research (U.S. Department of Labor). We disaggregate data by race, ethnicity, gender, and income or socio-economic status, prioritizing assessment of outcomes for minoritized and underserved groups. We design and execute rigorous quantitative studies that are informed by community input and feedback. We contextualize results with qualitative data collected through regular engagement with diverse groups of organizational leaders, students, and community stakeholders. Together, our mixed-method strategies help build the evidence base for effective equitable practices in postsecondary and workforce education and training systems.

Core methodologies include:

  • Experimental design, randomized controlled trials (multi-site and single site)
  • Quasi-experimental design (e.g., propensity score modeling, regression discontinuity)
  • Longitudinal analysis of large-scale administrative data (regression analysis, descriptive outcomes)

Strategic Advising and Facilitation

We are action-oriented strategic thinkers and experienced facilitators who listen closely to client needs while asking thoughtful probing questions to make transparent the assumptions informing their work. Through our engagement, we seek to reveal equity blind spots that mask systemic and structural conditions that should be addressed and incorporated into program and initiative design and execution.

Core approaches include:

  • Strategy development
  • Theory of change and logic models
  • Data collection and metric development
  • Action planning

Technical Assistance and Training

We leverage the broad range of knowledge and experiences on our team to provide technical assistance and training in key areas of expertise, including success coaching, evaluation design, and implementation advising. Our goal is to help clients build capacity in delivering effective services, especially for minoritized and underserved groups in postsecondary education and training systems; collect and analyze disaggregated data to inform continuous improvement; and, organize and manage implementation efforts to enhance buy-in and achieve sustainability.

Core methodologies include:

  • Success coach training based on a model validated through an RCT evaluation funded by the US Department of Education
  • Evaluation design consulting that identifies priority questions with appropriate data collection methodologies for clients to utilize (e.g., for Guided Pathways)
  • Implementation advising that utilizes a proven assessment and learning framework developed through 15+ years of evaluation experience

 

The DVP-PRAXIS ADVANTAGE

  • ✓We are committed to practicing culturally responsive and equity-focused evaluation by centering our work around communities and stakeholders who are most impacted.
  • ✓We specialize in college access and success, including workforce education and training, using participatory and inclusive practices to highlight and dismantle systemic legacies that block equitable opportunities and outcomes.
  • ✓We understand organizational structures and hierarchy, and how power shapes behavior across a broad diversity of postsecondary and workforce education and training institutions, having engaged with more than 125 two- and four-year public and private colleges and universities in 25 states, including several state systems and agencies.
  • ✓We regularly partner with national intermediaries and private foundations working on the college completion agenda through institution-level, system-level, and policy-driven strategies to create equitable opportunities and achieve equitable outcomes.
  • ✓We are flexible and creative with our clients – balancing rigor, objectivity, and independence of our engagement with clients’ real-world organizational and policy dynamics that inform their needs and priorities.