Early Childhood and Family Support Research and Evaluation Services

Research and Evaluation

Our research projects inform policy and improve programs

We engage in equity-driven research, evaluation, and consultation to promote social justice for children, youth, families, and communities.

Our Mission

We facilitate change by collaborating with families, practitioners and other partners to:

Amplify marginalized voices.
Illuminate inequities and address root causes.
Identify, collect, and make meaning of data.
Co-create and disseminate actionable recommendations.

We approach our work with a learning orientation, taking ownership of our positionalities. We commit to leveraging our resources and privileges in service of families and communities.

Our Projects

Using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, our research projects aim to provide useful information that informs policy and program improvement. The following section lists research we are currently conducting.

Contact

If you would like to learn more about these projects and/or would like to receive information about the services we provide, please email our Director of Early Childhood and Family Support Research, Beth Green.

Beth Green
beth.green@pdx.edu

Current Projects

Child Welfare
Early Childhood

Child Welfare

Project Title	Child Welfare Staff & Caregiver Training Evaluation
Funding	Oregon Department of Human Services, Ongoing
Brief Summary, Reports, & Presentations	The Child Welfare Partnership Training Unit provides classroom and both synchronous and asynchronous distance training to Oregon’s child welfare workforce, caregivers, tribes, and community partners. Formative evaluation is conducted for all trainings provided by the training unit and is aimed at improving design and delivery to best meet the learning needs of the intended audience. A re-design of new child welfare caseworker training and evaluation is currently underway: Oregon DHS Child Welfare New Worker Training
Evaluation Team	Kirstin O'Dell Kayley Garaventa Lilly Kennedy

Project Title	Title IV-E Child Welfare Education Program Evaluation
Funding	US Department of Human Services Administration for Children and Families & Oregon Department of Human Services, Ongoing
Brief Summary, Reports, & Presentations	The Child Welfare Education Program (CWEP) is a partnership between Portland State University’s School of Social Work and Oregon’s Department of Human Services (DHS), Child Welfare Agency. The mission of the program is to improve outcomes to children and families who come in contact with State or Tribal Child Welfare by strengthening the child welfare workforce. The program assists state and tribal child welfare employees and recruits in pursuing a Bachelor or Master of Social Work degree with a focus of study in child welfare, providing tuition assistance, specialized course work and educational support. The current CWEP evaluation focuses on providing formative evaluation data to University and agency stakeholders. The evaluation aims to identify areas of strength and needed improvement at all stages of the CWEP process from application through payback and retention. CWEP Longitudinal Study Report National IV-E Website
Evaluation Team	Kirstin O'Dell

Early Childhood

Project Title	Coos-Curry Prenatal-Grade 3 Alignment Evaluation
Funding	The Ford Family Foundation, 2016
Brief Summary, Reports, & Presentations	We are working in partnership with the Ford Family Foundation and the South Coast Regional Early Learning Hub to support community-based, collaborative work to build effective systems from birth to Grade 3 for children and families. This project takes a Developmental Evaluation approach in which researchers actively partner with community members to collect and use data for ongoing program development and improvement.
Evaluation Team	Callie Lambarth Beth Green Diane Reid

Project Title	Early Works! Evaluation
Funding	The Children’s Institute & the Ford Family Foundation, 2011-Ongoing
Brief Summary, Reports, & Presentations	The evaluation team works in partnership with project leadership to collect outcome and process information from two project sites, Earl Boyles & Yoncalla Elementary Schools, to determine if their interventions are improving children's success in school and reducing achievement gaps between students. To learn more about this initiative, visit The Children's Institute website.
Evaluation Team	Beth Green Callie Lambarth Lindsey Patterson

Project Title	Evaluation of the Kindergarten Readiness Partnership & Innovation Grants
Funding	Oregon Early Learning Division, July 2014-June 2017
Brief Summary, Reports, & Presentations	We are assisting them with collecting data in 16 Oregon communities to determine project effectiveness: (1) improving children's kindergarten readiness; (2) increasing opportunities for shared professional development; (3) engaging families and creating school-family-early learning partnerships; and (4) investing in children most likely to be at risk for starting school without key foundational experiences and skills. Available products: ELD Kindergarten Readiness Partnership and Innovation Grants' Web Page 2014-2015 Executive Summary & Key Findings 2014-15 Year End Report Family Engagement Self-Assessment Tool Blue Mountain ELH Case Study Brief ELM Play and Learn Case Study Report ELM P3 Focus Schools Case Study Report ELM Play to Learn Focus Group Report Yamhill KRPI R4K Case Study Report KRPI Final QED Report P3-OKA Key Findings Research Brief KRPI Year 3 Quarter 4 Cross-Sites Report KRPI 2016-2017 Key Findings 2018 KRPI Outcomes Report KRPI 2018 PD Outcomes
Evaluation Team	Beth Green Lindsey Patterson Mackenzie Morris Diane Reid

Project Title	Healthy Families Oregon Statewide Evaluation
Funding	Oregon Early Learning Division, 2000-current
Brief Summary, Reports, & Presentations	Healthy Families Oregon Evaluation Reports and Publications
Evaluation Team	Beth Green

Project Title	Southern Oregon Regional Home Visiting System Evaluation
Funding	The Ford Family Foundation, 2016
Brief Summary, Reports, & Presentations	We are working in partnership with the Ford Family Foundation and Coos, Curry, Klamath, Douglas, and Siskiyou Counties to support development of coordinating home visiting systems. The team is working to provide data that partners are using to plan, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts to develop coordinated intake and referral, shared professional development, and community awareness about home visiting. Year 1 Systems Survey Summary Year 1 Focus Group Summary Year 1 Stakeholder Interview Survey
Evaluation Team	Callie Lambarth Beth Green Diane Reid