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
| 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 |
Jeffrey Asprocolas |
| Project Title | IV-E Waiver Evaluation – Leveraging Intensive Family Engagement (LIFE) Program Evaluation |
|---|---|
| Funding | Children’s Bureau & Oregon Department of Human Services |
| Brief Summary, Reports, & Presentations |
In partnership with Oregon’s Department of Human Services, we are conducting qualitative and quantitative research to document the implementation and outcomes of the LIFE program. LIFE is an innovative approach to reducing time in out of home placement by providing intensive, multi-modal interventions that integrate Family Finding, Family Meetings, Parent Mentors, and a focus on family and youth voice in reducing the time spent in care for youth at high risk for long term foster care placements. LIFE KickOff Evaluation Presentation July 2016 LIFE Quarterly Training #1 Evaluation Presentation June 2016 LIFE Quarterly Training #2 Evaluation Presentation September 2016 |
| Evaluation Team |
Thuan Duong |
| 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. |
| Evaluation Team |
Jeffrey Asprocolas |
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 |
| 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 |
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 opportuinties 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 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 P3-OKA Key Findings Research Brief |
| Evaluation Team |
Lindsey Patterson |
| 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. |
| Evaluation Team |
Youth
| Project Title | K-12 Student Success: Out-of-School Time Initiative |
|---|---|
| Funding | Oregon Community Foundation, August 2016-July 2018 |
| Brief Summary, Reports, & Presentations | The Oregon Community Foundation launched the K-12 Student Success: Out-of-School Time Initiative in November 2013 with the goal of bolstering attendance and academic success for Oregon’s middle school students including programs focused on students of color, low-income students and students living in rural communities. The evaluation provides information to inform future OCF initiatives, support continuous quality improvement of out-of-school-time programs, and to further the out-of-school time field. |
| Evaluation Team | Carrie Furrer |