Evaluation
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The Power of Evaluation Retreats: Maximizing Program Growth
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With student success on the line, GEAR UP grants constantly strive for growth and improvement. Evaluating the grant effectiveness of strategies, processes, and objectives is crucial for obtaining goals for retreat participants. While evaluations are typically done in the office, there’s a growing trend towards evaluation retreats – dedicated blocks […]
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What do Spring, Xcalibur, Data Dashboards, and Your Car’s Check Engine Light Have in Common?
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This week marks the first week of Spring, and the buzz of renewal is in the air. Spring is the official name of the season, but GEAR UP members may call this time of year’ APR season.’ It also indicates a renewal, moving from the close examination of last year’s […]
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Research Symposium Recap from the NCCEP Capacity Building Workshop
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The Prove Team at NCCEP hosted the first Research Symposium during the 2023 Capacity Building Workshop which provided a space to highlight qualitative and quantitative evaluation studies specific to GEAR UP goals, objectives, services, and outcomes. Xcalibur participated in the Research Symposium and presented with GEAR UP Georgia during the […]
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Leaving a Legacy for Grant Work
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Grant work can be exceptionally rewarding because it presents an opportunity to make an impact on communities. In the world of GEAR UP, grants are making an impact on students and their families, by supporting students to graduate high school and prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. Funding […]
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Xcalibur Evaluation Retreats
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As part of Xcalibur’s participatory evaluation approach, Xcalibur staff conduct biannual evaluation retreats with our evaluation clients. The goal is to bring together grant team members to review their grant’s vision, reflect on their work, assess progress, and plan for future work. Retreats eliminate the everyday interruptions of the usual […]
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Over the Mountains and Through the Snow: Hearing Experiences from Different Stakeholders.
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The past few months have been exciting! Xcalibur staff have been traveling and engaging in discussions with high school students, college students, parents, educators, and GEAR UP staff about their GEAR UP experiences. In addition to collecting data for the Annual Performance Report (APR), many GEAR UP grants have accompanying […]
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Participatory Evaluation: Is This What You’ve Been Looking For?
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Among the many questions to ask yourself when designing an evaluation is, what type of an evaluation should we do? One unique and insightful form of evaluation is participatory evaluation. Xcalibur almost exclusively offers participatory evaluation to grants. Why so? We find it provides the highest extent of evaluation impact […]
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Evaluate Your Thinking
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Do you find yourself making decisions based on your gut instincts again and again? Do your initiatives seem to falter rather than gain traction? If so, then it may be time for a tune up of your evaluative thinking. Evaluative thinking is critical thinking applied to the context of evaluation. […]
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Do You Think Beyond the Pie Chart?
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As part of the 2017 GEAR UP Annual Conference in San Francisco, Xcalibur team members Julie Jaramillo and Tricia Brainard partnered with Becky Young from GEAR UP Maine to challenge participants to Think Beyond the Pie Chart. The group developed the Five C’s to See Your Data as […]
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GEAR UP Maine Data Visualization & Management Training
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Xcalibur’s Director of Data Quality, Julie Jaramillo, traveled to Bangor, Maine for the GEAR UP Maine Data Steward Training. The team met to discuss SCRIBE Reports, Service Naming Conventions, the GEAR UP Maine Service Taxonomy, and learn about the 5 C’s for Visualizing Data. In the picture above, GEAR UP […]