Our Work
our work
The Center to Improve Program and Project Performance (CIPP) helps the United States Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and its grantees generate data to inform achievement of goals through rigorous evaluations and project and program performance measurement. The data generated may be used to improve project performance and inform OSEP’s funding decisions and strategic planning.
Evaluation Technical Assistance
CIPP provides TA in evaluation and performance measurement to grantees under four of OSEP’s large discretionary programs: Parent Centers, Education Technology Media and Materials, Technical Assistance and Dissemination, and Personnel Development. This TA helps projects projects create plans that are rigorous, adhere to necessary timelines, reflect the vision of OSEP and the grantees, and are achievable with available personnel and funding.
Evaluation Tools & Products
CIPP develops technical assistance resources and activities around to evaluation design, with a specific focus on OSEP grantees and their needs. Tools and products come in a variety of formats, including conference presentations, conference workshops, toolkits, webinars, papers, videos, online training modules, and clickable templates.
Project Mid-Term (3+2) Reviews
CIPP provides support to OSEP in conducting 3+2 Reviews, where an external panel of experts evaluates the work that selected grantees have completed and recommends any mid-course corrections. CIPP facilitates these meetings and summarizes the panel recommendations for OSEP.
GPRA Data Collection and Reporting
CIPP provides support to OSEP in conducting Government Performance and Results Modernization Act (GPRA) measurement. This annual support includes communicating with grantees about required GPRA data submissions, recruitment and training of expert panels to review the submissions, writing reports that provide overall and detailed breakdowns of these data, and facilitating meetings with OSEP Leadership and personnel from the Department of Education’s Budget Services, to discuss overall program performance.
