Welcome to the Evaluation Center at the University of Kentucky College of Education. The Evaluation Center operates as a university-wide resource that partners with schools, districts, corporations, nonprofits, and community organizations across Kentucky and beyond. While independent in its operations, the Center draws on the expertise of faculty and professional staff across the College of Education and the wider university, bringing depth in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches as well as applied expertise in education, workforce development, and public health.
The Evaluation Center’s mission is to provide collaborative, utilization-focused services that generate actionable insights, improve data use, strengthen decision-making, and inform strategy and policy. Our work spans evaluation, research, capacity building, and continuous quality improvement, always with a focus on producing findings that are rigorous, relevant, and usable.
To guide this work, the Evaluation Center convenes a multi-disciplinary advisory panel and follows the American Evaluation Association’s guiding principles—systematic inquiry, competence, integrity, honesty, respect for people, and responsibility for the public good. We also integrate frameworks such as the International Rainbow Framework to ensure our work is grounded in ethical, inclusive, and evidence-based practice.