The University of Kentucky Evaluation Center brings together faculty and professional staff with deep expertise across education, public health, and workforce development. We partner with schools, districts, corporations, nonprofits, and communities to deliver rigorous, actionable evaluation that drives improvement and impact.
Our staff has expertise in:
- Education & Literacy
- Evaluating K–12 and higher education programs, including community schools, preschool development, STEM initiatives, teacher preparation, and literacy improvement.
- Supporting English learner education and instructional effectiveness through assessment design, validation, and curriculum evaluation.
- Public Health & Safety
- Assessing programs addressing opioid use disorder, substance use recovery, youth tobacco prevention, and mental health.
- Advancing occupational health and safety, including agricultural safety initiatives and distillery industry standards.
- Corporate & Workforce Development
- Strategic evaluation design to strengthen planning, accountability, and employee outcomes.
- Continuous quality improvement (CQI) for training programs, product rollouts, and workplace culture.
- Data collection, analysis, and stakeholder reporting that inform smarter decision-making and enhance organizational learning.
- Community-Engaged and Responsive Evaluation
- Partnering with communities to co-design evaluation frameworks that reflect local values, priorities, and lived experiences.
- Applying culturally responsive and linguistically inclusive approaches to ensure equity in data collection, analysis, and reporting.
- Using participatory and utilization-focused evaluation methods to elevate community voice and foster shared ownership of findings.
- Translating evaluation results into actionable recommendations that communities and organizations can use for advocacy, policy, and continuous improvement.
- Research & Methodology
- Expertise in advanced quantitative and qualitative methods, including hierarchical linear modeling, regression, structural equation modeling, social network analysis, and in-depth qualitative inquiry.
- Development and validation of fair and reliable assessments, aligned to policy and instructional goals.
- Translation of complex findings into clear reports, visualizations, and data stories for diverse stakeholders.
- Capacity Building & Partnerships
- Embedding continuous improvement models in schools, districts, corporations, and nonprofits.
- Building evaluation capacity through technical assistance, continuing education, and professional development.
- Serving as an evaluation partner for competitive grant proposals, multi-year improvement initiatives, and state-wide systems change.