Previous Clients

The Ohio Leadership Advisory Council (OLAC) hired Indikus to perform a three-year program evaluation of an online professional learning system that serves more than 19,000 K-12 educators and thousands of preservice teachers. OLAC’s leadership and sponsors needed a neutral evaluation of the learning system’s impact on school improvement and identification of opportunities for improving its value to educators.

Indikus’ evaluation was conducted with a four-level evaluation design that links educators’ self-reports of learning needs, an assessment of their learning and skills development, reports of their use of the new skills, and an assessment of demonstrable effects on teaching and learning. The evaluation team designed the study to be carried out in three phases: program elaboration, module outcomes, and case studies.

Through this work, Indikus developed a new model for evaluating short-term, asynchronous, self-paced professional learning systems.

Hillsborough County Public Schools, one of the nation’s largest school districts, hired Indikus to evaluate its instructional leadership training program over four years. Funded through a state grant, LEAP UP was designed to equip senior instructional leaders to plan and deliver targeted professional learning to all 250 school principals. HCPS requested a utilization-focused evaluation of LEAP UP’s implementation and model to continuously improve the program as well as an evaluation of the program’s impact on schools.

Indikus designed the evaluation to provide targeted feedback that could be used to guide model and delivery improvements while also gauging outcomes. Using mixed methods (interviews, observations, survey, lead indicators), Indikus conducted the evaluation in phases corresponding to LEAP UP’s delivery:

1. Strategic professional development needs assessment and goal-setting

2. Externally-provided coaching and modeling for instructional leadership

3. Instructional leadership delivery of principal professional development

4. Instructional leadership monitoring and provision of individual principal PD needs

Indikus was the meta-evaluator for the Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center (ARCC), a program that builds state education agencies’ capacity to support school districts. An internal evaluation provides formative and outcome reports. Indikus was hired to ensure the evaluation is conducted according to standards and plan, and that it adds value to ARCC’s stakeholders.

Indikus developed and, in collaboration with the ARCC director, published the Responsive Meta-Evaluation (RME), an eight-step model that directs both a comprehensive review and an organized process for improving the evaluation. Specifically, by combining constructive critiques and deliberative decision-making, the RME model is designed to strengthen the internal evaluation’s methods and instrumentation, build evaluation capacity, and ensure that its reporting and feedback are meeting the needs of technical assistance staff, sponsors, and ARCC leadership.

In its sixth year, the Indikus meta-evaluation has helped the ARCC’s key stakeholders identify priority growth areas, negotiate the strategic purposes for the internal evaluation, gather and utilize input from all program stakeholders, and improve the clarity and usefulness of feedback reports.

In partnership with faculty from the University of Cincinnati, Indikus was hired to lead an exploratory study of the Ohio Dean’s Compact on Exceptional Children incentive grant that included the development, deployment, and institutionalization of a statewide dual licensure (intervention specialist and a general education content area) degree program in Ohio. The Dean’s Compact requested that a study be conducted to gauge the implementation of the dual licensure program across 12 colleges and universities in the state of Ohio, identify barriers to offering the program as planned, and identify and describe potential outcomes stemming from the program in preparation for a longitudinal outcomes study.

Indikus was responsible for directing the study, including establishing the mixed-methods research design, developing and administering the thematic analysis database, coordinating with faculty and other participants, and leading formal report production. In addition to interviews with program graduates, the study involved interviews with more than 50 faculty members and administrators representing all Ohio institutions of higher education offering the dual licensure program.

ICF hired Indikus’ CEO as Principal Investigator of the four-year evaluation of RxTN, a US Dept. of Labor grant-funded program. Involving 40 colleges, RxTN was conceived to prepare adults for high-needs healthcare fields. The grant required outcomes and formative evaluations. To better serve RxTN’s stakeholders, ICF wanted a local evaluator with leadership experience, facilitation skills, and qualitative research expertise.

The evaluation–a blended design with a quasi-experimental outcomes study and a mixed-methods formative study–generated actionable and defensible analyses. While ICF led the outcomes study, Indikus monitored the evaluation’s technical quality, led an implementation study, and generated a multiple case study analysis of one curriculum. Indikus and ICF also co-facilitated stakeholder brainstorming and feedback sessions. With Indikus’ support, the evaluation was completed within budget, ahead of schedule, and with outstanding recommendations from the client.

.ICF hired Indius’ CEO as Principal Investigator for an evaluation of the Southeastern Economic and Education Leadership Consortium (SEELC), a $12.7 million US Dept. of Labor grant-funded program. SEELC offers courses of study in manufacturing fields that are geared to dislocated workers. The funder required an evaluation of the six colleges’ development and delivery of courses in machining, welding, and related fields. ICF sought a technical leader who could ensure that the components of the complex, four-year project met Standards and were integrated.

The evaluation consisted of both a mixed-methods study of SEELC’s implementation and a longitudinal, quasi-experimental outcome study that examined assessment and wage data. In addition to generating credible reports on Dept. of Labor progress and outcome indicators, the team adopted a utilization-focused evaluation approach to deliver feedback to program stakeholders at each college.

Indikus enhanced the evaluation’s technical quality by participating in instrumentation and analyses, ensuring evaluators met Program Evaluation Standards, and conducting an internal meta-evaluation. In addition, Indikus facilitated sense-making and planning sessions among stakeholders. Indikus worked with SEELC leadership, monitoring each college’s progress through a custom dashboard indicator system.

McREL International hired Indikus to collect data for evaluation of a technical assistance (TA) program by Florida and the Islands Regional Comprehensive Center (FLICC).

FLICC provided TA to the Puerto Rico Department of Education to build its capacity to support school districts. For instance, MECPA, a system-wide professional learning community, was designed to deliver learner-centered training. McREL requested assistance from an evaluator with expertise in TA programs and qualitative research in professional Spanish. Indikus conducted the interviews with high-ranking education agency personnel. The interviews were designed to provide insights into the extent to which TA providers helped build the agency’s capacity and to identify opportunities for improvement.

Indikus translated protocols and consents from English to Spanish, conducted the interviews in Spanish during a single visit, translated and transcribed the interviews into English, collected informed consent forms and other documents, and provided a summary of notes within three business days. Over the four years Indikus has conducted the interviews, our aim has been to provide seamless professional service to McREL and deliver prompt and accurate data.