Projects » General Education

Here are some of the projects that Philliber Research has evaluated in the field of general education:

American Ballroom Theater has provided instruction in ballroom and Latin dancing in New York City schools since 1994. The Dancing Classrooms program (as seen in the documentary, Mad Hot Ballroom) promotes the use of dance (mostly in disadvantaged elementary schools) to develop self confidence, social awareness, teamwork, and physical fitness.

The California School Health Centers Association (CSHC) promotes the health and academic success of children and youth by increasing access to the high quality health care and support services provided by school health centers. With a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, CSHC is working with five community partners across California to promote the health of children, adolescents, and their families by developing their capacity to mobilize and engage communities and exploring models that financially secure the future of school-based health centers.

Education Through Music (ETM) is a non-profit organization founded in 1991 that promotes the use of music and other arts in New York City’s disadvantaged elementary and middle schools to enhance students’ academic performance and general development. ETM’s model relies on quality music instruction, curriculum integration involving collaboration between classroom teachers and teaching artists, professional development for classroom teachers, outcome evaluation, technology, and parent/community involvement.

Grow Your Own Illinois- GYO is offering funding to eligible consortia in target Illinois neighborhoods. Most consortia are comprised of community organizations, school districts, community colleges and four-year institutions of higher education that provide students with the opportunity to earn bachelor’s degrees in education from state-approved teacher education programs as well as an Illinois teaching certificate. Several consortia also include additional partners such as teachers unions. The consortia are tasked with identifying and recruiting paraprofessionals and parents who have already shown themselves to be leaders in hard-to-staff schools in order to select a cohort of teacher education candidates to begin teacher training. PRA is evaluating the extent to which these consortia are increasing the number of teachers available in hard to staff school districts.

The Kansas City Freedom School Initiative supported by the The Kauffman Foundation conducts summer Freedom Schools hosted or sponsored by churches in the Kansas City area. Philliber Research is evaluating the Kansas City Freedom School Initiative in order to determine the impact of the Freedom Schools on scholar's academic skills, parents' engagement in their children's academic achievement, interns' leadership skills and career choices and churches who are participating in the Initiative.

Kids-on-Campus provided rural Appalachian students a summer enrichment program on the campus of Ohio University, supported by the Danforth Foundation. Philliber Research Associates collected data from students, teachers, and caregivers assessing the impact of the program on students' academic performance and caregivers' support for their children's education.

Pathways to Success funded by the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, is a project which operates in three schools located in Bluffton, South Carolina, Atlanta, and Phoenix. Each school has included teacher professional development interventions in its efforts to improve student performance and enrollment in post-secondary education. PRA does the evaluation at each of these schools.

The Robin Hood Foundation’s - Education Portfolio supports the extended day, extended year efforts of ten schools in New York City. PRA tracks the achievements of students in reading and math on an annual basis. It also tracks the progress of graduates as they move on to high school and college.

The Successful Schools Initiative, supported by the Kauffman Foundation, worked to improve the quality of education in 24 schools across the United States.