Sample Projects

CEPR conducted a year-long study that tested the feasibility and validity of The Pew Charitable Trusts’ (“Pew”) new framework of civil court modernization principles and related performance measures that seeks to enable and gauge courts' progress towards becoming more modern. CEPR’s two-part study analyzed state court reforms and gathered feedback from a broad range of stakeholders on the feasibility and validity of the framework.

CEPR's research services included the collection of extant data and literature review; research question development; interview instrument and protocol development; virtual site visits including interviews, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups; data analysis; and report preparation and presentation of data findings. Based on the results of the research project, Pew made changes to the modernization framework.

Ongoing study: A randomized controlled trial of an intervention funded at nearly $3.8 million by the National Center for Special Education Research, Institute for Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education; an ongoing five-year project in collaboration with Indiana University Professor Hannah Schertz (PI).

The study investigates a framework of systematic support to early intervention providers who serve families of toddlers with autism and its effects on provider, parent, and toddler outcomes. CEPR (Co-PI) is coordinating the analysis of the intervention's impact on key outcomes, contributing to a comprehensive examination of BISC’s implementation, impact, and influencing factors aimed to directly inform the practices and policies of early intervention systems for infants and toddlers with developmental concerns.

Ongoing project: The Amgen Scholars Program gives undergraduates the opportunity to conduct research, present research results, network with those with similar research interests, and develop working relationships with mentors at premier educational and research institutions across the U.S., Europe, Asia, Australia, and Canada.

CEPR works closely with the Amgen Foundation, Amgen Scholars Program Offices, and participating sites to craft and implement a comprehensive formative and an outcome evaluation. Services and deliverables include the development of evaluation tools such as surveys, ongoing data collection and analyses, program impact reporting with longitudinal data and recommendations for improvement, annual symposia impact analysis, presentations, data visualization, and longitudinal alumni tracking and database maintenance.

Ongoing project: Technical assistance, summative, and formative evaluation reporting for the Kentucky 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Federal Initiative.

CEPR provides technical assistance such as training session facilitation, data quality assurance, and frequent communication with program and state administrators in support of data collection and reporting for all Kentucky 21st CCLC programs. CEPR researchers employ a continuous improvement approach to evaluation by conducting program quality site visits to assess the extent to which programs are implementing high-quality, academically focused program practices. Data analyses and reports provided by CEPR give key stakeholders high-quality, rigorous, and meaningful data needed to inform continuous program improvement and policy decisions, and to determine the overall impacts and effectiveness of the federally-funded afterschool program.