The following in is from the October 31, 2024 McREL International article written by Katie Gao
In 2014, INPEACE received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Native Hawaiian Education Program to support the growth and improvement of the Ka Lama Education Academy. Needing an external, third-party evaluation partner as part of its grant requirement, INPEACE reached out to McREL. Sanoe Marfil, INPEACE’s current CEO, was the Ka Lama program director at the time and worked with McREL staff to design an evaluation plan that would best capture the successes of the programs and areas for improvement.
Ms. Marfil shared that the discussions with McREL and the consistent opportunities for INPEACE to co-develop research questions, data collection strategies, and look at findings together with the evaluators led her to gain a fuller view of the purpose of program evaluation. “I was under the impression that for external evaluators, it’s quite simple—we give the information, they analyze it, and then a report is created. But it became so much more,” she reflected. “For me, what shifted is that, as an evaluator, McREL is a true partner—they’re not just here to scrutinize the work, they’re here to help us improve and understand the evaluation process.”
Three grant cycles later, INPEACE’s Ka Lama program continues to innovate its services for non-traditional students to pursue education degrees and certifications that will contribute to the locally grown high-quality workforce serving the Wai‘anae Coast. With around 200 program graduates currently teaching across the state, the program has proven successful and impactful for Native Hawaiians.
Read the full article at The Value of a Long-Lasting Program Evaluation Partnership
