March 25, 2009
Contact: Dr. Tony Marchesi, 304.347.0427 or 800.624.9120, ext. 5427
tony.marchesi@edvantia.org

CHARLESTON, WV—Two Edvantia staff members have earned an Outstanding Publication award in the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division H publication competition. Susan Voelkel and Dr. Kim Cowley will be honored during the association’s annual meeting on April 13-17, 2009, in San Diego. Their report, People and Moments in Time: Evaluation of Year 3 and Summative Evaluation of the Project's 3 Years (2005-2008), was selected as the outstanding publication by the jury for the Program Evaluation category of Division H: Research, Evaluation, and Assessment in Schools.

The publication competition honors work that contributes to the overall practice of research, evaluation, assessment, and accountability in school systems. Entries are judged on both technical quality and effectiveness for communicating results to the audience. The winning report provides findings related to a project that delivered training to elementary school teachers in three Virginia counties. Funded by a federal Teaching American History grant, the three-year program was designed to raise student achievement by improving teachers’ knowledge and understanding of traditional U.S. history. The federal program, founded through legislation sponsored by Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), includes a requirement for external evaluation of grantees, and Edvantia has been selected to evaluate several such programs.

The Edvantia evaluation team for the People and Moments in Time project is a repeat winner—reports for years one and two of the project won first- and third-place awards, respectively. Many other Edvantia staff members have won publication awards; in fact, this year is the eighth in a row for Edvantia’s evaluation work to be recognized by AERA.

About Edvantia
Edvantia is a nonprofit corporation, founded in 1966, that partners with education agencies, foundations, publishers, and service providers to apply expertise in research, evaluation, professional development, and technical assistance to help schools and students succeed. Specialty areas include district and school improvement, teacher quality, systems development and alignment, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), 21st century skills, and college access. For more information, visit Edvantia’s Web site at www.edvantia.org or contact Dr. Tony Marchesi (see above).