Areas of Expertise
Program Monitoring & Evaluation
Overview
Pal-Tech has in recent years developed a team of professionals who specialize in evaluating and monitoring programs – generally, government-funded programs – to help all the parties involved determine how effective and cost-efficient their programs and policies are, and how they might be improved. Specifically, we:
- Evaluate programs and policies for funding agencies—we conduct evaluations incorporating both outcome and process implementation approaches to evaluation.
- Provide technical assistance in evaluation to those receiving funding—we help grantees, communities, and states think through the steps involved with evaluating results.
- Develop and negotiate cross-site performance measures and quality assurance systems—we develop these systems for grant programs that must report performance on an individual and aggregate basis.
- Provide technical assistance in program and policy development—we link grantees, communities, and states with resources from the field and peers.
Court Improvement Program
Challenge: Widespread recognition of the need to improve how state courts handle foster care and adoption proceedings led to funding through the HHS Children’s Bureau for a five-year study carried out by Pal-Tech, the Urban Institute, and the Center for Policy Research, of the Court Improvement Program.
Solution: With its partners, Pal-Tech reviewed state and local reform activities, highlighting the most promising models, evaluations of existing court reforms, and did in-depth evaluation of reform efforts in diverse sites in Connecticut, Delaware, and Texas. Studies focus on child safety, the timely achievement of permanency (in custody arrangements) and child well-being.
Result: This evaluation process will provide practical insights to guide reform efforts nationwide.