External Evaluation of the National Deaf Center

Overview

MCPER provides the external evaluation for the National Deaf Center (NDC), a technical assistance and dissemination center funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs. NDC was established to build stakeholder capacity to improve postsecondary outcomes among deaf people. The MCPER evaluation team collaborates with NDC staff to conduct the following:

  1. A formative evaluation focused on the implementation of proposed activities and clients’ progress toward intended outcomes
  2. A summative evaluation focused on NDC’s long-term objective of building stakeholder capacity

The evaluation team also collaborates with partners at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) on the summative evaluation portion of the project.

Outcomes of Interest

The following are NDC’s long-term objectives:

  • To strengthen program and institutional capacity to:
    • use practices and strategies supported by the best available evidence for improving participation in postsecondary training and education programs
    • increase self-advocacy skills
    • promote access through effective technology use
    • engage in effective outreach
    • provide career planning and readiness services
  • To increase participation and completion of postsecondary education and training programs among deaf people at participating sites