Quality in USAID-Funded Education Research and Evaluation

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

In 2016, the Office of Education in the United States Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment (USAID/E3) commissioned a team led by Management Systems International to conduct an evaluation synthesis, the first step of which was to assess the quality of USAID-funded evaluations in the education sector through a participatory approach that involved evaluation practitioners in the review of education evaluations. One of the key results of this study was the development of a tool to appraise the quality of evaluation reports in a way that was reflective of international best practices, responsive to USAID’s cross-sector guidance on evaluations as well as applicable to sector-specific education evaluations. The tool outlines seven principles of quality to adhere to: conceptual framing; openness and transparency; cultural appropriateness; robustness of methodology; validity; reliability; and cogency. A second key result of the study was the identification of gaps in the quality of education evaluations. In 2022, USAID commissioned a team under the Data and Evidence for Education Programs (DEEP) project to revise the evaluation quality tool to capture updated international best practices and be more broadly applicable to research and evaluation in education. The team is also evaluating how the quality of education evaluations and research commissioned by USAID has changed since the previous review, to see if challenges identified in the previous review have been addressed in recent years, and to identify new gaps in quality using a participatory approach.
The presentations in this panel session will share with CIES participants updated guidance on principles of quality in education research and evaluation based upon international best practices and the USAID evaluation policy, provide the participants with an overview of the state of quality in USAID-funded education research and evaluations, and identify ways to address gaps in research and evaluation quality.
The first presentation will provide an overview of international best practices in producing quality research and evaluation in education and present an updated education evaluation quality tool that USAID expanded to guide researchers as well as evaluators pursuing studies in education in developing contexts, framed under the original seven principles of quality with an additional principle: ethics. The second presentation will cover the results of the quality review of existing evaluations and research using the tool. The final presentation will be an interactive roundtable exercise, engaging the audience to generate ideas to strengthen sector capacity to produce quality, rigorous research in education based upon the first two presentations.
The panel presents an opportunity to seek additional feedback from the international development community on addressing gaps in education research and evaluation quality.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Elena Walls, USAID

Individual Presentations

• Quality in Education Research and Evaluation: An Updated Tool and Guidance - Michelle L Solorio, Management Systems International (Tetra Tech)

• Strengthening Sector Capacity in Research: An Interactive Brainstorm to Address Gaps in Research and Evaluation Quality - Danice Guzman, University of Notre Dame-Pulte Institute

Discussant

• Elena Walls, USAID