February 25, 2013
Office of educational innovation and evaluation to evaluate $14.9 million aviation grant
The office of educational innovation and evaluation, or OEIE, will receive $975,000 for evaluation services of a $14.9 million grant awarded to a group of five community or technical colleges across the country known as the National Aviation Consortium, or NAC.
The purpose of the five-year grant is to develop an industry-standard national aviation curriculum. More specifically, the consortium will create an accelerated training program for students, ultimately producing a workforce for aviation manufacturers whose jobs currently remain open due to a lack of skilled labor.
As external evaluator, office of educational innovation and evaluation will help measure the success of the program in achieving its intended outcomes. The U.S. Department of Labor recently awarded the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training grant to the consortium led by Wichita Area Technical College.
Jan Middendorf, office of educational innovation and evaluation director, explained her organization’s role.
“Our evaluation professionals will be conducting a quasi-experimental design as required by the grant and providing formative and summative feedback for the overall project,” she said. “We will work with the National Aviation Consortium team to enhance its program capacity and impact as well as provide performance outcome data needed for reporting to the U.S. Department of Labor. We are very excited for our friends and colleagues in Wichita, and we look forward to working with the National Aviation Consortium team.”
The office of educational innovation and evaluation’s hallmark services include comprehensive and collaborative project development, strategic planning and evaluation services that integrate technology for local, national and international projects, educational programs and a variety of projects for business and industry.
For more information about the grant, please visit http://watc.edu/blog/2012/09/19/watc-awarded-largest-grant-in-colleges-history-aviation-manufacturing-training-to-benefit/.