GLISI is committed to delivering value to its stakeholders, including funders and districts partners. It is this commitment that drives our investment of time and resources into rigorous, high-quality research and evaluation of our impact. Our research and evaluation model serves two core purposes: 1) to support our internal continuous improvement by collecting, analyzing and reporting actionable data to program staff at regular intervals throughout each year; and 2) to generate new understanding of how effective partner organizations such as GLISI can provide support to districts, especially rural districts, that leads to improved instruction and student learning.
All of GLISI’s Research and Evaluation work tests a theory of change about how GLISI interacts with districts to lead to changes in leadership performance and results. Our theory of change is that GLISI has a unique set of assets or inputs: 1) a paradigm of leadership focused on talent management; leading through data focused teams; and using performance tools and processes; 2) research-based high-quality adult learning experiences; and 3) performance-focused consulting support. We believe that when those three inputs are combined, the output is increased knowledge and know-how for school and district leaders which we believe leads to improvements in student achievement and organizational effectiveness, at scale and over time (rather than only in small pockets of excellence, or for only one year). This theory of change is captured in the graphic below.
In addition, our Research and Evaluation team supports GLISI’s program staff by conducting market research and focus groups such as through our annual Stakeholder Engagement study or our Superintendent Roundtables series.
