AmeriCorps Research & Evaluation Digest: New SCALER Tool Resources, Grantee Spotlight, Upcoming Research Webinar, and more

AmeriCorps

Research and Evaluation Digest
Oct. 29, 2021

New Grantee Evaluation Resource: Scaling Checklists - Assessing Your Level of Evidence and Readiness (SCALER Tool)

AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers serve communities and non-profit organizations throughout the United States to tackle our nation’s most pressing civic challenges. One of the most effective ways for AmeriCorps to expand our positive impact, bridge divides, and strengthen communities is by expanding the scale and reach of our most effective intervention services.

The AmeriCorps Office of Research and Evaluation introduced the Scaling Evidence-Based Models project to deepen understanding of our most effective program innovations, and to develop a framework for successful scaling of evidence-backed interventions. This framework is known as the Scaling Checklists: Assessing your Level of Evidence and Readiness (SCALER) tool.

The SCALER tool, developed from evidence-backed scaling principles gathered is a framework for AmeriCorps awarded sponsors, grantees, community-based organizations, and practitioners looking to increase intervention impact. The SCALER tool framework consists of eight checklists that can be used to determine whether an intervention has sufficient evidentiary support of improving participant outcomes, and to establish intervention-level and organizational-wide processes for implementation. The tool saves organizations not ready to successfully scale valuable time and resources, while also providing additional resources designed to support continued development work towards scaling.

Learn more about how this resource can help expand your intervention and increase your community impact.

View New Grantee Evaluation Resource: SCALER Tool

Research Grantee Dialogue Highlights on Civic Engagement

Fall 2021 grantee quote - Marisol Clark-Ibanez

Click the image to learn more about how this grantee's program used Civic Engagement in the Research Grantee Dialogue Webinar Event

NLRCstaffzoompic

Research Grantee Spotlight: California State University, San Marcos, National Latino Research Center

Two-time Office of Research and Evaluation Grantee, California State University, San Marcos National Latino Research Center has completed one of the largest mixed-method studies on volunteering and civic engagement among Latino elders. The research contained in Cultivando Sabiduría (Cultivating Wisdom) examined the impact of elder Latinos with little to no formal education participating in civic engagement course. Researchers discovered a newfound love of learning and “attending class” among participants. The study’s findings offer further evidence of the positive impact of civic engagement for communities and community members regardless of age or educational attainment level.

The rates of non-literacy among Latino elders in English and Spanish are high, and the number of accessible and affordable resources for literacy education are limited. From the findings and lessons learned through Cultivando Sabiduría, the grantee developed a community resource guidebook to instruct others in implementing the Cultivando Sabiduría program Cultivando La Lectura (Cultivating the Lecture)Cultivando La Lectura offers a free, culturally informed approach to teaching Spanish literacy to Latino elders with little to no formal education. Cultivando La Lectura was designed to validate program participants’ life experiences and cultivate the desire to learn and connect to their community in their own language.

Learn more about in the San Marcos National Latino Research Center’s Cultivando  Sabiduría, and Cultivando La Lectura.

Visit University of California: San Marcos and National Latino Research Center - 2015 Grantee and 2017 Grantee

AmeriCorps Webinar: Scaling Evidence-Based Models Initiative and SCALER Tool

Join AmeriCorps’ Office of Research and Evaluation and guest speakers from Mathematica on Wednesday, Nov. 3, from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET to discuss tools to help you improve outcomes and reach through scaling.  

This webinar will highlight AmeriCorps’ partnership with Mathematica on the Scaling Evidence-Based Models Research Project and showcase the web-based Scaling Checklist: Assessing your Level of Evidence and Readiness Tool (SCALER Tool). This tool consists of a series of interactive checklists that organizations can complete to help identify the strengths, weaknesses, and gaps of the interventions they hope to scale, as well as their organizational readiness to support scale up. The tool also identifies potential ways organizations can strengthen interventions as needed.

  • Learn about the objectives of the research projects and the resources generated (research, case studies, guides, checklists, and tools)
  • Learn about the implementation science and scaling research that informs the framework for the tool
  • Understand how the tool is designed to support community-based organizations interested in self-assessing their readiness to scale their interventions
  • Watch an interactive demonstration of the tool

Register Here


What's New on the Evidence Exchange