OST Evaluation Cohort Pilot
You’re invited to apply to participate in an Evaluation Cohort Pilot beginning this fall 2025.
The University of Pittsburgh School of Education (Pitt Education) and Allegheny Partners for Out-of-School Time (APOST) are working together to increase the capacity of out-of-school time (OST) staff and organizations in program evaluation. The learnings from this project will inform the creation of an evaluation toolkit that will be publicly available in summer 2026. We are deeply grateful to the McElhattan Foundation for investing in this project.
Participants will attend a preliminary kickoff event and participate in an ongoing coaching process beginning fall 2025. The cohort will conclude with a summit event in spring 2026. Participants will be invited to complete the following additional research activities.
Pre- and post-workshop interviews
Completing session surveys (mid-way and at the end)
Reflection dialog embedded into the cohort program
A researcher reviewing your site evaluation plans
Compensation of $300 per individual participating in the cohort and $1000 to the organization will be provided.
Requirements
Participation
Per organization, a minimum of 2 & a maximum of 4 individuals can participate. One individual will be the “Project Lead” and is responsible for coordinating all information and expectations to team members about the cohort process.
Attendance
In order to have a rich learning experience, attendance from all participants is strongly encouraged, with a minimum of 2 individuals required to be in attendance for each event.
Is previous evaluation experience required to participate?
While beneficial, previous experience with evaluation is not required to be eligible to participate in this cohort.
The application will ask questions related to your evaluation experience in order to gain insight into the different perspectives throughout the field. The project’s goal is to develop a well-rounded evaluation toolkit for OST, and varied experience levels are encouraged.
Applications are due by 11:59pm on Monday, August 18.
Cohort Dates
Kickoff Summit (In-Person)
Wednesday, October 8
9am -3pm
Thursday, October 9
9am -3pm
Monthly Sessions (Virtual)
Monday, November 3
Monday, December 8
Monday, January 12
Monday, February 9
All monthly virtual sessions take place from 10am - 11:15am.
Closing Celebration (In-Person)
Friday, March 6
9:30am - 12pm
All in-person events will take place at CoLab18 in Nova Place. Free parking & lunch will be provided.