One of the Research and Evaluation (RE) team's primary functions is to communicate programmatic data and impact.  This involves supporting and coaching the organization in its efforts to thoughtfully and intelligently leverage the power of data.  There are several ways that iMentor staff can leverage the RE team in their work.

Attend RE Office Hours

RE staff are available both live and remote (i.e., Skype for Business) to meet with staff to address any questions or request.  Examples of ways to leverage the office hours space include:

• Learn about the data collected through program efforts
• Discuss strategies to leverage data to support and/or inform the work
• Troubleshoot data challenges and brainstorm/produce solutions
• Inform the Research and Evaluation department about on-the-ground challenges, successes and gaps/needs when it comes to using data to supporting/informing the work
• Discuss analysis and reporting methodologies
• Ask questions about data

The RE team welcomes in-person visits the the RE workstation while any member of the team is seated at their desk and Skype messages while any team member's status is not "In a Meeting."  The team loves to be interrupted, so don't hesitate to reach out!

Request RE Support

A goal of the Research and Evaluation department is to structure the collection of data in a manner that allows for fast and accurate manipulation to support ad hoc requests whenever possible.  Ad hoc requests might come in the form of the need to communicate and contextualize our impact for school partner administrators, funders, or other stakeholders.  Requests may be as simple as the creation of customized datasets to inform targeted pair support. Research and Evaluation’s Open Office Hours is a great place to leverage when it comes to these ad hoc requests/questions, but due to scheduling conflicts, this may not always be possible.  In these cases, RE support is a great resource to leverage.

The RE team uses Zendesk as a dedicated channel to address ad hoc questions and data requests.  Zendesk is a ticketing system that helps the RE team organize, prioritize and distribute questions and requests as they are submitted.  Additionally, it aids in collecting data regarding the type of requests/questions as well as time spent executing work resulting from the ticket.  Ultimately, this data will be used to prioritize standardization of resources and tools available to staff.  

To initiate an RE Zendesk ticket, click here.

Read the End of Year Report

Each year, the Research and Evaluation team completes an exhaustive analysis of the data collected throughout the previous program year.  This analysis results in a report that highlights interesting or potentially useful findings.  The report can be consumed from both a macro and micro perspective, making it equally useful in leadership’s ongoing design of programming as to informing the way in which support is focused for individual pairs the following year.  The most recent End of Year Report can be found here.