The Julia Group
"Technology for a Better World "
Ticket to Work Consumer Survey - We were a subcontractor with BAE Systems on the consumer satisfaction survey for the Social Security Administration Ticket to Work program. This program aims to assist SSA beneficiaries who choose to return to work. All beneficiaries who receive services from a California Employment Network serving ten or more ticketholders were surveyed in 2010. The Julia Group worked with BAE Systems and SSA personnel on survey design, data analysis and reports for both the general public and policy makers.
Creation of an On-Line/ On-site Training Program for Individuals with Disabilities and Their Primary Caregivers- As an office of Spirit Lake Consulting, The Julia Group staff wrote over 500 web pages of content related to disability services, best practices and prognosis. We also created a virtual library and provided style sheets, web design, templates, forum hosting, data collection, analysis of evaluation data and computer security services.
Survey of Electronic Media Usage on Great Plains Reservation - conducted the most comprehensive survey to date of Internet usage among Native Americans. Analysis of data on electronic media usage by individuals with disabilities is completed and in-press. Next on the agenda is analysis of usage by the general population on these reservations.
Caring for Our People Training Project
United States Department of Agriculture, Small Business Innovation Research Grant
The target population for Caring for Our People (COPT) training was direct care services to persons with disabilities and chronic health conditions. In Phase I, a prototype assessment measure, an introductory website and CDROM were developed for training paraprofessionals to work with people with disabilities and chronic health impairments. In Phase II, a full suite of applications were developed. Psychometric data indicated that the project was successful in creating four validated measures of knowledge of best practices, resources, interventions and prognosis for persons with disabilities. For each of four modules, the experimental group showed a statistically significant greater difference between pre- and post-test compared to the control group. Retention of the experimental group averaged 92% across the four modules tested.
Talent Search Evaluation,
The Julia Group staff served as external evaluators for two Talent Search projects funded at the college over a ten-year period. Dr. De Mars conducted training for the staff and met regularly with the Project Director to provide formative evaluation data. Data were collected and entered by Talent Search staff. Data analysis, report-writing and presentations to the college board and community were a collaboration between Talent Search staff and The Julia Group.
Student Support Services Evaluation
The Julia Group was called in the second year of the project. The Project Director had left with short notice, evaluation data had not been entered and the evaluation report was due. Our staff assisted the director in obtaining data from sign-up sheets and other documents, set up procedures for data collection, trained all staff in data collection, gave a presentation for the community college faculty and staff on evaluation, met monthly with the Project Director to provide formative evaluation data, assisted with preparation of the annual report to the Department of Education and an annual presentation to the college Board of Directors.
Americorps Project Evaluation
University of California, Riverside
Our staff performed evaluation and member training to the Americorps project. Involved from the initial proposal stage, we wrote the evaluation model and database design. Once the project was funded we provided Americorps member training on data collection and data entry, performed statistical analyses and wrote formative and summative evaluation reports.
Bilingual Education Training Project Evaluation
The project had two objectives, to increase the number of bilingual teachers and to provide a career path to the teaching profession for paraprofessionals. The Julia Group staff created a complete data collection system including a database for student demographic, academic and outcome data, coding protocols and documentation. Tests of teacher knowledge were created, aligned with the California state standards and the project curriculum. Psychometric properties of the measures were calculated and revisions made per recommendations. As part of grant dissemination requirements, presentations on formative and summative evaluation results were made annually at national conferences.
Vocational Rehabilitation Project Evaluation
At the start of this project, our staff conducted a survey of individuals with disabilities, caregivers and service providers for a reservation-wide needs assessment. Survey data were analyzed and presented both in on-site meetings with the tribal advisory board and in report form, used as a basis for tribal planning of disability services. Objectives for a vocational rehabilitation project were written, a database created for documentation, data collection forms written and a data analysis plan written, approved and implemented. Semi-annual reports were provided to the client monitoring all objectives.
Okiyapi Community Partnership
An extensive community-wide evaluation plan was written and implemented for the Okiyapi Community Partnership, a 5-year federally funded program that aimed to reduce alcoholism on the Devils Lake Sioux Reservation in rural North Dakota.. This plan required collaboration among numerous agencies including the tribal court (provided statistics on driving under the influence and possession violations), school systems (provided access during class time for survey data collection) and tribal administration (provided facilities for survey data collection outside of major tribal offices, e.g., social services). The major goals of the project included development of an interagency coordinating body, establishment of family circle groups, and training of Native American addiction counselors. The coalition, led by the tribal college, consisted of over 30 members from local schools, the Tribal Council, and various tribal and public agencies. Interagency coordination involved sharing of data and human and material resources, and collaboration in designing, implementing, and publicizing substance abuse prevention activities. Instruments written and validated by The Julia Group staff included annual community surveys of substance abuse perceptions and prevalence, surveys of high school students, personal interviews with coalition members, reports of daily activities of coalition staff, tribal court statistics, coalition meeting minutes, activity sign-up sheets, and internal and external correspondence related to the partnership.