Arts and Humanities

Rockman et al Cooperative has developed a strong reputation over its 25 year history for providing high-quality research and evaluation services to programs focused on social studies and history education, as well as arts education and arts integration. Our team is experienced in working closely with program developers and stakeholders in K-12 and postsecondary schools, and informal learning spaces, such as museums and after-school programs.

Our research and evaluation services deliver:

  • Custom research designs to meet the needs of each study and organization
  • Participatory research designs to ensure reliable, valid and sustainable measures
  • Rich and insightful information about program implementation and impact
  • Formative reports to inform program development
  • Summative reports to inform funders and other program stakeholders about impact
  • Rigorous evaluations that meet requirements for government grants

We specialize in communicating research findings in a variety of user-friendly formats, and facilitating research across educators, schools and community-based learning centers. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your project with you and to provide you with more information about our tailored services. Please Contact Us to schedule a free 30-minute Q&A session with a consultant.

Selected Projects Include

  • Photo by Richard Hirajeta on Unsplash

    Cleveland Museum of the Arts

    Through funding from the National Endowment of the Arts, The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) sought to understand how digital experiences change the way visitors experience an art museum and how to measure the value of interactive experiences in these spaces. The CMA’s innovative ARTLENS Gallery served as a testing ground for the research, which resulted in the development of a toolkit to help other art museums measure the impact of digital technologies in their own institutions.

  • Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

    Mount Vernon: George Washington Teacher Institute

    Mount Vernon’s George Washington Teacher Institute hosts a residency program that has been providing professional development to teachers since 1999. REA collected feedback from past participants to help Mount Vernon better understand how the Institute has impacted educators over the years and the extent to which these have endured through time. Feedback was collected via surveys and interviews with educators, many of whom reported that the Institute had a profound and lasting influence on their teaching, their outlook on Washington, and the way they think about history as a whole. Major themes from the study include the power of place in teaching history, the value of teaching with diverse primary sources, and the benefits of providing professional development that treats teachers as true professionals.

  • Photo courtesy of fabola via CC licensing.

    National Endowment for Arts: Teacher Art Institute

    Rockman et al conducted an evaluation of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Teacher Arts Institute, providing an evaluation symposium and coordinating with local evaluators for each of the Institutes. The evaluation included Institute observations, informal interviews, pre- and post-surveys, and participant reflections. Rockman also convened an expert panel to review curriculum units developed subsequent to the Institutes. In 2006, the Endowment awarded Year 2 extensions to 4 of the 12 original Teacher Institute grant recipients to further develop activities around “anchor” works of art that served as inspiration for instructional activities. Rockman conducted surveys, site visits, interviews, and classroom observations to chronicle the activities of the institutes and to assess teachers’ use of “anchor” artworks in their instruction.

  • Photo courtesy of Nic McPhee via CC licensing.

    Poetry Out Loud

    The Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest, sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, is designed to inspire a love of poetry in a new generation of teachers and students. With the help of teachers, web-based resources, and state arts agencies, students learn poems by heart and engage in a series of poetry-related activities that culminate in local, state, and national recitation contests. REA evaluated the Poetry Out Loud curriculum, the program’s implementation at the local, state, and national levels, and its impact on students and teachers. Findings indicated that the program changed the ways teachers engage students in poetry, and reached rural, urban, and suburban schools and a diverse group of students.

  • Photo courtesy of SFJAZZ.

    SFJAZZ

    Rockman et al is conducting summative evaluation activities in support of SFJAZZ’s expansion of music education programs for students in the San Francisco and Oakland Unified School Districts. This project is being supported by a generous grant from the Stupski Foundation. SFJAZZ is one the world’s leading cultural institutions devoted to jazz and related forms of music, presenting over 400 performances each year at the SFJAZZ Center and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. More than 23,000 students in 70 schools will benefit from the expansion, which includes school day concerts, standards-based classroom learning residencies, and support of school music ensembles. Summative evaluation activities will assess the impact of these three programs on participating students and teachers over a three-year period. Evaluation methods will include classroom observations, surveys and interviews with key project stakeholders, as well as review of student artifacts. REA is also assessing the impact of program expansion on the SFJAZZ organization to help understand their own capacity building and staffing needs.