About Sharing Success

Quality Review

Many program developers make enthusiastic claims about their program's benefits without objective evidence to support these claims. Sharing Success certifies programs within a rigorous review system.

Validation is the quality control mechanism for certifying the effectiveness of educational programs within New York State. These programs have completed a rigorous quantitative and/or qualitative evaluation process and submitted evidence of statistically significant and educationally meaningful data to an independent validation panel.

Promising Practices are another quality control mechanism for educational programs within New York State. Unlike validation, the promising practices tier does not require a quasi-experimental evaluation design. Program and practices are certified only after sufficient, objective evidence is submitted to the Promising Practices Committee of practitioners.

Results-Based Research is the quality control mechanism used to certify out-of-state programs. The information in the review focuses on basic research areas such as the type of evaluation design used by the program and the statistical significance of the outcomes. Results-based Research programs are further categorized as Large Scale/Externally Reviewed Research, Research Recognized by Other Systems or Local Evidence.

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Dissemination

Sharing Success provides information through newsletters, the Educational Programs That Work catalog, the Website, conferences, flyers and the Technical Assistance Center to assist schools, adult education sites, agencies and community based organizations to provide quality programs to meet the needs of their learners. Access to hundreds of Sharing Success programs and staff development options increases the capacity of local schools to meet their own identified needs.

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Replication

Schools and other organizations have the option of replicating/adapting a validated program or promising practice at their site. Replication is a cost-effective and timely solution for school districts to match their needs, philosophies and resources with Sharing Success programs. An experienced practitioner will be available to train other educators and provide follow-up technical assistance to the replicating site staff to ensure a quality replication.

The Technical Assistance Center

New York State Applicants:
If you nominate a program to be certified, the Technical Assistance Center (TA Center) for Sharing Success will provide assistance in program evaluation and assessment at no cost to the applicant. Staffed with highly experienced and trained professionals from research and education, the TA Center assists programs in clearly defining their claims and evidence of effectiveness, addressing evaluation concerns, and presenting credible cases of effectiveness before a Validation Panel or the Promising Practices Committee.

Some TA Center services available to candidates include:

• comprehensive, internal evaluation review system,
• network of consultants to provide intensive evaluation assistance, guidance in writing the final application.

Out-of-State Applicants
The TA Center will review all results-based research reports and/or published research studies (if any) and awards received by the program (if any). If the research meets the review criteria, your program will be certified as a Results-based Research Program. You may contact the TA Center by email, phone or fax with any questions.