Our Projects

ETR is serving as the external evaluator for a National Science Foundation (Advancing Informal STEM Learning) project led by the University of California, Santa Cruz. The goals of the project are to raise middle school age girls’ interest, perceived confidence and involvement in computing – including the increase of a sense of computational community.

ETR is serving as the external evaluator for a National Science Foundation project (2219422) led by the University of California, Santa Cruz in partnership with Santa Cruz City Schools. The goal of this “Computer Science for All” project is to bring computer science lessons into every classroom in Santa Cruz schools.

ETR is serving as the external evaluator for a National Science Foundation (Advancing Informal STEM Learning) project led by the University of Arizona. The goals of the project are to test, refine and study the outcomes of a math+growth mindset+baseball curriculum (Growing Mathletes) for 4th-8th grade youth in Boys & Girls Clubs and Major League Baseball Academies across the US and develop a professional learning model to support informal educators in the implementation of STEM+Sports programming.

ETR is serving as the external evaluator for a National Science Foundation research-practice partnership project (2031364). The research-to-practice partnership consists of the Santa Clara County Office of Education, Krause Center for Innovation, San José State University, WestEd, and multiple school districts in the California “silicon valley.”

ETR is serving as the external evaluator for a National Science Foundation DRK-12 CAREER project (2148014) that aims to transform science teaching by training teachers in how to lead community-engaged, relevant science research (urban heat islands in racially/ethnically diverse communities) with their students as well as investigate how students’ participation shapes their learning and identity construction in science.

The INSPIRE+ project empowers youth from communities of color and other marginalized populations disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs in three California counties (Fresno, Sacramento, and Alameda) to generate policy, systems, and environmental change solutions to address unhealthy substance use.

The Resilience Effect is Genentech’s flagship philanthropic initiative committed to addressing childhood adversity and its negative effects on health and well-being, with a focus on children under the age of five and their caregivers.

HEARTS-Extended (HEARTS-E) is an adaptation of HEARTS that builds the capacity of key San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Student, Family, and Community Support Services Department personnel to implement HEARTS district-wide and at select school sites.

The HEARTS Professional Learning Institute builds the capacity of school staff across the country to implement HEARTS principles and approaches for creating trauma-informed, safe, supportive, and equitable learning and teaching environments that foster resilience, wellness, and racial justice for everyone in the school community.

This Research-Practice partnership is a collaboration between Pajaro Valley Unified School District, Digital NEST, Cabrillo College, and Education, Training, Research. The goal is to strengthen, connect, and expand existing efforts to increase the number of Latinx students who enter and stay on a path to computer information systems (CIS) at a community college and the workforce.

The Community College Information Technology (CCIT) is a longitudinal study, focused on two-year colleges in California that serve 2.7 million students each year. Previous research on community college (CC) students’ enrollment and persistence in Information Technology (IT) courses/programs is limited or has not focused exclusively on CC students.

This project is a collaboration between Santa Cruz City Schools, the Santa Cruz Education Foundation, and Education, Training, Research (ETR), with additional researchers from Stanford University and the University of California. The funds will be used to motivate, prepare and support teachers to integrate equity-oriented computer science into core curriculum with supports for English language development; Develop a K-8 pathway that attracts students and families by preparing them to be citizens who use CS for the social good; Build family engagement and competence through computer literacy and leadership activities, and Grow our Research-Practice Partnership.

Led by Rise Up, ENGAGE is an innovative approach to ending early marriage and enabling Malawian girls to finish school. Through deep community consultations with young girls, boys and traditional authorities in Malawi, YTH discovered how mobile technology can be used to educate and support young people and adults to prevent child marriage. The outcome was a text message campaign to reach young girls with information on local laws and other life skills including sexual and reproductive health.

ETR is working with dfusion inc. and the Science of Sport to develop and evaluate a serious gaming app that complements the Science of Baseball curriculum for elementary and middle school students.

ETR is serving as the external evaluator for a project led by the University of California, Santa Cruz. The goal is to understand the effectiveness of student-led, peer-to-peer learning in applied social change settings, for overcoming barriers to effectively learning and using digital technologies for historically marginalized populations.

Funded by the HHS Personal Responsibility Education Innovation Strategies Program (PREIS), In the Know (ITK) combines existing, in-person, group-based, comprehensive sexual health education with wraparound digital technologies. This enables reinforcement of key messages and skills while providing real-time information and referrals to local services and resources. In partnership with Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco and Fresno Economic Opportunity Commission (EOC), the team implements youth-centered health design methodology to develop curriculum and web-based wraparound technologies that focus on four main areas: sexual health and contraceptive use, healthy relationships, educational and career development, and life skills.