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Independent Project Evaluation

Cyber Service! is guided by two primary goals:

  • To address the urgent need for increasing the pool of middle-skilled cyber forensics technicians to fill high-demand jobs by employers in the northern New Jersey and New York City metropolitan region.
  • To improve student retention and persistence in the attainment of post-secondary credentials (certificate or associate degree) while preparing graduates with 21st century career ready skills.

The external evaluation of Cyber Service! is intended to satisfy NSF ATE's requirement that all funded partnership projects conduct a thorough assessment of their activities.  The evaluation has been a coordinated effort between the project’s P.I., Dr. Elizabeth Hawthorne, and the external evaluator, Blake Urbach of Preferred Program Evaluations.  Throughout the performance period, the evaluator and project team will continue to meet regularly to discuss project implementation and milestones; intended and collateral impacts, and data collection, interpretation, and adjustment. 

To adequately assess the progress and achievement of the project’s objectives, a holistic evaluation plan using both qualitative and quantitative measures has been developed.  The evaluation of Cyber Service! has been designed to:  

  • ensure the project serves its constituents to the fullest capacity and improves its effectiveness related to student success in the field of cyber forensics
  • serve the broader cyber forensics academic community by documenting accomplishments and disseminating critical project findings

The evaluation will be participatory and ongoing, and guided by the following questions to inform project activities, improvement, and outcomes.