Academic engagement
Current and Completed Projects:
Youth Engagement Initiative
BGC Canada’s Youth Engagement Initiative is creating spaces and opportunities – both in-person and online – that support youth facing barriers to reach their potential, while ensuring that they are not further marginalized by the ongoing impact of the pandemic. The project, funded by Employment and Social Development Canada, has three components: it enhances and expands the Raise the Grade program (supported by RBC Future Launch) with academic supports, career discovery, mentoring, and other activities at 40+ BGC Clubs across Canada; it expands BGC Canada’s COVID-response pan-Canadian virtual programming, including support for young Canadians in accessing Club-based virtual programs and services; and it is developing and launching a Youth Hub, a multi-purpose platform for Club staff and youth that will enhance program access, quality, and youth member experience. As evaluation partner, SRDC will assess the successes and opportunities of the Youth Engagement Initiative to support access to services, skills development, and other supports, while developing insights into how the combined in-person and online programming plays a role in expanding and deepening youth engagement.
Start-end date: January 2022 - October 2023
Sponsor: BGC Canada (formerly Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada)
Improving student success in Surrey School District (Phase 2)
SRDC is undertaking qualitative fieldwork, working with the school district’s own data and with Statistics Canada’s Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform to undertake a study focused on understanding student transitions and success within the Surrey School District education system. The aim is to develop key indicators in partnership with the district and answer questions with respect to student transitions through the K-12 system in Surrey, including the needs of those who leave education prematurely, to the extent the data allow.
Start-end date: July 2021 - June 2022
Sponsor: Surrey Schools
Literature review on promising practices in online youth development programming
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many programs to shift to online delivery, including the Pathways to Education (Pathways) program run by Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre. This program provides academic, social, financial, and one-to-one supports to high-school students living in low-income neighbourhoods in Ottawa’s west end. While there are challenges and limitations to online delivery of such supports, there may also be advantages in terms of program accessibility. To inform future Pathways program planning, SRDC will conduct a targeted scoping review of academic and gray literature on promising practices using online tools for engaging and supporting low-income and racialized youth outside of school. In keeping with the mandate of the Pathways program, the focus will be not only on academic support and tutoring but also social emotional learning/skills development and positive youth development more broadly. The project goal is to provide an overview of promising practices in online youth programming, both as a summary of evidence as well as key principles to guide future programming.
Start-end date: April 2021 - June 2021
Sponsor: Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre
Improving student success in Surrey School District (Phase 1)
SRDC is reviewing the school district’s datasets that could be used to undertake a study focused on understanding student transitions and success within the Surrey School District education system. The aim is to design a project to answer key questions within the context of a study of student transitions through the K-12 system in Surrey including entry from pre-K and access to PSE and the labour market, where data allow. Given successful grade to grade transitions provide evidence of progress towards graduation, the first question is what are some strategies and structures that support successful transitions? Other questions include: What does graduation mean for students? What factors influence transitioning into post-secondary education or training programs? What factors influence transitioning into sustaining employment? What are some of the barriers or limitations faced by students who don’t graduate within six years of entering secondary school in Surrey?
Start-end date: March 2021 - April 2021
Sponsor: Surrey Schools
Indigenous Students' Access to Post-Secondary Education in B.C.
The project examines the descriptive characteristics of Indigenous students in high school in British Columbia and accessing post-secondary education (PSE) to better understand academic pathways and transitions from kindergarten through to PSE. The results are intended to contribute evidence for policy development to support current and future generations of Indigenous learners to access higher education. Two specific research questions are addressed: What are the trends in access to PSE among Indigenous students in BC? and How is access to PSE related to a range of student and educational background factors, such as individual student characteristics; scores on standardized tests for reading, writing, and numeracy administered in Grades 4 and 7; participation in special programs; school characteristics and district; course choices; and academic performance. The main data source is BC linked administrative data.
Start-end date: November 2020 - June 2021
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada
Supporting Vulnerable Children and Youth During COVID-19 Through Safe and Accessible Digital Programming
The Boys and Girls Club of Canada is committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for children and youth where they can experience new opportunities, overcome barriers, build positive relationships, and develop confidence and lifeskills. With the pandemic shifting programming online, Clubs are faced with the need to ensure that child and youth safety is prioritized, and any risks mitigated. Sixty Clubs across Canada have been funded to receive training and monitoring supports for virtual program delivery, to conduct outreach and ensure families have access to online programming. SRDC as the evaluation partner will be tracking the numbers of children/families accessing virtual programs, outcomes of the online contacts, and any challenges faced along the way. Findings from the evaluation of virtual programming at participating Clubs will support a national initiative led by BGCC and the Canadian Teachers’ Federation to curate resources and identify best practices in online safety for vulnerable youth.
Start-end date: September 2020 - March 2021
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
Raise the Grade Phase 3
Since its launch in 2012, the Raise the Grade (RTG) program from Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada (BGCC) has provided youth ages 12-18 across Canada with academic support, career discovery, mentoring, and interest-based activities in dedicated RTG Tech Centres, all within the safe and supportive Boys and Girls Club environment. Now in 46 Clubs, RTG promotes academic engagement among young people, and aims to increase their rate of high school completion and participation in post-secondary education. With funding from RBC Future Launch and ESDC, BGCC has once again partnered with SRDC in a third project phase. This phase will see RTG expanded into five new communities and an even larger, highly trained community of RTG mentors. In addition to analysis of program implementation and youth outcomes, this utilization-focused evaluation builds on learnings from prior phases to develop and pilot enhancements to core program components through an innovative, Club-led Incubator model approach.
Start-end date: December 2019 - October 2021
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
Survey tool to evaluate Actua’s Artificial Intelligence Teacher Training Activities
Actua’s Teacher Training is designed to equip educators with the toolsets, skillsets, and mindsets to deliver transformative STEM education to youth, including integrating coding and digital skills and Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the classroom. Although Actua has supported educators through workshops and training opportunities for years, completing a full suite of teacher support represents a strategic growth area for Actua. Actua has engaged SRDC to evaluate the AI teacher training package, from the perspectives of network members and teachers, for launch in January 2020. Teachers are important influencers in youth participation in STEM and through Actua’s AI Teacher Training Program, Actua is hoping to broaden their reach and create deeper impact with students across Canada.
Start-end date: September 2019 - December 2019
Sponsor: Actua
The role of career education during high school in postsecondary success
This project seeks to find better ways to support youths’ career decisions and make the case for policies that prolong learning into appropriately aligned postsecondary education. SRDC is using
two rich longitudinal data sources created to test experimental career interventions through the linkage of education records to surveys of youth and parents in three provinces. The data document the lives of 7,000 young Canadians, including their occupational aspirations as high school students at age 14, their postsecondary education and earnings outcomes over 10 years. Research tasks include the team mapping the students’ early collected occupational aspirations to their course and program choices as well as outcomes on leaving high school. SRDC’s researchers are taking advantage of the experimental design, but also using non-experimental methods to analyze the factors over this key period that caused changes in career choices, and altered career pathways. The study builds knowledge about (a) how and when to intervene to assist youth in their career decision making, and (b) for whom supports are effective yet currently lacking. The intent is to help equip the career counselling profession to respond authoritatively to increasingly urgent policy questions about how optimally to structure career education for young people. Positive and negative impacts of interventions and tracking of outcomes following specific mediators of advice (such as parents, teachers, counsellors, peers) would point to future best practices and the development of tools to support the work of counsellors and guide students in their planning and decision making regarding career choices early in, and throughout, high school.
Start-end date: February 2019 - January 2021
Sponsor: CERIC
Equity in Education – Student/Parent Support Worker Evaluation
Pathways to Education is a well-known model of comprehensive supports for youth living in low-income communities, designed to enhance their engagement and persistence in high school and post-secondary education. SRDC will evaluate the impact of coordinated, wrap-around, holistic services amongst existing community organizations/stakeholders for youth and their families through three pilots based on the Student Parent Support Worker position of the Pathways to Education model. This evaluation will also explore how systemic barriers manifest differently depending on cultural background, immigration history, family composition, and homelessness risk. These pilots will be implemented in three priority neighbourhoods across Ottawa and will be coordinated through a Collective Impact initiative (Equity in Education). Equity in Education is being led by the Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre and Pathways to Education Ottawa in partnership with the Ottawa Local Immigrant Partnership (OLIP) and the Ottawa Child and Youth Initiative (OCYI). These community-led projects are being funded through Ontario's Local Poverty Reduction Fund, which is administered by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Start-end date: January 2018 - January 2021
Sponsor: Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre
Raise the Grade Phase 2
Following on Raising the Grade, the Boys and Girls Club has launched a second phase of this program which supports high school students through academic support and career discovery at 35 clubs across Canada. SRDC is conducting an evaluation of the revised Raise the Grade program, including analysis of outcomes and implementation. Case studies at selected sites will allow for a richer examination of the elements of the revised program and their effects on the students and clubs who participate.
Start-end date: December 2017 - October 2019
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
Learning more from the BC AVID Pilot Project: impacts of program delivery on postsecondary persistence
This project examines the long-term impacts of BC AVID on students’ post-secondary outcomes by obtaining up to four more years of updated postsecondary records. It is the first stage of a two-phase research endeavour to learn which elements of AVID program fidelity are predictors of student success. The research team is analyzing the patterns of outcomes and evolution of impacts over time. If the program impacts vary between student cohorts experiencing different levels of AVID program intensity, the research team will seek a second phase to study the relationship between AVID program fidelity and students’ long-term outcomes.
Start-end date: January 2017 - September 2017
Sponsor: AVID Center
Evaluation of the AILE program
Launched during the 2012-13 school year, the Appui intensif en lecture et écriture program (known under its acronym as AILE) is part of the Ontario Ministry of Education goal of improving the literacy achievement of children enrolled in grades one to six. The program aims to offer additional supports to students in grades one to three at risk of a delay in their reading and writing skills conducive to educational achievement. The intervention takes place outside the classroom, in small groups of three students for about 30 minutes, five days per week over a period of 12 weeks. The program AILE is the subject of an implementation study and outcome evaluation.
Start-end date: September 2016 - May 2017
Sponsor: Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario
Life After High School Ontario – Phase III
The purpose of Life After High School is to improve the rates at which high school students transition to post-secondary education by reducing the non-financial and financial barriers students face. The program applies lessons from behavioural economics to provide all Grade 12 students at selected Ontario secondary schools with practical support applying for post-secondary education and financial aid. Students are guided through online tools and video in the process of selecting a post-secondary program of their choice, applying for a place in that program without incurring a fee, and applying for financial aid. As options are considered for the delivery of a streamlined Life After High School program in Ontario in future years, SRDC is running the program in 69 low-transition schools in 2016-17.
Start-end date: September 2016 - June 2017
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development
School Choices and Educational Trajectories of Youth of French-speaking Immigration Backgrounds
As stated in the Roadmap for Canada’s Official Languages 2013-2018 : Education, Immigration, Communities, education plays a vital role in strengthening Francophone minority communities (FMC). This project aims to understand the factors (environmental and social) and motivations of students (and their families) of French-speaking immigrant backgrounds living in FMCs in their choices and educational trajectories in three different education systems, namely French-language schools, English-language schools offering various French-second-language educational options, and English-language schools offering no classes in French. Moreover, the impact of these choices on Francophone identity and the sense of belonging to the Francophonie will be explored. The project scope is limited to Ottawa, Ontario.
Start-end date: November 2015 - February 2017
Sponsor: Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Long-term impacts of the Life After High School program in BC
This project extends analysis from SRDC’s previous study of the Impact of Lowering Non-financial Barriers on Access to Post-secondary Education (Life After High School) in British Columbia. The intervention tested a sequence of three workshops delivered to high schools’ Grade 12 students intended to encourage the students to apply for post-secondary education and related student financial aid. A total of 50 BC high schools with low rates of students entering post-secondary education are involved. Impacts on students’ enrolment and persistence in post-secondary education, use of student financial aid and program choices are investigated across key subgroups defined by Aboriginal status, gender and high school achievement.
Start-end date: January 2015 - January 2016
Sponsor: Max Bell Foundation
Healthy Transitions from High School — A mental health promotion and prevention initiative: Pilot Phase
This project pilot tests and refines curriculum resources designed to help students develop the social, emotional and learning skills needed to navigate the transition from high school. It builds on earlier phases of background research and program development, and includes two components: 1) evaluate the adoption, delivery, and potential effectiveness of the resources in a pilot test in a small group of Ontario high schools and 2) consultations with educators, youth, and mental health experts to fine-tune the resources and prepare for their potential delivery in a greater number of schools. As with earlier phases, this project is conducted in collaboration with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and the Ontario School Mental Health ASSIST team.
Start-end date: December 2014 - September 2017
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor + School Mental Health ASSIST
School engagement in middle and secondary schools – Phase IV
The « Engagement scolaire » project is funded by the Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario (CEPEO). The objective of the research project is to evaluate the impact of a program offered by the CEPEO on teaching practices, and in turn, of these teaching practices on student outcomes. This phase also focuses on scaling up the initiative in all classes at participating schools. The program offered by the CEPEO aims to help teachers develop effective teaching strategies, including the integration of ICTs, to promote student self-regulation and engagement, as well as learning skills and work habits as defined by the Ontario Ministry of Education.
Start-end date: November 2014 - February 2015
Sponsor: Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario
Students' exit profile
The goal of this project is to develop qualitative and quantitative measurement tools to collect an exit profile for each student. This profile includes the main attitudes, values and competencies that the Board wants to develop in every student from kindergarten to Grade 12. The tool will be used to populate the Board's Accountability and Improvement Framework. This framework will serve the planning and evaluation needs of teachers as well as those of principals and senior administrators. SRDC's mandate is to provide technical support toward completing the profile.
Start-end date: April 2014 - May 2014
Sponsor: Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est de l’Ontario
Evaluation of the Urban and Priority High Schools (UPHS) Initiative
The initiative was first implemented in the 2008-09 school year with 37 urban secondary schools across the 12 school boards receiving funding until 2013-2014. It aimed to enhance the well-being and academic success of students living in high-needs neighbourhoods by way of creating a safe and positive learning school environment. The secondary schools that participated in the UPHS worked with community partners to provide additional supports and opportunities to these students based on a needs assessment and existing services. This evaluation intends to increase our understanding of how additional supports and opportunities influenced at-risk youths’ academic success, to document effective practices in engaging students, parents, and the community, to provide recommendations in regards to the content of a program monitoring information system, and to draw recommendations for improving student outcomes at the system level.
Start-end date: February 2014 - March 2015
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Education
PSE-related financial literacy among disadvantaged youth
This project aims to address information barriers to post-secondary education (PSE) access faced by disadvantaged youth – specifically, the lack of engaging online resources to learn about the benefits of PSE and how to afford it. Together with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada (BGCC), SRDC is conducting an evaluation project that tests the effectiveness of new, online financial literacy resources related to PSE and targeted to low-income youth. The resources are provided through Rogers Raising the Grade, a new after-school program offered at 35 Boys and Girls Clubs across Canada, and build on an existing collaboration between SRDC and BGCC. Funding for this project is provided by the TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund administered by Prosper Canada.
Start-end date: October 2013 - April 2015
Sponsor: Social and Enterprise Development Innovations (SEDI)
School engagement in middle and secondary schools – Phase III
The « Engagement scolaire » project is funded by the Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario (CEPEO). The objective of the research project is to evaluate the impact of a program offered by the CEPEO on teaching practices, and in turn, of these teaching practices on student outcomes. This phase also focuses on scaling up the initiative in all classes at participating schools. The program offered by the CEPEO aims to help teachers develop effective teaching strategies, including the integration of ICTs, to promote student self-regulation and engagement, as well as learning skills and work habits as defined by the Ontario Ministry of Education.
Start-end date: September 2013 - June 2014
Sponsor: Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario
Design phase: Promoting mental health for youth through transitions
Building on an earlier phase of background research into student mental health issues, this project aims to design an intervention to support students through the transition from high school. SRDC met with potential collaborators, finalized the conceptual framework, developed an intervention/ delivery model and curriculum outline, developed an evaluation plan, and identified potential funders for a subsequent pilot test. SRDC also consulted with youth on design and delivery, and engaged experts as required to ensure the feasibility, scalability, innovation, and appeal of the intervention to high school students. The result is a detailed proposal to a funder to implement and test the program on a pilot basis, to learn what works to promote and protect student mental health.
Start-end date: September 2013 - June 2014
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor
Moving on Mental Health – Toronto Implementation Panel
Working with the Ministry and sector stakeholder groups to develop a report that outlines options and recommendations for system reform consistent with Moving on Mental Health, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services policy framework for child and youth mental Health (A Shared Responsibility).
Start-end date: April 2013 - October 2013
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services
Life After High School Ontario – Phase II
A pilot project to develop and test streamlined options for delivery of the Life After High School program in Ontario. The program options provide Grade 12 students at selected Ontario secondary schools with practical support applying for post-secondary education and financial aid. Students are guided through online tools and video in the process of selecting a post-secondary program of their choice, applying for a place in that program, and applying for financial aid. In the initial stage of the project, SRDC provided consulting services and a set of recommended models for test, including consideration of a variant model for Crown Wards. Following the selection of preferred models, the second stage commenced delivery of the options during the 2013-14 school year. Delivery models vary in order to assess the impact of paying the application fee of either the Ontario College Application Service (OCAS) or the Ontario Universities Application Centre (OUAC) and different forms of facilitation. This research project seeks to learn which models are most effective in supporting all Grade 12 students at a school to make applications for post-secondary studies and financial aid, and in increasing enrolment in further education.
Start-end date: April 2013 - March 2016
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Extension of Future to Discover data collection and analysis
The evaluation of a demonstration project involving 4,400 high-school students in New Brunswick that is testing, through a randomized trial, an alternative form of financial support and enhanced career education as ways to increase youth participation in post-secondary education, especially youth from low-income families. This extension permits the study to collect data for the analysis of outcomes through to the completion of post-secondary education and early labour market experience.
Start-end date: March 2013 - December 2017
Sponsor: New Brunswick Education and Early Childhood Development
Learning how to promote youth mental health through the transition from high school
With youth mental health rapidly emerging as a public policy priority, this project examines the needs of students as they make the transition from high school to post-secondary education or work. It aims to develop a plan for an intervention that will help improve students’ mental health literacy, so they are better equipped to recognize potential problems, develop effective coping strategies, and know how to use resources to promote and protect their mental health. The project involves a review of the relevant research literature, an environmental scan of existing programs, and interviews with key stakeholders, as background research to designing a potential intervention.
Start-end date: August 2012 - December 2012
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor
Raising the Grade Evaluation
This project provides evaluation support to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada (BGCC) as they develop and launch an innovative new after-school program in 25 clubs across Canada. SRDC is conducting a developmental evaluation to provide useful, timely feedback to BGCC as it fine-tunes program design and implementation, as well as an outcome evaluation to investigate potential benefits of the program for participants and clubs.
Start-end date: June 2012 - June 2017
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
Life After High School in Ontario
A pilot project to test an innovative program called Life After High School in Ontario. Starting in October 2011, the program provides Grade 12 students at selected Ontario secondary schools with practical support applying for post-secondary education and financial aid. In three on-line facilitated workshops at 43 schools, students are guided through the process of selecting a post-secondary program of their choice, applying for a place in that program, and applying for financial aid. The application fee of either the Ontario College Application Service (OCAS) or the Ontario Universities Application Centre (OUAC) is covered by the program. This research project seeks to learn whether supporting all Grade 12 students at a school in making real applications for post-secondary studies and financial aid increases enrolment in further education.
Start-end date: May 2011 - March 2015
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
Impact of Lowering Non-financial Barriers on Access to Post-secondary Education (Life After High School)
The project aims to develop, implement, and test an intervention to find new ways to lower non-financial barriers on access to post-secondary education. The intervention targets British Columbia high schools with low rates of students entering post-secondary education. A sequence of three workshops delivered to the schools’ Grade 12 students have the intent of encouraging the students to apply for post-secondary education and related student financial aid.
Start-end date: March 2010 - March 2013
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada + Carthy Foundation
Labour Market Information to Help High-School Students Access Post-secondary Education: The “Life After High School Experiment”
Concept paper to assess whether the process of providing information to high-school students about labour markets, their post-secondary options, potential post-secondary program acceptance, and eligibility for financial aid can improve knowledge acquisition and human capital acquisition.
Start-end date: March 2009 - May 2009
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (Policy Research)
Keeping in Touch with Project Participants: A Mailing Experiment
A randomized experiment to test the effect of between-wave mailing contact on survey response among Future to Discover project participants.
Start-end date: January 2006 - March 2007
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
Research Support for Dissemination: Early Analyses of Future to Discover Baseline Data
In advance of planned publication, the Future to Discover evaluation team undertook early analysis of Future to Discover’s two recruited cohorts from New Brunswick and one cohort from Manitoba, prepared tables for three conferences and presented at the conferences.
Start-end date: December 2005 - April 2006
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
Making Education Work
Provides advice on the random assignment evaluation for a project concerned with increasing educational attainment among Manitoba Aboriginal students.
Start-end date: August 2005 - December 2009
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
Future to Discover Pilot Project (FTD)
The evaluation of a demonstration project involving 5,400 high-school students in New Brunswick and Manitoba that is testing, through a randomized trial, an alternative form of financial support and enhanced career education as ways to increase youth participation in post-secondary education, especially youth from low-income families. To date, SRDC has published the Future to Discover Pilot Project: Early Implementation Report (2007), Future to Discover: Interim Impacts Report (2009), Future to Discover: Post-secondary Impacts Report (2012), Future to Discover: Fourth Year Post-secondary Impacts Report (2014), Future to Discover: Fifth Year Post-secondary Impacts Report (2016), Future to Discover: Sixth Year Post-secondary Impacts Report (2016), and Future to Discover: Seventh Year Post-secondary Impacts Report (2019).
Start-end date: August 2003 - December 2013
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
Read More
Design Options for Demonstration Projects to Improve Participation in Post-secondary Education
Start-end date: May 2002 - June 2002
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
Transitions
A study to review promising school-based programs to increase student retention. The study involved reviews of the reasons students “drop out” of high school and field visits to 24 stay-in-school programs in 5 cities across BC. It recommended several promising intervention options and strategies for their evaluation.
Start-end date: January 1999 - July 1999
Sponsor: BC Ministry of Advanced Education, Training and Technology
