New LEPs

First Steps

As you begin your work as a local evaluation partner (LEP), there are some key first steps to take with FPG (the national evaluation partner), the Educare National Office, your local Educare school, and your university, school district, or whatever entity oversees the research locally. This page focuses mainly on getting started with your school’s participation in the Educare National Evaluation. There is a more detailed Educare National Evaluation study manual available on the Team Member Dashboard on this site (see below for more details).

Your UNC ONYEN

LEP PIs and key staff will need a UNC ONYEN (“Only Name You’ll Ever Need”).  The ONYEN will allow you to gain access to FPG’s online systems for Educare National Evaluation data entry, upload, and download, and FPG’s SharePoint site where datasets are stored.  Send an email to Gisele Crawford  to request an ONYEN. For more information about these and other Educare-related websites, see this guide. 

Team Member Dashboard

In the banner at the top of this page, you will see a link to the Team Member Login.  Gisele Crawford can provide you with the login information. By logging in, you will have access to the Team Member Dashboard on this website, including:

  • Team Resources: on this page, you can find copies of surveys and instruments, classroom observation forms, and general information about the National Evaluation. 
  • Video Queue: create a listing here to alert FPG when you have data collector reliability materials for our review.  You can then monitor the progress of our review. 
  • Educare National Evaluation Manual: you’ll find helpful guidance for reliability, data collection, data entry, and access to your Educare National Evaluation data. 

The project coordinator Gisele Crawford and lead programmer, Keil Jones, are here to help you.

Collaboration

Key members of your team will be

  • added to a UNC listserv, allowing group communications.
  • invited to a monthly community of practice meeting with LEPs and national partners.
  • able to form paper-writing groups with LEPs and national partners. 
  • invited to Data Camp, a three-day event hosted by FPG in Chapel Hill, NC, for LEPs and NEPs to discuss and collaborate around the National Evaluation and other Educare research

Your Partner School

Your first tasks include:

  • obtaining IRB approval
  • training data collectors
  • setting up children, staff and classrooms in FPG’s database, and
  • working with your Educare program to collect Family Interviews

Your fellow LEPs are a great resource – reach out to them directly or via lep@listserv.unc.edu

The Educare National Office

The Educare National Office at Start Early is a source of detailed information about the Educare approach and offers many kinds of support for local Educare partnerships. The National Office research team are key members of our Community of Practice.

Helpful Resources from Start Early:

Training is available for Educare schools and community partners on the Essential Practices of Educare  (including data utilization).

 A Network-wide sharing site called EducareShare is hosted on the Start Early Community Hub platform.

Educare National Evaluation Partner