Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program
Over the last 13 years, Macro has conducted the national evaluation of federally funded systems of care for the Center for Mental Health Services. This initiative helps States, local communities, and Native American tribal organizations develop community-based, family-focused, and culturally competent mental health services. To date, this large multi-level evaluation has been conducted across 126 federally funded communities that have served nearly 79,000 children and their families. Macro uses both qualitative and quantitative measures to assess service system development, characteristics of the populations served, child and family outcomes, costs of services, program sustainability, and the effects of specific evidence-based interventions. Results are used to inform local program development and provide a basis for State and Federal policy development.

Industrial Assessment Center Program Logic Model
Before the arrival of the Macro team, the Industrial Assessment Center Program was reporting, by far, the lowest energy savings of any program within the Office of Industrial Technologies (U.S. Department of Energy). This performance report was perplexing because it was well-established that the IAC program was one of the few programs within DoE that actually stimulated real and immediate energy savings. Macro solved this problem by developing a logic model based on several performance and outcome measures. This model revealed several new pathways to savings that had not been previously measured. These better performance measures are enabling the IAC to claim an appropriate amount of success as well as to suggest courses of action for program improvement.

Evaluation of the Maryland Star Schools Project
Macro is evaluating a 5-year project that uses digital broadcasting and other technologies in classrooms to help students and teachers meet new educational standards. We worked with a statewide public television network, a university-based educational technology center, and four large public school systems to develop goals, objectives, and activities. Our evaluation team conducted focus groups with educators to determine teachers’ needs for educational materials and their attitudes and experience regarding technology, including Web-based resources. To measure the outcomes of this ambitious project, we are documenting student’s skills with respect to literacy, information literacy, and workplace readiness.