Cynthia Tananis
School of Education
University of Pittsburgh
4316 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
PHONE: 412-648-7171
EMAIL:
tananis@pitt.eduFull Time Faculty - Associate Professor
Dr. Tananis has over 30 years of experience in education and evaluation. She has interests in the evaluation capacity building (ECB) in organizations, the use of evaluation in guiding practice and policy, and the role of the evaluator in accomplishing these activities with stakeholders.
She is the founder and Director of the Collaborative for Evaluation and Assessment Capacity (CEAC) in the Department of Administrative and Policy Studies which sponsors graduate students and faculty involvement in funded evaluation grants and contracts. In addition to CEAC, Dr. Tananis is an active advisor and professor in the Superintendents Letter of Eligibility cohort, the preparatory program for school principals and the doctorate in educational leadership. Her interests in those areas focuses on the individual and systemic characteristics of educational reformers and reform sustainability.
She is a lifelong fan of Pittsburgh and Southwest Pennsylvania and is owned by two rambunctious black and white cocker spaniels and two very opinionated African Gray parrots.
School Affiliations
- Department: Administrative and Policy Studies - Associate Professor
- Program: School Leadership
Education
Recent Publications
Journal Articles
- Moore, D. & Tananis, C. (2009). Measuring change in a short-term educational program using a retrospective pretest design. American Journal of Evaluation, in press.
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Recent Course Instruction
Spring 2010 (2104)
Fall 2009 (2101)
Summer 2009 (2097)
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Recent Presentations
- Tananis, C., Williams, V., Pane, J., and Olmsted, S. (2008). The Continuing Evolution of Logic Modeling for the Math Science Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Paper presented at the 2008 Eastern Evaluation Research Conference, Absecon, NJ.
- Trahan, K., Ciminillo, C., Tananis, C., and Pelkowski, T. (2008) A Comparative Study of Individual-level School Reform Implementation. . Paper presented at the 2008 Eastern Evaluation Research Conference, Absecon, NJ.
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Current Professional Participation
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Recent Consulting
- Allegheny Intermediate Unit (AIU)
- Member, Institutional Review Board
- Collaborative for Evaluation and Assesment Capacity (CEAC)
- Math Science Collaborative (MSC)
- Math Science Partnership of Southwest Pennsylvania (MSP)
- Assessment and Evaluation Team Leader
Assessment and Evaluation Project Director
- Pennsylvania Governor's School for International Studies (PGSIS)
- Western Pennsylvania Superintendents Forum
- Evaluation consultant
Advisory Board member
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Recent Grants
- Pending: St. Vincent College, NSF-sponsored science, math and technology grant, for evaluation services ($3,500)
- Pending: Carnegie Mellon University, NSF-sponsored computer technology dissemination grant, for evaluation services ($50,000)
- Pending: University of Pittsburgh Centers for International Studies, for evaluation services and capacity building ($19,000)
- Amachi Pittsburgh, $19,910 Evaluation of mentor services to youth of incarcerated parent(s)
- Carnegie Mellon University – ACTIVATE, $75,000 Evaluation of an NSF-sponsored grant to extend ALICE programming and computer training to K-12 teachers
- Community College of Allegheny County, $2,700 Conduct of focus groups for specialized study group support for developmental students across campuses
- Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council $11,825 Evaluation of adult community literacy development efforts across six US sites, AmeriCorps volunteers and partner organizations.
- Pittsburgh Governor’s School for International Studies $7,000 Evaluation of this Governor’s School for talented rising seniors.
- Sarah Heinz House $5,000 Evaluation technical assistance and capacity building.
- Superintendent’s Forum of Western Pennsylvania $10,000 Continuing evaluation services and consultation.
- Technology Leadership Institute $2,500 Evaluation capacity building and technical assistance
- Horizon Research Inc. $25,000 Evaluation consulting on the Pennsylvania “Science It’s Elementary” project.
- Math and Science Partnership- Southwest PA $1,216,289, to date. Comprehensive evaluation planning, implementation, and reporting for this NSF-sponsored regional project involving 54 school districts.
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Recent Collaborative Efforts
- Research or Scholarship
- Collaborative for Evaluation and Assessment Capacity (CEAC). Founding Director. Worked with various faculty and students to build the CEAC portfolio of evaluation technical assistance and capacity building services. Funding opportunities for were provided for 6 graduate students and 1 summer pay for faculty during 2008-09.
- Collaboration with various partners in Higher Education (Chatham, Carlow, Robert Morris, St. Vincent) and K-12 schools (48 school districts across 7 IUs) in evaluation work related to science and math education through the Math Science Partnership.
- Collaboration with Drs. John Pane and Stuart Olmsted (Pittsburgh) and Valerie Williams (Washington) through RAND Education to conduct multi-site evaluation for the NSF-sponsored Math Science Partnership.
- Program or Teaching
- Collaboration with members of the Superintendents Forum (South Allegheny SD, Pine Richland SD, Quaker Valley SD, Fox Chapel SD, East Allegheny SD, and others) to represent the superintendency in discussions for the academic program for School Leadership.
- Research or Scholarship
- Collaboration with Dr. Clement Stone, University of Pittsburgh, Research Methods, Psychology in Education for analysis of PSSA student achievement data in support of Math Science Partnership activities.
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Recent Service
- School of Education Department-level Service
- Co-Chair, Departmental Curriculum Committee (redesign of the PhD and EdD degree options)
- Member, APS Learning Outcomes Committee
- School of Education Program or Specialization-level Service
- Member, School Leadership Letter of Eligibility Redesign Committee
- School of Education-level Service
- Chair, School Council
- Chair. Student and Faculty Research Committee
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