TexNET: Summative Evaluation Report on a Statewide Museum Network

Authors

Becky Carroll, Pamela Tambe. With the assistance of Dawn Robles, Katherine Ramage, Inverness Research Inc.

Purpose

In 2005, the National Science Foundation provided funding to create the Texas Network for Exhibit-Based Learning and Teaching (TexNET), a network of museums in Texas which was modeled on the Exploratorium Network for Exhibit-Based Teaching (ExNET). Led by a partnership between the Fort Worth Museum of History and Science and the Exploratorium, the project over two phases of work created a network of museums across Texas designed to build the collective and individual capacity of the museum staff and to provide visitors to these museums with rich interactive experiences.

Inverness Research was hired to conduct the external evaluation of the project. Over the course of the project, we have served as critical friends, formative evaluators, project documenters, and summative evaluators. This summative report draws on all of the data collected throughout the five-year project, although we will be focusing largely on phase two of the project-the work of the past seventeen months.

Intended Audience

Science Education Media Producers, Museum Educators, Science Educators and Administrators, Reform Leaders and Funders, and general public.

Disclaimer

Any and all errors are claimed by the authors of this document, Inverness Research, Inc.

Date published

May 2010

Sponsored by

NSF award number 0337354

Distribution Policy

Inverness Research Inc. grants permission to print and distribute copies.

These materials do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

View & Print Report

These links will launch an Acrobat Reader document. Use the Back button on your Browser to return from the Acrobat document. If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader, click the button shown above.

DOWNLOAD REPORT (p. 27)