History & Values

The Program Evaluation & Research Group (PERG) was founded in 1976 by Lesley University professors George Hein and Brenda Engel. PERG moved to Endicott College in 2013, and became independent in 2021 as PERG Learning.

 PERG began in response to the movement to standardize assessment of student learning and evaluation of education programs. Hein and Engel sought to develop a more holistic, mixed-methods approach which has shaped the field. Its first evaluations were of programs sponsored by arts and cultural organizations that brought together urban and suburban students under the Boston Public Schools desegregation court order in the 1970s.

For over four decades, PERG has brought its founding commitment to equity and collaboration to designing and conducting hundreds of evaluations and research studies in formal and informal education environments, working with universities, schools, foundations, state and federal agencies, museums and other community-based organizations.

One of our long-time clients describes our core commitments this way:

       PERG’s work is distinguished by:

• A clear theory of learning—a constructivist theory of learning underlies all of PERG’s work;
• A focus on measuring impact—PERG is committed to finding ways to link program activities with relevant outcomes;
• Commitment to program improvement—PERG uses evaluation as a tool to help practitioners learn from experience and improve their programs; and
• A theory of organizational change—PERG also helps organizations to grow, change and build their capacity. This includes a spirit of generosity in sharing evaluation tools so that organizations can strengthen their own evaluation capacity.

                                William S. Spitzer, Ph.D.
                                Former Vice President- Programs, Exhibits & Planning
                                New England Aquarium