The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) identified a need for a comprehensive set of best practices in nutrition education for low-income audiences for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) educational projects, including SNAP-Ed. A comprehensive list of best practices would promote consistency and efficacy in program planning,…

The University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development made an organizational decision in 2011 to invest in a system-wide approach to implement youth program quality into the 4-H program using the Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA) tool. This article describes the four key components to the Minnesota Youth Program Quality…

This report presents findings from the annual evaluation of the MacPhail Afterschool Intensive Strings Program. It covers the 2017-18 school year and looks at student progress reports, academic data, and student and parent satisfaction with the program. [For the 2016-17 report, see ED619344.]

This resource was prepared in response to a request from a Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) State for information about the Transformation Zones that 10 RTT-ELC States had included as key projects in their RTT-ELC plans. This information will be helpful to other States as they consider how to continue to increase the quality of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the process of knowledge transfer. The setting is a health and nutrition educational program at University of Minnesota Extension. The main research question was how is Knowledge Transfer being implemented in Extension, specifically Educational Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program? A case study,…

In the United States, health insurance coverage for autism spectrum disorder treatments has been historically limited. In response, as of 2015, 40 states and Washington, DC, have passed state autism insurance mandates requiring many health plans in the private insurance market to cover autism diagnostic and treatment services. This study examined…

This Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) school status report provides a summary of the current status of all schools implementing PBIS in Minnesota, including participation in the Minnesota Department of Education's training sequence, implementation fidelity assessment scores, and outcomes (as appropriate). In particular, this…

The MacPhail Center for Music Online School Partnerships program aims to increase access to high-quality music education for students who attend schools in Greater Minnesota in order to improve student interest and knowledge in music, and to improve or maintain positive school engagement and non-academic skills. The MacPhail Teaching Artists work…

How can we better support young people as they develop the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in school, work, and life? That is the question facing in-school educators, afterschool providers, families, policymakers, and the general public. This third brief in our series, "Beyond the Bell: Research to Action in the Afterschool and…

One in six school-age Minnesotans has at least one immigrant parent and one in five Minnesotans under five years old is a child of immigrants. This trend is part of a significant shift in the state's racial and ethnic makeup over the past 25 years. This report looks at Minnesota's redesign of policies and practices to better support the education…

This report presents findings about the MacPhail Afterschool Intensive Strings Program in 2016-17. It shows that students who participated in the program are regularly attending school, maintaining or improving their math and reading proficiency scores, and reporting that they enjoy school. [For the 2015-16 report, see ED619373.]

The Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program, authorized by Congress in 2011, is designed to improve the quality of early learning and development programs for children from birth through age 5. This discretionary grant program is administered jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services…

Vocational Education, Community Training, and Occupational Relations Program (VECTOR) serves a variety of students with disabilities, about one-third of whom are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf/blind. As part of what the federal government calls a "traditionally underserved population," these students come from the homes of immigrants and…

MacPhail's Online School Partnership has been providing lessons and working with schools outside the Twin Cities metro region since 2011. This report looks at how well the program is being implemented, how well the collaboration between MacPhail and schools functions, and how it can be strengthened.

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the U.S. Department of Education funded the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII, or the Center) in 2011. NCII's mission during the first five years of funding was to build the capacity of local education agencies (LEAs) to support schools, practitioners, and other stakeholders in the…