This article shares the results from a quasi-experimental mixed-methods study of a promising transition-focused professional development approach. The 12-week team-based intervention resulted in positive outcomes among intervention group participants' knowledge and capacities. The intervention group exhibited statistically significant changes in…

The purpose of this process evaluation was to evaluate how classroom teachers, campus administrators, and instructional staff differ in their perception of data usage for educational improvement in a large suburban Independent School District (ISD) in Southeast Texas. The researcher was granted permission by the superintendent of the school…

Texas consistently has one of the highest high school graduation percentages across the nation yet falls below the national average for adults passing high school equivalency tests (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). In 2019, there were 300,401 adults in Tarrant County eligible for a high school credential. This opportunity for high school equivalency…

The purpose of the Teacher Prep Review is to guarantee teachers have expertise in reading instruction (as well as other essential areas NCTQ assesses) before being trusted to teach children to read. By regularly reviewing the reading coursework provided by nearly 700 elementary teacher preparation programs, the National Council on Teacher Quality…

Increasingly, criminal justice practitioners have been called on to help solve breaches in cyber security. However, while the demand for criminal justice participation in cyber investigations increases daily, most universities are lagging in their educational and training opportunities for students entering the criminal justice fields. This…

In 2016, with mounting pressure from parents, educators, and other stakeholders around the state pushing back against the volume of standardized tests students are required to take, the Texas Education Agency introduced the Texas Writing Pilot. This pilot was designed to study the feasibility of creating an alternative writing assessment that…

GlobalEx is a co-curricular program designed to enhance cross-cultural engagement at the undergraduate level at Texas Christian University. This student-designed and student-led project arose from recognition of a need to integrate the experiences of international students and domestic students, and it uses a three-step model (EXplore, EXchange,…

Project/problem-based learning (PBL) can provide an effective model for school reform when implemented with fidelity. In the report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm," it was recommended that if the U.S. is to remain competitive in the 21st-century economy, there must be a serious effort to "enlarge the pipeline of students who are…

Inquiry-based science interventions aim to improve students' science proficiency by helping them understand scientific processes. In these interventions, students conduct hands-on investigations of science concepts and everyday phenomena, construct explanations for what they observe, consider alternative explanations, and communicate and justify…

Teachers' problem-based learning knowledge, abilities, and attitudes are important factors in successful K--12 PBL implementations. This article describes the development and use of a free, online module entitled "Design a Problem-Based Learning Experience." The module production, aligned with theories of andragogy, was a partnership…

The importance of reducing the gender gap in engineering programs by recruiting and retaining female students is well recognized. Although women hold roughly half of all jobs in the United States, only 24% of STEM jobs are occupied by women. The problem is even more pronounced for engineering, where women held about 12% of jobs as of 2013 (Corbett…

Program evaluation often suffers due to time constraints, imperfect instruments, incomplete data, and the need to report standardized metrics. This article about the evaluation process for the Wi$eUp financial education program showcases the difficulties inherent in evaluation and suggests best practices for assessing program effectiveness. We…

The need for evaluation capacity building (ECB) in military psychological health is apparent in light of the proliferation of newly developed, yet untested programs coupled with the lack of internal evaluation expertise. This study addresses these deficiencies by utilizing Preskill and Boyle's multidisciplinary ECB model within a post-traumatic…

The Texas Earth and Space Science (TXESS) Revolution was a 5-y teacher professional development project that aimed to increase teachers' content knowledge in Earth science and preparing them to teach a 12th-grade capstone Earth and Space Science course, which is new to the Texas curriculum. The National Science Foundation-supported project was…

Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." This article presents a pedagogical approach for framing a digital-identity-enhancing ePortfolio that maximizes student engagement and…