Assessment practitioners are well aware that evidence of learning improvement in higher education is scarce. A Learning Improvement Community has been created to promote learning improvement. Recently, this group created a "Readiness for Learning Improvement Tool." Given learning improvement projects are resource intensive, this tool was…

James Madison University has used dedicated Assessment Days for more than 30 years to collect longitudinal data on student learning outcomes. Our model ensures all incoming students are tested twice: once before beginning classes and again after accumulating 45-70 credit hours. Although each student completes only four instruments during a 2-hour…

The FNS Research Corner provides a continuing series to summarize recently completed and current research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in the area of child nutrition. Summaries of recently completed research projects and in-progress research are provided in this article.

The Commonwealth of Virginia provides more than $220 million annually to fund the Commonwealth Award and Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program (VGAP). These two need-based financial aid programs address affordability and access for in-state undergraduates attending public institutions. As higher education costs continue to increase and the…

Postdeployment family reintegration and relationship breakdown among combat veterans has received considerable attention from the Department of Defense and the media. Social interventions have been developed as a family strengthening strategy. In this article, we present a university-Wounded Warrior partnership where a relationship enhancement…

In this paper, the authors draw on empirical data from CCRC's Scaling Innovation project to examine trends in developmental education instructional reform and outline a framework for reform adoption and adaptation. The paper's findings are based on two qualitative data sources: a scan of developmental education reforms that involved changes to…

Newport News is a city of 193,000 people, located between Williamsburg and Norfolk in Southeastern Virginia. Newport News Public Schools (NNPS) educates approximately 30,500 children, grades Pre-K to 12, of whom 55.7% are Black, 29% are White, 9.9% are Hispanic, 2.9% are Asian, and 2.5% are other races. Newport News Public Schools' (NNPS') Special…

On July 24 and 25, 2012, members of the Task Force on Admissions in the 21st Century gathered in Reston, Virginia, to discuss the progress made by the implementation team in addressing action items from the Task Force's Preserving the Dream of America 2008 report; the current environment for admission; and actions to be taken to further the task…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), most recently reauthorized in 2004, requires the inclusion of transition services in an individualized education program (IEP) for students with disabilities by the time they reach their 16th birthday, or earlier if determined appropriate by the IEP team. The IEP must include "(1)…

Managing the design and production of online courses is challenging. Insufficient instructional design and inefficient management often lead to issues such as poor course quality and course delivery delays. In an effort to facilitate, streamline, and improve the overall design and production of online courses, this article discusses how we…

In order to prepare outstanding teachers, it is essential to provide opportunities for teacher candidates to use the theory learned in the college classroom in a "real physical education class." It is difficult to accomplish this when the university has so many physical education teacher education (PETE) majors that they overwhelm a…

A study was conducted to examine federally assisted employment and training programs in the Tidewater, Virginia, area during fiscal year 1977. The General Accounting Office found forty-four programs with similar goals attempting to assist virtually the same people. These were authorized through sixteen separate legislative authorities, creating a…

Designed to serve as an introduction to the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) for agencies serving the handicapped, this guide analyzes the CETA process and suggests ways in which CETA funds can be used to help handicapped persons achieve their vocational potential. After giving a brief history and overview of the legislation, the…

This administrative guide was developed to provide local school divisions and other agencies operating federally funded Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs in Virginia with the purpose, requirements, and procedures for conducting these programs. The guide is divided into eleven sections. The introduction covers the purpose and scope of ABE…

Adult basic education programs in California, Illinois, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia were reviewed to assess the progress made by the programs in reducing illiteracy. The programs' management was also evaluated. It was found that although some positive achievements have been made, the program successfully reaches only a small fraction of…