The authors investigated the design and implementation of the capstone courses that are part of Virginia's College and Career Readiness Initiative. Based on a set of performance expectations for college readiness, two capstone courses--one in English and one in mathematics--were developed to help support high school juniors and seniors who intend…

The author is a Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) Spanish teacher and works with students from K-6 at Little Run Elementary School in Fairfax, Virginia. FLES is a program that had been implemented in her school district six years ago. Finding ways to motivate students to use and practice the foreign language outside the classroom is…

Differential response (DR), also referred to as alternative response (AR), family assessment response (FAR), or multiple track response, was developed to incorporate family-centered, strengths-based practices into child protective services (CPS), primarily by diverting lower risk families into an assessment track rather than requiring the…

To learn more about how parents understand the whole child approach to education, ASCD commissioned KRC Research to conduct a study that included parent focus groups in Richmond, Virginia; and Columbus, Ohio, as well as a survey of 800 parents across the United States to identify their perceptions of what a whole child education is, how it is…

College 101 courses--also called student success, introduction to college, orientation to college, or freshman experience courses--provide students with information about college and campus services, assistance with academic and career planning, and techniques to improve study habits and personal skills. This study investigated College 101 courses…

In July 2008, the Ashlawn Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, began the implementation of the Global Citizenship Project, which is designed around the four guiding principles of the Earth Charter: respect and care for the community of life; ecological integrity; social and economic justice; and democracy, nonviolence and peace. The intent of…

By the end of school year (SY) 2008-2009, Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) applied for and was awarded a four-year Striving Readers grant to implement the "Virginia Striving Readers Intervention Initiative" (VSRII). VSRII proposed to implement a supplemental reading intervention with students in seventh and eighth grades at nine…

The "Collegiate Football Sustainable Materials Management Toolkit" was researched by student interns in the Virginia Tech Office of Energy & Sustainability, developed in collaboration with the US EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) and a national panel of technical experts from universities across the nation, and driven forward…

The purpose of this study was to build on the previous work of articulation practices of Virginia's public school divisions and community colleges participating in dual enrollment partnerships, and to understand the role of the community college in initiating, developing, and implementing dual enrollment programs. The primary focus involved…

This report presents baseline and process study findings of an evaluation of the Urban Alliance high school internship program, which provides training, mentoring, and work experience to high school seniors from distressed communities in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, and Chicago. The report, which focuses on the program's…

STEM--the catchy shorthand for "science, technology, engineering and mathematics"--has been part of the school improvement discussion for more than a decade, as educational leaders and policy makers have underscored the importance of these areas in preparing students for an internationally competitive, 21st-century economy. But while the…

This bulletin draws on findings from an independent evaluation, conducted by the Urban Institute, of the Gang Reduction Program's (GRP) Impact in Los Angeles, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; North Miami Beach, Florida; and Richmond, Virginia, to examine how effectively these sites implemented the program. Following are some of the authors' key…

Schools in the United States have struggled with graduation rates for nearly 140 years. School divisions are continuously searching for new and creative curriculums to address changing student needs. From the U.S. Department of Education to local school board members, educators are working to discover creative and accountable alternatives to…

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…

The Developmental Strategies for College Readiness and Success Resource Guide was produced by the Education Commission of the States and the Southern Regional Education Board for the "Countdown to 2015: Developmental Strategies to Advance Readiness in the Common Core Era" convening held April 21-23, 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The…