As part of their field education, social work students develop and implement change agent projects to influence positive change. Faculty and students, however, have identified a lack of placement options for Black students to allow them to both learn and feel supported in their racial identity. To ensure that Black students have placement options…

Guided pathways reforms can take several years to implement at scale because they require a thoroughgoing redesign of a college's major functions, including: (1) organizing programs into career-focused meta-majors to enhance student recruitment and exploration and program improvement; (2) mapping clear paths to degrees, employment, and further…

Adoption of the edTPA as part of new teacher licensing and/or program approval requirements has created heated discussions among teacher educators. Among the discussion topics is the supposition that state-level bureaucrats have been the sole source of the decision to require the edTPA, with little input from the preparation programs. This article…

This resource was prepared in response to a request for information about what States with Race to the Top -- Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grants are doing to support coaching as a professional development strategy. This information will be helpful to other States as they explore ways to support early childhood educators in improving their…

A startling number of students arrive at the doors of colleges and universities lacking the essential skills and knowledge required to succeed there. If given the proper tools and supports, the great majority of these students would be able to achieve their goals in and outside of the classroom. But most of them are shuttled off to developmental…

Background: Approximately 31.7% of children in the United States are overweight or obese. Interventions in the afterschool setting may help combat childhood obesity. Research exists on interventions in school settings, but a few data exist for interventions about afterschool programs. This study investigates increasing physical activity (PA) in…

This article presents a formative intervention study, called "Learning Lab" that facilitated the collective design of a culturally responsive behavioral support system at an urban middle school in the United States. Learning Lab united parents, teachers, support staff, education leaders, and researchers, specifically those who have been…

Living-learning programs (LLPs), also known as learning communities, offer students a shared academic focus within a residential community; thus, LLPs are considered ideal contexts for student learning. In 1994, Zeller highlighted Washington State University as an example of how learning communities can successfully incorporate faculty, students,…

Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on first 10, then seven sites. It…

What happens when teams from 57 cities building afterschool systems gather to discuss two key system responsibilities--improving afterschool programs and using data for informed decision-making? Lots of rich discussion. This report covers a national afterschool conference held in February 2013. It details what mayors, program providers, system…

Every year 1.3 million U.S. high school students drop out of school with one quarter of female students failing to graduate on time. Female dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, to earn less when they are employed, to become pregnant before the age of 20, to become obese, to smoke, and to drink more heavily than their male counterparts. This…

This self-assessment tool was developed for those who wish to embark on state-wide governmental systems change to improve high school transition and employment outcomes for youth and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Its purpose is to aid in the development of a work plan that is based on a review of the state…

As state governors grapple with their budgets for 2012, public universities and colleges are facing some of the deepest funding cuts in memory. To make matters worse, most of the federal stimulus funds, which have helped dull the pain so far, will have been spent by June. It seems almost inevitable that IT departments are going to be asked to…

Divorcing one student information system and hooking up with another can cause serious upheaval. With the right plan in place, the transition to a new student information system can go surprisingly smoothly. The author interviewed technologists at Southwest Wisconsin Technical College and the Emily Griffith Opportunity School (CO) who recently…

This article explores Kettle Moraine High School's experience of participating in the PISA-based test, known in the U.S. as the OECD Test for Schools. The high school is located on the western edge of Milwaukee. Starting with a trial run in 2012 that involved more than 100 U.S. schools, the OECD Test for Schools has been offered to individual…