Mentoring is a series of collaborative activities and conversations between young people and older or more experienced persons (i.e., mentors) who are acting in a helping capacity to provide support that benefits one or more areas of the young person's development. This resource offers those who develop and implement mentoring services meaningful…

Governments and other organizations that design, implement, or manage in-service teacher professional development (TPD) programs navigate many choices and challenges to build monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems that suit their program objectives and constraints. The primary objective of a TPD M&E system is to help guide the program…

"The Family Partnership Process: Engaging and Goal-Setting with Families" explores how strong partnerships can positively influence the goals families set in the Family Partnership Process. This guide recommends "Seven Steps for Setting and Reaching Goals with Families" and will help program staff: (1) learn about families and…

While literacy interventions can be implemented in any grade, focusing on interventions in grades 3-8 is critical because it is often the best chance for students identified with earlier reading deficiencies to become ready for the literacy demands of postsecondary education and careers. States in both the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL)…

A considerable amount of time, effort, and other resources go into the development and implementation of education projects. Quite obviously, the goal is to create effective projects that can serve as models of excellence. Whether the project is an hour-long endangered species talk, a family festival, a severe weather awareness workshop, marine…

Regardless of where you are in your school improvement process, here's a book that helps you make sure you have all the right elements working for you in the right way. The authors take you through the core processes that are essential for all school improvement efforts--from establishing your mission to differentiating your supervision based on…

This is the third of three volumes that constitute the final evaluation report of Project STAR (State Technical Assistance Resources), an undertaking of the Maryland State Department of Education designed to help 36 elementary schools improve their reading programs. This volume is the project handbook and contains information concerning the…

This guidebook is one in the Target Topic Series developed to highlight issues and concerns related to effective community education operation. It is intended for the community educator and community education advisory council member who would like to learn how effective and careful planning can improve their community education program. The…

This secondary vocational guidance planning handbook is designed for secondary school personnel who want (1) to start a vocational guidance program, (2) to assess their vocational guidance services, (3) to expand or diversify their vocational guidance services, (4) to gather ideas for new vocational guidance activities. The first of three major…

This handbook is intended to assist correctional educators in improving postsecondary vocational programs for incarcerated persons. The guide is based on a study of exemplary characteristics and practices of postsecondary vocational programs in minimum-, medium-, and maximum-security correctional institutions. The introductory section includes…

The general inability of instructional developers to demonstrate the effects of instructional development services toward improving college programs is discussed, and a process for program evaluation and revision is proposed. A flow chart of the general process for continuous program evaluation and revision provides examples of operational…

Presents guidelines to be used when legislation which would expand existing early childhood programs for young children or create new programs is being considered. The categories for these guidelines include provisions for program standards to ensure quality programs; parental access and involvement; service eligibility; interagency linkages and…

Based on the work of the National Council on Research in Child Welfare (NCRCW), this handbook is designed to help social service agency executives cope with changing times for child welfare agencies, strengthen traditional services to meet today's needs, and analyze and plan for the future. The manual aims to demystify quality improvement theory…

In the field of child and family programs, a needs assessment, which is essentially a fact-finding exercise, can be conducted either by focusing on a particular program or by examining a population of interest. In conducting a needs assessment, it is important to be systematic, be clear about the information which is sought, be specific about the…

This monograph is divided into two parts. Part 1 is meant to serve as a conceptual guide for those facilitating or conducting life-cycle program-management workshops focused on any of the life-cycle stages of: (1) problem finding; (2) program design; (3) program development; (4) program implementation; (5) program maintenance and improvement; and…