This systematic literature review analysed research related to education reform published between 2000 and 2020. Empirical evidence from 249 studies identified factors hindering or facilitating the long-term success of reform implementation. Eight overarching, actionable themes were found to influence success. Six themes describe requirements at…

Background: Evidence syntheses provide the basis for evidence-based decision making in healthcare. To judge the certainty of findings for the specific decision context evidence syntheses should consider context suitability (ie, generalizability, external validity, applicability or transferability). Our objective was to determine the status quo and…

Improving Indigenous students' literacy is a major priority area for the Australian Government, receiving significant funding to address below benchmark English literacy standardised test results. Despite this, recent benchmark tests suggest Indigenous students continue to achieve well below the national average. This systematic review discusses…

The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the major policy studies concerning school counseling in the United States that were disseminated between 2000 and 2014. In all, reviewers located 37 documents that were disseminated between 2000 and 2014, and that were either intentionally written with a focus on policy implications or were…

We meta-analyze for impact and cost-effectiveness 94 studies from 47 conditional cash transfer programs in low- and middle-income countries worldwide, focusing on educational outcomes that include enrollment, attendance, dropout, and school completion. To conceptually guide and interpret the empirical findings of our meta-analysis, we present a…

Afterschool programs have been operating for decades in communities across the country, and federal investment in afterschool has increased dramatically since the mid-1990s. However, even more investment in the field of afterschool, which includes before school, afterschool and summer learning programs, is needed to keep up with the growing…

This review examines applications of quality management (QM) in language education. QM approaches have been adapted from methodologies developed in industrial and commercial settings, and these are briefly described. Key aspects of QM in language education are the definition of purpose, descriptions of principles and practice, including various…

Afterschool programs have been operating for decades in communities across the country, and federal investment in afterschool has increased dramatically since the mid-1990s. However, even more investment in the field of afterschool, which includes before-school, afterschool and summer learning programs, is needed to keep up with the growing…

Cost analysis has become an important educational decision-making tool in recent years, as educators are being asked to do more with less funding and to provide tangible evidence of the effectiveness of educational programs. Yet few researchers and practitioners are familiar with how to conduct a cost analysis or interpret cost analysis data. This…

In the past several years, evaluation researchers and practitioners have become concerned about the apparent failure to utilize evaluation information. A simplified model of decision making is presented, in which the decision maker is confronted with a situation requiring a choice, generates potential solutions, assesses the probabilities that a…

It is critical for schools and districts engaged in a comprehensive school-reform process to develop a schoolwide or districtwide strategy, one that affects teaching and learning, governance, and professional development. Researchers studying school-reform processes have noted that different types of models suit different schools differently.…

Bertram S. Brown, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, discusses conflicts between scientific and value dimensions of evaluation. He relates this conflict to: usefulness of mental health program evaluations; conduct of internal evaluations; release of findings; training; rating of reports; and planned change consultation.…

Evaluates whether women participating in a career group designed to increase career-related self-efficacy would make gains on career decision-making self-efficacy and vocational exploration and commitment compared with women in a control group. Results indicate that women in the treatment group improved on career decision-making self-efficacy and…

Fostering self-determination is the defining focus of empowerment evaluation, but this type of evaluation overlaps participatory, collaborative, stakeholder-involving, and utilization-focused approaches to evaluation. It becomes critical to distinguish empowerment evaluation from other approaches as the field debates its boundaries and…

Five years of research findings on assessment and decision making for learning disabled (LD) students are summarized through 14 generalizations. the generalizations deal with five issues: which students to refer for psychoeducational evaluation; which students to declare eligible for LD services; how to plan specific instructional interventions…