Background: The physical activity level of older adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) is extremely low, and their fitness levels are far beneath accepted norms for older people with normal intelligence and comparable with frail older people. A physical activity programme, including an education programme, was developed for older adults with…

This article presents the results of a national study of 39 higher education institutions that collected information about their evaluation procedures and outcome measures for faculty development for online teaching conducted during 2011-2012. The survey results found that over 90% of institutions used measures of the faculty person's…

This article examines the effects of one year of exposure to "Learning to Read in a Healing Classroom" (LRHC) on the reading and math skills of second- to fourth-grade children in the low-income and conflict-affected Democratic Republic of the Congo. LRHC consists of two primary components: teacher resource materials that infuse…

We provide an overview of research in sustainability education. We argue that the interconnectedness of environmental sustainability programs at K-12 schools is one metric by which sustainability education can be conceptualized. We present a new measure of whole-school sustainability, or "interconnectedness," and then use it to compare…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate two recent examples of the New Zealand Ministry of Education's approach to reducing the persistent disparities in achievement between students of different social and ethnic groups. The first example is cluster-based school improvement, and the second is the development of national standards for…

This pilot study proposes a set of analytical steps for comparing schools that participate in the National Science Foundation's Math and Science Partnership (MSP) Program and their nonparticipating peers in the same state. This pilot is part of a larger effort to evaluate the MSP Program's role in student achievement, with two companion analyses.…

The use of evaluations for policy and program development and change is critically reviewed. Existing conceptions of utilization are discussed and improvements in the methods of detecting use are suggested. Five clusters of variables affecting utilization are described and hypotheses about the reasons for their effects are outlined. (Author/AL)

DETECT, the acronym for Dimensionality Evaluation To Enumerate Contributing Traits, is an innovative and relatively new nonparametric dimensionality assessment procedure used to identify mutually exclusive, dimensionally homogeneous clusters of items using a genetic algorithm ( Zhang & Stout, 1999). Because the clusters of items are mutually…

Describes setting, rationale, organization, schools and communities, activities, and evaluation of a model small school cluster begun in 1981 in South Dakota. Discusses issues in implementing cluster strategies: goals, commitments, size, location, outside support, organizational structure, leadership, meeting schedules, faculty involvement,…

This paper focuses on doctoral assessment as an area that has been relatively neglected in higher education research. It then describes and justifies a mixed-method approach to the study of PhD examination processes and outcomes in Australia. The design is reported of a study including candidate and candidature information for approximately 800…