Given decision-makers often prioritize causal research that identifies the impact of treatments on the people they serve, a key question in education research is, "Does it work?". Today, however, researchers are paying increasing attention to successive questions that are equally important from a practical standpoint--not only does it…

Over the last decade, the idea of societal impact resulting from publicly funded research has changed from being a relatively fringe concern related to high-technology entrepreneurship and spin-off companies to becoming an increasingly important public policy concern. This has stimulated academic science policy research to investigate the impact…

Logic modeling, the process that explicates how programs are constructed and theorized to bring about change, is considered to be standard evaluation practice. However, logic modeling is often experienced as a transactional, jargon-laden, discrete task undertaken to produce a document to comply with the expectations of an external entity, the…

Most program evaluation efforts concentrate on assessments of "program implementation" and "program outcomes." However, another area of programs that has not received sufficient attention in the literature is evaluating the plan of the program. Since the quality of the plan and planning process can influence program…

Evaluation data is needed to demonstrate the impact of 4-H science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programming on children and youth. However, collecting evaluation data from cloverbuds (ages 5-7) is particularly challenging given their developmental age. We adapted an observational Cloverbud evaluation tool to measure basic life…

Free-listing is a quick, semi-quantitative methodology commonly used by anthropologists to uncover information within a cultural domain. In this method note, we review how anthropologists have used free-listing in a variety of research settings. We then apply the social-ecological framework to describe how free-listing can be used for formative,…

In the United States, individualized language plans (ILPs) have gained traction across K-12 schools. Much like the Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) used in special education, ILPs outline individualized goals, accommodations, and services for multilingual learners for their language development; however, unlike IEPs, ILPs are developed at…

This article addresses the question of how theatre interventions as elements of a participatory and action-oriented research design can contribute to justice-oriented Caring Community processes. Caring Communities are local initiatives that strengthen everyday solidarity through civic engagement and neighbourhood support, link informal and formal…

Athena Swan was established in 2005 with the goal of advancing the careers of women in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) subjects in higher education. Since then, it has expanded its remit in various ways and has generated some controversy. This paper explains how Athena Swan operates as a policy-scoring scheme,…

The annual budgeting process is a valuable opportunity for districts to systematically examine both resource use and programming. They can then use the findings to optimize resource use and improve program efficacy in ways that will lead to increased student achievement. Bo Yan and Thomas Aberli discuss three root causes for districts' inability…

Post-secondary institutions are required to complete a variety of quality assurance activities including external program review, a process of inviting external reviewers from outside the institution to provide constructive feedback on all aspects of an academic program. While external program reviews have been completed for decades, there has…

Dyslexia is a learning disability that significantly hinders students' abilities to read and comprehend educational materials, posing a substantial challenge within educational environments. This paper introduces an innovative educational system, ReadSmart, that integrates both Augmented Reality (AR) and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)…

Support to improve teacher wellbeing is scarce in almost all contexts, but especially so in low- and middle-income settings in which teachers face both professional and personal challenges (Kirk and Winthrop 2007; Mendenhall, Gomez, and Varni 2018). In this field note, we discuss War Child's development of Coaching-Observing-Reflecting-Engaging…

The notion of what constitutes a high-quality work-integrated learning experience has received increasing attention in the literature, particularly over the past decade. To date, the definitions of high-quality work-integrated learning have been broad and there remains a need to understand how elements of quality can be operationalized,…

Diabetes is a significant population health threat. Evidence-based interventions, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Diabetes Prevention Program and diabetes self-management education and support programs, can help prevent, delay, or manage the disease. However, participation is suboptimal, especially among…