According to recent Pew Center research (2021), 72% of the US public uses some form of social media. These social media apps -- from Twitter to Facebook to Snapchat to Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and more -- are utilized to establish our digital presence and portray our digital identities. For higher education institutions and student affairs…

The importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has gained national attention in recent years, with educators, policymakers, and others advocating for greater participation and enhanced performance in STEM in order to bolster the U.S. economy and provide greater national security. This brief summarizes several pieces of…

Jumpstart is a growing literacy program that is now active in 17 states in addition to the District of Columbia. The Jumpstart Model pairs children of low-income families with college mentors in the child's typical learning environment. Despite the prevalence and importance of Jumpstart, little has been written about either the general model of…

The Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) is a province-wide partnership program whose goal is to improve student learning and performance by fostering initiatives that reflect the unique needs and circumstances of each school authority. It is currently ending its third cycle and ninth year of implementation. "The Colloquium on…

As readers of "Assessment Update" know, the call for assessment is sweeping over the globe, so much so that faculty and administrators are finding it difficult to ignore it--though many may wish they could. Unfortunately, awareness does not lead to an increase in assessment implementation because fear of assessment is still widespread. The push…

Participant perceptions of program effectiveness and impact are undoubtedly a popular focus of Extension program evaluations. However, the effects of participants' characteristics and contextual variables on program perceptions and how the resulting data can be used for program improvement are less explored in evaluation studies. Using data from…

The authors tell about their heterogeneous 91 person research and evaluation unit at an operating foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota. They focus on evaluation for program improvement, one of several purposes of studies they work on. The three authors write from their different manager positions within the unit. Included are the context of the…

A project was conducted to (1) determine the potential for serving more and a greater variety of students in New Hampshire's secondary vocational centers through individualized instruction techniques, (2) clarify associated terminology and concepts, (3) study teacher, student, and administrator attitudes towards individualized instruction, and (4)…

This report synthesizes the information presented at three conferences designed to develop guidelines for future funding for Follow Through programs. These conferences were part of a series of activities undertaken by the National Institute of Education (NIE) in 1981 to plan for a new set of Follow Through research and pilot project activities.…

This study was conducted to identify the perceived needs regarding implementation of inhouse training at Northern Arizona Long Distance Corporation (NALD). Specifically, the study was conducted to evaluate whether current and proposed training programs were consistent with company training goals from employer and employee perspectives, to make…

Brokering Rural AGE was a 17-month collaborative project for the development of gerontological curricula, involving four university-based gerontology centers and 17 community colleges in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Its purpose was to enhance the gerontological curricula of community colleges serving rural areas by means of a model…

A program was conducted during the Spring semester, 1985, in the San Antonio area to place high school juniors and seniors from three high schools in the Edgewood Independent School District in three-month interships in high-technology industries. Students traveled to their training locations on school-provided transportation on Mondays through…

A problem solving study focused on the effectiveness of the student speech therapy practicum, part of the speech pathology and audiology program in the Department of Communication Disorders at Hampton Institute (Virginia). The objective was to investigate participants' attitudes toward the program and its problems and provide solutions for…

This annual report describes five projects of the Oregon Alliance for Program Improvement, which provides work-relevant education and training services in leadership, professional competence, and organizational effectiveness. First is an aggregated report of nearly 30 vocational education program improvement field study projects conducted between…

Tennessee's career education program of 1975-76 was based on the following objectives: (1) provide orientation to state department of education personnel on how to effect incremental improvements in K-12 career education with an emphasis on grades 7-12; (2) provide in-service career education for selected local education leaders and assistance to…