Purpose: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Next Generation Courseware Challenge (NGCC) in 2014 to address the limited availability of affordable, high-quality adaptive courseware to postsecondary students. SRI International was retained to evaluate the NGCC initiative as a whole and to conduct impact studies for the NGCC…

This report presents findings from Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's (WICHE) "Multistate Longitudinal Data Exchange Pilot" ("MLDE" or "Exchange"), which includes an array of analyses of the combined dataset covering 192,689 students from the four states (Hawai'i, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) that…

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Science Digital Library/Distributed Learning (NSDL) program turned 10 years old in 2010. This report presents results of a preliminary program evaluation carried out by RAND and is organized around three principal goals: (1) Provide an initial evaluation of NSDL based on existing information…

The Growth Model Pilot Project (GMPP) was initiated to allow states to experiment with adjustments to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) status accountability system in order to improve the validity of AYP determinations by giving schools credit for students who are making significant growth. The pilot allowed states, districts, and schools to…

This technical report describes the process of development and piloting of reading comprehension measures that are appropriate for seventh-grade students as part of an online progress screening and monitoring assessment system, http://easycbm.com. Each measure consists of an original fictional story of approximately 1,600 to 1,900 words with 20…

In 2009, (and over a six week period) the National Literacy Trust (NLT) hosted a survey that was offered to the 21 local authorities making up the Partners in Literacy network at that time. Partners in Literacy (PiL) is a pilot project, funded from 2009 by the then Department for Children, Schools and Families and delivered by the NLT in…

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) initiated the Growth Model Pilot Project (GMPP) in November 2005 with the goal of approving up to ten states to incorporate growth models in school adequate yearly progress (AYP) determinations under the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" ("ESEA"). After extensive reviews, nine states…

In late 2007, Jobs for the Future (JFF), working with the Delta Project on Postsecondary Costs, Productivity and Accountability, launched "Investing in Student Success", a one-year pilot program. The pilot, conceived of as part of the "Making Opportunity Affordable" initiative and funded by Walmart Foundation and Lumina Foundation for Education,…

The Plus 50 Initiative is a three-year initiative of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), launched in June 2008 and funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies. It was created to support a pilot group of two-year institutions to develop or expand campus programs that engage plus 50 learners. The overarching goal of the Plus 50…

The American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC) Plus 50 Initiative (2008-2011), funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies, was created to build the capacity of community colleges nationwide to develop programming that engages the plus 50 learner. The Initiative supported a pilot group of 13 two-year institutions to develop or expand college…

The Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) represents a collaborative, multi-disciplinary effort combining the expertise of mental health treatment providers, psychological researchers, industry, and information sciences and technology. This report outlines a preliminary effort to describe the range of information on college student mental…

The American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC) Plus 50 Initiative is a three-year initiative launched in June 2008 and funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies. It was created to support a pilot group of two-year institutions to develop or expand campus programs that engage plus 50 learners. The initiative focuses on three types of…

In this technical report, we describe the development and piloting of a series of mathematics progress monitoring measures intended for use with students in grade 1. These measures, available as part of easyCBM [TM], an online progress monitoring assessment system, were developed in 2008 and administered to approximately 2800 students from schools…

This technical report describes the development of reading comprehension assessments designed for use as progress monitoring measures appropriate for 2nd Grade students. The creation, piloting, and technical adequacy of the measures are presented. The following are appended: (1) Item Specifications for MC [Multiple Choice] Comprehension - Passage…

This technical report describes the development and piloting of reading comprehension measures developed for use by fifth-grade students as part of an online progress monitoring assessment system, http://easycbm.com. Each comprehension measure is comprised of an original work of narrative fiction approximately 1500 words in length followed by 20…