Prior to the Guided Pathways movement, a litany of research in community colleges showed that course placement was inaccurate and ineffective. This article argues that placement might be redesigned, addressing erroneous assumptions about student success in service of pathways. This new placement would integrate three main areas of student success…

When a researcher tests an educational program, product, or policy in a randomized controlled trial and detects a significant effect on an outcome, the intervention is usually classified as something that "works." When expected effects are not found, there is seldom an orderly and transparent analysis of plausible reasons why.…

This article examines how one public university helped address student plagiarism through a collaboration between the Math and Writing Center and the Office of Student Conduct and Integrity. Included is a thorough discussion of how the program was designed, the roles each office played, and how the two areas collaborated to assess success. Since…

In this article we explore the potential for attempts to encourage student engagement to be conceptualised as behaviour change activity, and specifically whether a new framework to guide such activity has potential value for the Higher Education (HE) sector. The Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) (Michie, Susan, Maartje M van Stralen, and Robert West.…

Many geoscience education initiatives now involve cross-departmental or multi-institutional programs. However, the geoscientists who lead such programs typically have little experience or training in program design, leadership, or evaluation. In this commentary, we make the case that geoscientists taking on these ambitious leadership roles can…

Supported decision-making has emerged as an alternative to traditional models of guardianship as a means to support people with intellectual disability to be maximally included in the totality of their lives. Based on social-ecological models of disability that emphasize personal strengths and abilities and supports that enable people to fully…

Despite growing concern about substance misuse in pregnancy and infants born substance-exposed, few programs have been developed that address the complex needs of this vulnerable population. This article describes the process of developing Project NESST® (Newborns Exposed to Substances: Support and Therapy), from needs assessment to program…

Multilevel interventions are inspired by socio-ecological models, and seek to create change on various levels--for example by increasing the health literacy of individuals as well as modifying the social norms within a community. Despite becoming a buzzword in public health, actual multilevel interventions remain scarce. In this commentary, we…

Public school systems employ a range of professionals to provide support to children and youth in schools. For students living in poverty and experiencing trauma, the work of these professionals is particularly necessary and urgent. Ranging from the treatment of acute mental health issues and accommodations for students with special needs, to…

This is the first of two papers that explore a role that occupational therapy can play in supporting children with reading challenges. Part I presents the grounding framework for an occupation and participation approach to reading intervention (OPARI) and serves to introduce the clinical application of the approach presented in Part II. In this…

Design-based implementation research offers the opportunity to rethink the relationships between intervention, research, and situation to better attune research and evaluation to the program development process. Using a heuristic called the intervention development curve, I describe the rough trajectory that programs typically follow as they…

This paper explores the setting up of the partnership across the Mauritian and South African higher education contexts with respect to the development of a postgraduate PhD doctoral studies programme. The Mauritian Institute of Education (MIE) aims to develop staffing capacities through engagement with doctoral studies, especially in the context…

Background: Previous research from the fields of computer science and engineering highlight the importance of an iterative design process (IDP) to create more creative and effective solutions. Objective: This study describes IDP as a new method for developing health behavior interventions and evaluates the effectiveness of a dining hall--based…

There is little discussion in the Design-Based Research (DBR) literature on how to design an intervention that has the potential to be highly effective. The act of designing is usually viewed as engineering something from theory or research on best practices. This paper challenges that universal belief and presents successful design as an…

The 2013 study, "Evaluation of the College Possible Program: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial", investigated the effect of the "College Possible" program, which is designed to serve low-income high school students by providing SAT/ACT test preparation, financial aid consulting, and college admissions guidance in an…