Community colleges enroll a diverse set of students who often face challenges meeting their basic needs. This report describes the potential benefits and costs of one low-cost and relatively light-touch tool that colleges might use to increase students' access to basic needs assistance. The authors focus on the Findhelp platform, which is modeled…

The Craft of Writing (CoW) is an intervention aimed at improving the writing skills, writing self-efficacy and writing creativity (ideation) of primary school pupils by developing teachers as 'writers' and improving their own writing practice and their teaching of writing. This intervention was delivered to Year 5 pupils between June 2018 and July…

This report presents the findings of the cost-benefit analysis of Accelerating Opportunity, an initiative designed to help adults with low basic skills earn industry-recognized credentials in high-growth occupations and succeed in the labor market. It compares the value of the benefits associated with AO--principally labor market benefits--with…

The authors prepared this report after exploring programs using a 90-day cycle process borrowed from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). The IHI 90-day cycle scans activity in the field as a "quick way to research innovative ideas and assess their potential for advancing quality improvement". The goal was to "get under…

There has been little data collected on how much testing actually goes on in America's schools and how the results are used. So in the Spring of 2014, the Council staff developed and launched a survey of assessment practices. This report presents the findings from that survey and subsequent Council analysis and review of the data. It also offers…

There is widespread agreement that many of California's high schools are doing a poor job of preparing their students for college and careers. The James Irvine Foundation is sponsoring a major initiative to develop "Multiple Pathways"--now called the Linked Learning approach--as a strategy for improving the performance of California high…

This study conducted telephone interviews with 26 randomly selected English Language Coordinators from 26 Arizona school districts with enrollment patterns that were representative of the state as whole. Three primary questions were posed to the respondents: (a) How is the 4-hour ELD block being implemented?; (b) What are the benefits of the…

Funders and program planners want to know: What does it cost to operate a high-quality after-school or summer program? This study answers that question, discovering that there is no "right" number. Cost varies substantially, depending on the characteristics of the participants, the goals of the program, who operates it and where it is located.…

Implementing the principle of equal pay for work of comparable value, usually called "pay equity" or "comparable worth," should not be a major problem for either the public or private sectors. Information was analyzed from a survey of 24 State and local public sector employers involved in the implementation of pay equity, telephone interviews with…

Provides worksheet that can be used to calculate the costs of a complete training intervention, a needs assessment, an evaluation of a specific program, media production, or job aids. Developed in response to the General Motors Great Job Aid Contest, this aid includes a glossary of terms. (LRW)

This guidebook, the second in a series of three, (plus a linker's guide) is intended to aid educational personnel in the selection of programs and materials best suited for specific schools and needs. The first section of the guide enables educators to develop detailed estimates of the costs for each program under consideration. The second section…

The Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program was evaluated from the standpoint of its impact on three groups: VISTA volunteers, communities served by VISTA sponsors, and sponsoring organizations to which VISTA volunteers are assigned. Survey questionnaires were sent to 1,250 of the 3,400 VISTA volunteers currently in service, 494 current…

In 1981, the Maryland State Board for Community Colleges (MSBCC) conducted a study of the funding of remedial education in the state's community colleges, with the intent of recommending alternative approaches to community college funding for consideration by the legislature. Presidents of each of the 17 community colleges were contacted and asked…

This document consists of three volumes representing a 3-year study of the Chapter 1 Migrant Education Program (MEP). The study used current and nationally representative data to address research questions related to program targeting, services, communications, and administration. Volume I presents study findings from mail questionnaires completed…

A study was conducted to determine the costs of vocational education programs in excess of, or in addition to, the costs of "regular" education for grades 7-12 in New Mexico. Data were gathered through a literature review, a study of vocational education funding formulas of other states; a review of the data from the New Mexico…