This book offers a roadmap for developing, growing, and sustaining living-learning communities (LLCs) that promote student success and enhance the undergraduate experience. Drawing on the Best Practices Model presented in "Living-Learning Communities That Work," as well as updated research and rich, real-life examples from LLC…

Whole-school or whole-class programs designed to promote positive behavior can enhance the likelihood that effective teaching and learning occur for all students. This practice guide is intended to help elementary education educators, as well as school and district administrators and parents, implement and support effective prevention-focused…

In 2009, district data revealed that new students at Appoquinimink School District (ASD) were struggling academically and socially. Several specific steps were taken to improve the outcomes of these new students. First, an in-depth review of the relevant data regarding new students in the district was conducted. A white paper on relevant research…

This study was conducted with the ultimate long-range goal to ameliorate significant behavior problems in students with disabilities and improve academic outcomes. The outcome of this specific project included tools and strategies based on evidence-based practices for improving the behavioral, emotional, and academic performance of students with…

Research and policy have established that data are necessary to guide decisions within education. Many of these decisions are made within problem solving and response to intervention frameworks for service delivery. Curriculum-Based Measurement in Reading (CBM-R) is a widely used data collection procedure within those models of service delivery.…

The Council of Chief State School Officers' "Accommodations Manual: How to Select, Administer, and Evaluate the Use of Accommodations for Instruction and Assessment of Students with Disabilities" was first developed to establish guidelines for states to use for the selection, administration, and evaluation of accommodations for…

The Rural and Low-Income School (RLIS) program is part of the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) that was authorized under Title VI, Part B of the "Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965" ("ESEA"), as amended by the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" ("NCLB"). The RLIS program provides additional funds…

An accountability policy is seen as having three basic elements: demonstrated student accomplishment, independent accomplishment audits, and public reports. It requires the regular independent review of results obtained for resources expended. Effects resulting from implementation of such a policy are: (1) the focus of schooling shifts from…

Investigating University-School Partnerships: A Volume in Professional Development School Research, the fourth book in the PDS Research Series developed by the same editors, includes a collection of organized papers that represent the best and latest examples of practitioner thinking, research, and program design and evaluation in the field at the…

Seven major steps are outlined in this brief introduction to the process of evaluation: (1) Identification of the objectives of the educational enterprise. (2) Specification of the types of student behavior that reflect achievement of the objectives. (3) Construction of situations in which the student will be required or expected to demonstrate…

A procedure for determining the degree to which student performance is meeting expected or desired levels is discussed. Five steps in conducting a needs assessment are listed: (1) a student body profile, relating data already available to the six system-wide goals, is provided for each school; (2) using the student body profile, brainstorming…

This handbook is intended to aid in the implementation of the Pennsylvania School Improvement Program (PSIP), a curriculum improvement program. The PSIP model of curriculum improvement contains an intermediate unit (IU) linker (curriculum specialist) leading a school-level local action team (LAT) through a structured problem-solving approach to…

This evaluation handbook was written for school district personnel who may be either novices or experts in the use of educational research techniques. Tailored to categorically aided projects, the handbook describes techniques that will isolate specific activity effects as reflected by pupil achievement. Chapters are devoted to the construction of…

A manual for assessing the effectiveness of a secondary school, taking differences in the school's resources into account, is presented. The Pennsylvania State Board of Education established the Bureau of Educational Quality Assessment which developed a measurement package in Phase I. Field tests were conducted on grade 11 students in 1968 in 100…

This Manual has been designed to provide step-by-step guidelines for conducting an evaluation of a structured training sequence. The assessment design to be presented involves essentially: the testing of a group of trainees before and after a sequence of instruction by administration of the same set of objective-form items under structured testing…