It is the moral responsibility of educators to work diligently to provide every student with rich, challenging coursework in efforts to prepare them for post high school careers and education. The use of common formative assessments provides teachers with the valuable, timely information they need to make instructional decisions that will better…

The purpose of this study was to examine the programs, practices, and culture of a school that claims to be meeting the demands of globalization. A qualitative case study of an elementary school was used to extract a comprehensive description of the instructional practice, professional life, and perceived impact on the culture of a school that has…

In the 2006-2007 school year, the State of Wyoming adopted an evidenced-based school funding model. The Wyoming funding model reviewed in this study is considered an evidence-based approach, utilizing expert judgment to determine educational funding. In an evidence-based approach, educational strategies are identified and a dollar figure is…

In January of 2002, President George Bush implemented the No Child left behind act that required all students to be proficient on state standards by the year 2014. One way a school district in Oklahoma met these new requirements was through the implementation of the principles of a Professional Learning Community. This case study was designed…

This guide is intended for school leaders who want to create partnerships with families and community members in their schools. There are many reasons to want to increase family and community engagement. First and foremost, family and community engagement helps students achieve. In addition, creating partnerships allows for the pooling of…

As teachers, administrators, and members of intervention teams use student performance data to inform instructional decisions and monitor implementation of tiered instruction in a Response to Intervention (RTI) model, assuring fidelity of implementation or treatment integrity continues to be a challenge. This article describes how one school…

As educators strive to meet the demands of federal and state mandates intended to "close the achievement gap" schools often adopt multiple programs to help improve student achievement. Many studies have examined the impact of single programs but few have attempted to understand the interactions of multiple reforms. This case study looks…

MDRC launched the Opening Doors demonstration to test four distinct interventions that were designed to help more students persist in community college and accomplish their academic and personal goals. This report describes the impacts of a performance-based scholarship program with a counseling component on academic success and persistence among…

The San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) has implemented programs designed to help African-American students overcome the psychological and cultural obstacles to successful participation in formal learning environments. African-American students suffer low achievement rates in higher education compared with all racial or ethnic groups.…

Since Federal regulations have given states the option to implement alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS) as part of their accountability systems for a small group of students with disabilities, a number of states have made decisions about whether or not to develop and implement such an assessment.…

Background/Context: The role of the principal, and especially the role of the principal in promoting school reform to increase student achievement, is a topic with a long and evolving history. Principals are believed to play a critical role in school reform because they have the potential to impact all aspects of school policy, from time allocated…

First-year university students are a diverse group of individuals with various abilities and needs. Failure of the university and its teaching faculty to meet the needs of first-year students may result in abandonment of the pursuit of a degree. This project informs instructors about the practices that strengthen a learning-centred approach and…

This "Fifth-Year Report" from the Evaluation of the Comprehensive School Reform Program Implementation and Outcomes (ECSRIO) is the final report on the outcomes of the federally funded Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program. It presents findings about the relationship between participation in the U.S. Department of Education's…

This brief will define program replication, describe the critical role of "core components" in program replication, and outline seven activities that program developers and researchers can conduct to enhance the replicability of effective program models and facilitate their adoption by other organizations and programs. Outlined is seven specific…

The Learning Communities Demonstration is a national research project that is testing the effectiveness of learning communities in six community colleges across the United States: Merced College in California; The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) in Baltimore, Maryland; Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida; Houston…