The fundamental concepts of Achieving the Dream--using evidence to develop and evaluate strategies for improving student learning and success--are also important to successful efforts to meet accreditation requirements. Following the Achieving the Dream approach can help community colleges organize and document improvement efforts in ways that are…

The purpose of this paper is to inform the community about teacher appraisal methods in the School District of Philadelphia, outline the difficulties of the current system, and suggest approaches that would strengthen the teacher appraisal process. The authors gathered their information over three months in mid-2009 from multiple sources:…

When the bell rings at the end of a school day, millions of children are left to their own devices while they wait for their families to return home at the end of the work day. Findings from a study conducted by the Afterschool Alliance, "America After 3PM," show that 15.1 million children are unsupervised when the school day ends. The…

Noting that young children under age five are still without comprehensive public policies to protect or enhance their status, this issue of the NCEDL Spotlights excerpts an article proposing a quality support system for early childhood education programs. The components of a quality support system are highlighted: (1) personnel preparation; (2)…

The credibility of universities is at stake over the issue of athletics; college and university officers must exercise control. Ten guides to action are presented including: accept responsibility, establish campus rules, reject justification for shoddy practices, and know what is going on. (MLW)

This guide presents practical applications from a research study about the processes that schools use to initiate and sustain reforms. It examines the history of 10 elementary schools in high-poverty settings, including details of behavioral and attitudinal changes. Ten capacities were associated with the stages of successful reform. The…

Based on the work of the National Council on Research in Child Welfare (NCRCW), this handbook is designed to help social service agency executives cope with changing times for child welfare agencies, strengthen traditional services to meet today's needs, and analyze and plan for the future. The manual aims to demystify quality improvement theory…

Describes the change strategies involved in moving a mediocre child care program onto the road to excellence. Highlights strategies focusing on changing staff perceptions of themselves and their practices with families, obtaining honest observations of staff, visiting other programs for inservice training, examining educational practices in terms…

In their search for new ways to assess their agencies' success in working with children and families, child welfare administrators and senior managers are increasingly seeking regular and reliable sources of information that help them evaluate agency performance, make ongoing decisions, and provide an accurate picture for agency staff and external…

Based on informal discussions with personnel at selected federal agencies and private sector organizations and on additional research, this publication addresses issues and problems of software maintenance and suggests actions and procedures which can help software maintenance organizations meet the growing demands of maintaining existing systems.…

This two-part "Implementation Guide" will help to deepen your understanding and sharpen your ability to implement each of the strategies discussed in "Leading School Change: Nine Strategies to Bring Everybody on Board" (ED509821). Part One offers discussion questions and activities which focus on each of the nine strategies. They can be completed…

This training package, which centers on effective management and the operation of valid prevention programs, presents a five-day training experience designed to help managers of substance-abuse prevention programs. In this trainer manual, the introduction includes a list of course goals and objectives, a summary of the ten individual training…

Cultural competence is a set of behaviors, attitudes, and policies that enable a system, agency, or individual to function effectively in trans-cultural interactions. The term refers to a person or program's ability to honor and respect the cultural differences of individuals and families who are clients and staff. A culturally competent system…

The purpose of this publication is to help school district leaders improve the use of technology in schools through the design and implementation of a planning process. Three levels of the process are noted, including strategic planning of overall direction for program improvement, program planning of objectives and management, and curriculum…

Partners in Quality is a research and development project sponsored by the Canadian Child Care Federation and its affiliates to explore how child care providers, parents, and other partners can work together to support and improve quality in child care. This booklet, in both English and French, supplements a series to support child care providers…