This study examined a differentiated, bottom-up approach to school improvement planning through exploration of the qualities that make up a highly effective school department team as it related to their ability to create and meet a student-centered, data driven high achievement goal. While there are a multitude of factors that affect the ability…

In March 2022, Child Trends contracted with the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to conduct an independent evaluation of Parent Aware, Minnesota's quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for early care and education (ECE) programs. The evaluation, required by the 2021 Minnesota Legislature, includes several research activities…

The purpose of this study is to examine the network effect of school principals as it relates to school improvement. Network practices of school principals are compared to an innovative practice for improving networking practices. Through descriptive statistics and chi-square goodness of fit, we illustrate the difference between what school…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to propose and examine an integrated learning model for improving training effectiveness in workplace learning. Specifically, this study investigated the effect of achievement goal-setting intervention across three groups of new employees from a multinational medical company. During a three-day remote training…

Wise Ways School District (pseudonym) is a public school district in northern New Jersey which consists of grades K-12. The high school is a four-year comprehensive institution that serves 583 students in 9th-12th grade. Wise Ways High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school whose goal is to address the needs of all of its students.…

This study proposes an empirically grounded theory of how school reform implementation relates to effectiveness, useful for developing and studying many approaches to school reform both in the U.S. and abroad, and also for assessing how policymakers and implementers might leverage various aspects of implementation to create effective school…

School reform efforts, though the subject of a great deal of scrutiny and research since the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983, have resulted in negligible positive net results for student achievement on any of our current scales of measurement. Additionally, our current school system has yet to fully or successfully pivot to a twenty-first…

This research study evaluated the effects of the Comprehensive Supports and Improvement (CSI) program on the performance of fifty-six participating schools after one year of school improvement technical assistance. Specifically, it investigated whether the geographic locations of schools, the percentage of inexperienced teachers, and school…

Evaluation is a critical component of continuous improvement in education. Robust evaluations enable engaged parties to determine program and intervention impact on key outcomes, identify areas for improvement, and guide future actions. Additionally, as educational systems increasingly focus on data-driven decisionmaking, evaluation becomes even…

Educators, economists, and sociologists have long discussed how best to measure the value of education in society. Since the Coleman Report was published in 1966, indicating that America's students were falling behind, there has been increased scrutiny on ensuring teachers are effective in the classroom and that students are learning and growing…

How can we guarantee the time and effort we invest in professional learning will lead to meaningful and enduring improvements? Thomas R. Guskey, professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky, shares six steps to evidence-based professional learning that makes a difference.

Purpose: The purpose of this project was (1) to collaborate with public preschool programs to adapt, test, and revise the implementation model of an innovative early mathematics intervention, "Pre-K Mathematics" and (2) to determine whether this model makes it possible for local programs to sustain their implementation without reducing…

This qualitative case study explores the Chinese school principals' experiences in building a learning community through the Fifth Discipline (shared vision, personal mastery, mental models, team learning, and system thinking) in helping them embrace student engagement, teacher commitment, and parents' involvement for school improvement and…

Throughout the past decades, the profession of school leader has become more complex. To deal with these increasing complexities and the challenges school leaders encounter, it is important that school leaders are provided with effective professional development. However, research on school leaders' learning and professional development, and…

Districts are struggling to accelerate students' learning, support their health and wellness, and close the achievement gap. Labeled "worst" in 1987, by 2017 Chicago Public Schools was among the nation's most improved school systems. Chicago's story embeds many lessons about system change. Sharon Greenberg and Anthony S. Bryk illustrate…