Increasingly, school districts, states, and teachers' unions are advancing evaluation reform through legislation and by negotiating changes to collective bargaining agreements. This has compelled education leaders and policy makers to grapple with difficult issues that have received lip service in the past: How can they help all teachers reach…

In the broad field of evaluation, the importance of stakeholders is often acknowledged and different categories of stakeholders are identified. Far less frequent is careful attention to analysis of stakeholders' interests, needs, concerns, power, priorities, and perspectives and subsequent application of that knowledge to the design of…

In September 2020, local education agencies ("LEAs") in California adopted Learning Continuity and Attendance Plans ("Learning Continuity Plans"). These plans included key information on how LEAs were preparing to provide instruction, programs and services to their students during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Among other…

In a case study of a large Australian university the metaphor of panarchy is used as a means of describing and understanding the complex interrelationships of multi-scale institutional projects and the influences of a variety factors on the potential success of e-learning initiatives. The concept of para-analysis is introduced as a management…

This paper examines the redesign of evaluation components for a teacher professional development project funded by the National Science Foundation. It focuses on aligning evaluation instrumentation and strategies with program goals, research goals and program evaluation best practices. The study identifies weaknesses in the original (year 1)…

This document is intended to assist State Education Agency (SEA) and Lead Agency (LA) staff and technical assistance providers in designing a meaningful evaluation for the State Performance Plan (SPP)/Annual Performance Report (APR) improvement activities. It provides: (1) information about the relevance of evaluation in the context of improvement…

Educational paradigm shifts call for 21st century learners to possess the knowledge, skills, abilities, values, and experiences associated with multiple forms of literacy in a participatory learning culture. Contemporary educational systems are slow to adapt. Outside of school, people have to be self-motivated and have access to resources in order…

This article summarizes the findings of research studies focusing on number sense instruction to improve mathematics competence of school going children. Twenty-three studies were located that met the inclusion criteria. Interventions gleaned from the review were categorized based on type of instruction (i.e., constructivist, explicit or a…

Although there are tools to assess student's readiness in an "online learning context," little is known about the "psychometric" properties of the tools used or not. A systematic review of 5107 published and unpublished papers identified in a literature search on student online readiness assessment tools between 1990 and…

The paper offers a retrospective evaluation of recent evaluative studies of bilingual programs in the Australian state of Victoria, in an attempt to determine how successfully the evaluation process met the dual criteria of external accountability and development. The programs in question were located in primary or secondary government schools and…

This single-site case study describes the outcomes and lessons learned from the implementation of a technology professional development initiative aimed at helping three special education teachers from an urban elementary school learn how to infuse technology in their content literacy instruction. Three types of qualitative data were collected:…

From individual student learning outcomes to full-scale program enhancement, assessment is critical in developing and sustaining leadership education. This chapter will look at assessment techniques and trends spanning from local to global frameworks. International Leadership Association overarching Outcomes and Assessment Guiding Question: "What…

Despite innovations in the screening and early identification of students who may benefit from school mental health services, many schools struggle to link screening to intervention decisions, particularly at the Tier 2 level. Universal complete mental health screening, which measures strengths along with risk factors, is a strength-based approach…

Background: Businesses have been exposed to many positive accounts of the benefits of employee wellness to improve employee performance as well as reduce health and injury claims costs for the employer. However, many do not have the tools or experience to effectively demonstrate the benefits of a workplace wellness program for their own management…

This article discusses the importance of mixed-methods research, in particular the value of qualitatively driven mixed-methods research for quantitatively driven domains like educational accountability. The article demonstrates the merits of qualitative thinking by describing a mixed-methods study that focuses on a middle school's system of…