Developed in 2003 by the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Canton with a grant from the Kellogg Foundation, "Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids" ("SPARK Ohio") is a family-centered kindergarten readiness program that works with families, schools, and the community. From its initial sites in Stark County, "SPARK…

The Support Needs Assessment and Problem-Solving (SNAP) process is intended to assist educational teams in identifying and implementing supports for children with intellectual disability and related developmental disabilities (ID/DD) in K-12 schools. Each phase of the SNAP process is described, including identification of high priority support…

Response to Intervention has the potential to help schools reach the goals of both the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) 2004. The course of action with the Response to Intervention model is to apply instructionally sound practices based on students' needs, monitor students'…

In 1998, President Clinton signed the federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA). Implemented in 2000, WIA replaced the Job Partnership Training Act (JTPA) as the primary federal job training program. Congress viewed WIA as a way to end "business as usual" in the workforce investment system. WIA aimed to transform the employment and training…

Student-centred learning has gradually come to the foreground of the Bologna Process. In parallel, learning outcomes have been advocated as key degree descriptors, illustrative of student-centred approaches. This paper examines learning outcomes in their diverse understandings and enactment in three European countries--England, Portugal and…

The Elementary and Secondary Education (ESEA) flexibility program initiated in September 2011 holds several implications for special education accountability and, by extension, state education agencies and the technical assistance providers who support them. The U.S. Department of Education has approved ESEA waiver applications for a majority of…

The purpose of this comparative case study was to explore the ways educators at the school-level experience a federally directed curriculum policy change and examine the contextual factors that impacted the way it was initially implemented. Application of an organizational learning (OL) lens was incorporated to help illuminate the ways educators…

The purpose of this guide is to provide states, districts, and schools with information and support to prepare applications for 2015-2016 School Improvement Grants (SIGs). The guide includes tools, checklists, and questions for SEAs and LEAs aligned with the revised SIG requirements, primarily focused on how to leverage the "planning…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 injected $7 billion into two of the Obama administration's signature competitive education grant programs: Race to the Top (RTT) and School Improvement Grants (SIG). While RTT focused on state policies and SIG focused on school practices, both programs promoted related policies and practices,…

The identification and implementation of evidence-based practices by special education and general education teachers continues to be an issue in the field of education (Cook & Cook, 2011; Cook, Tankersley, Cook, & Landrum, 2008). Since the mandates of providing students with disabilities access to the general education curricula (IDEA,…

Since Programs of Study (POS) were introduced in 2006, implementation has been uneven around the country. POS were one of the landmark features of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins Act), and have been one of the biggest areas of focus during its implementation. In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of…

The Support Needs Assessment and Problem-Solving (SNAP) process is intended to assist educational teams in identifying and implementing supports for children with intellectual disability and related developmental disabilities (ID/DD) in K-12 schools. Each phase of the SNAP process is described, including identification of high priority support…

Purpose: This study documented evidence-based practice (EBP) patterns as reported by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) employed in public schools during 2010-2011. Method: Using an online survey, practioners reported their EBP training experiences, resources available in their workplaces, and the frequency with which they engage in specific EBP…

New regulations attached to ARRA funding of federal School Improvement Fund grants aimed at producing rapid turnaround of low performing schools were highly criticized as unsuitable for rural schools. This mixed-methods study looked at the implementation of the School Improvement Fund Transformation Model in two rural Maine high schools during the…

Section 107 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Rehabilitation Act), requires the Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to conduct annual reviews and periodic on-site monitoring of programs authorized under Title I of the Rehabilitation Act to determine whether a state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agency is…