Public health efforts have emphasized changes to policies, systems, and environments (PSEs) to improve health behaviors for individuals and communities. Extension has increasingly emphasized these approaches, particularly for the work of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) agents. In part, this emphasis on PSEs in Extension has been driven by…

Evaluators frequently confront situations in which local programs struggle to meet the expectations and requirements specified by the external program funder. How can evaluators meaningfully evaluate programs (for both the funder and grantee) in situations in which the external program logic clashes with local complexities? This paper discusses…

Effective partnerships for education reform "require that schools view parents and communities not simply as customers or clients but as partners in the educational process" (Sanders, 2009, p. 1695). In 2012, seven Seattle area school districts and the Puget Sound Educational Service District (the PSESD) were awarded funding for the Road…

In their study of the educational ecosystems that surround schools, the authors recognized a growing global trend that has positioned "intermediary organizations," and particularly non-system intermediary organizations, or those not involved in the formal governmental education system, in an oversized ecosystem role. Through their direct…

The UIC Center for Urban Education Leadership conducted a study in collaboration with the Qatar Foundation. As the research and work on educational ecosystems has grown, we now recognize a growing global trend that has positioned "intermediary organizations" in an oversized ecosystem role. Through their direct work with schools,…

Urie Bronfenbrenner is almost certainly best known for his theoretical writings about the ecology of human development. His interest in theory was not, however, separate from his practical concerns, particularly those related to early education and care of children and the families and teachers who interact with them. From the role that he played…

This report shows how insights gained from system dynamics modeling and the U.S. STEM Undergraduate Model® can help inform the Navy's strategy to grow a robust civilian workforce that is strongly invested with Navy-relevant STEM skills and ready to contribute to the next generation of Naval innovation. This work positions the Navy to serve a…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education programs help to enhance the nation's global competitiveness. Many federal agencies have been involved in administering these programs. Concerns have been raised about the overall effectiveness and efficiency of STEM education programs. GAO examined (1) the number of federal…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe preceptors' implementation experiences after implementing a workplace learning program in Texas WIC (women, infant, and children) agencies and identify implementation best practices. Design/methodology/approach: This research used qualitative description methodology. Data collection consisted of 11…

To solve two enduring problems in education--unacceptably large variation in learning opportunities for students across classrooms and little continuing improvement in the quality of instruction--the authors propose a system that centers on the creation of shared instructional products that guide classroom teaching. By examining systems outside…

Many schools placed under Program Improvement because they have not met the AYP requirements of the NCLB mandate are required to build in time during the school day for teachers' professional collaboration to improve their performance in the classrooms. A lack of research exists to explore how professional collaboration improves teaching and…

When President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law in 2002, the U.S. national high school graduation rate was 72.6 percent. Today, the national high school graduation rate has reached an all-time high of 81 percent and the number of low-graduation-rate high schools has declined considerably. While this progress is notable,…

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…

During President Barack Obama's first two years in office, the administration's signature education initiative has been the Race to the Top (RTT) fund, a small part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that was passed to stimulate the nation's ailing economy. While celebrations and criticisms of RTT abound, serious attempts to…

Purpose: Canada's Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Research and Technology Initiative (CRTI) uses an operating model that is unusual in government. It is created to enable cross-boundary capability and capacity building and learning. Some consider it a model for other federal science initiatives. The purpose of this paper is to…