High-quality afterschool and summer learning programs are effective ways to support children and teens and accelerate their academic growth. In fact, the American Rescue Plan prioritized a significant amount of funding for out-of-school time programs because of the evidence of their effectiveness. Over the past few years, state educational…

From its inception, the Center for Gifted Education at William & Mary has been committed to the education of gifted students. Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska, founder of the CFGE, created a learning environment to work directly with gifted students and parents by providing diverse university-based pre-collegiate programs in both residential and…

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the Virginia Cooperative Extension internship program from the perspective of student participants and their supervisors. Three focus groups were conducted with internship supervisors from the summer of 2019. Student survey data was used to identify concerns from the student perspective to inform the…

User experience (UX) internships generate ideas for usability projects, improve the design of existing and new services, investigate users' motivations and behavior, and build transferable skills for interns. This case study proposes a micro-internship model, grounded in the design cycle, that institutions can adapt to address their libraries and…

A significant teacher shortage exists across the United States due to factors ranging from accountability policies for the performance growth of students, the overwhelming workload due to teacher shortages, and the lack of competitive salaries that other professions offer. Consequently, state officials have introduced and implemented changes to…

Background: Despite the overwhelming benefits of vaccinations, suboptimal public confidence in vaccines keeps immunization rates in the U.S far from ideal levels. Purpose: To assess the efficacy of a high school video set curriculum, on vaccine history, science, and safety, in improving vaccine knowledge. Methods: Sample included high school…

Although phonics knowledge and decoding skill are important for academic and life success, there is little research that examines the effects of home-based, family-implemented instruction on the development of these early literacy skills. The purpose of this multiple baseline across participants single case experimental design study was to…

Great Expectations is a Virginia Community College System program for youth who were in foster care after the age of 13. Foster youth enter college with multiple disadvantages, including being less academically prepared compared to their peers and often lacking social support for their education. A program evaluation was conducted at a specific…

Effective instructional coaching won't happen across a district without a well-specified coaching program and a reliable way to guide coaches. Fortunately, there are innovations from research and development efforts that can help districts put into practice the best ideas about instructional coaching. Andrew Wayne and Jane Coggshall describe how…

A state-wide Individual Student Alternative Education Plan (ISAEP) seeks to assist high school (HS) students at risk of not graduating in completing HS credentials. The problem was that there was no formal state-wide process for monitoring the program to understand its impact. The purpose of this quantitative exploratory study was to determine…

The Commonwealth of Virginia has seen an increase in the number of educators completing Alternative Teacher Certification Programs, contributing to the diversity in the teaching work force. The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of alternatively certified public K-12 teachers regarding their preparedness to teach. The researcher…

The evolution of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) pedagogy into the public school system has been an initiative since the 1970s. This has failed timelessly because of the lack of professional development and framework for teaching this curriculum. Participants understood that STEM is an important concept for their students.…

Many talented students in under-resourced schools do not reach their full potential. Research shows that by sixth grade, children born into poverty have likely spent 6,000 fewer hours learning than their middle-class counterparts. Higher Achievement, an intensive summer and after-school program, aims to close that learning gap. It offers…

Following a set of state meetings held throughout fall 2020, the Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative (VEAC) decided to offer a mini-conference in November 2020 to round out offerings and to buttress conversation around topics of high need and interest to Educator Preparation Providers (EPPs). Leveraging the familiar process of the…

To counter tuition and textbook costs for degree-seeking students, a specific pathway to a bachelor's degree in Leadership was developed. The pathway, comprised of partnerships with the high school Leadership Academy at a public high school, community college, and Old Dominion University (ODU), reduced tuition and textbook costs, allowing the…