In the Spring of 2019, the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University launched the National Center for Rural Education Research Networks (NCRERN) with funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. This overview provides a step-by- step description of NCRERN's continuous improvement model. NCRERN's…

In order to inform the Indiana State Board of Education's decision-making on Indiana's On My Way Pre-K Pilot program, researchers at the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy (CEEP) at Indiana University compiled existing data on ten states that have implemented pilot pre-Kindergarten (pre-K) programs and subsequently expanded these programs…

This working paper sets out some of the early findings from a pilot project to explore the qualities that future-oriented teachers might need and how those qualities might be developed. The work began under a New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) project called Back to the Future and is now part of a Teaching & Learning Research…

Commentaries regarding appropriate methods for researching professional development have been a frequent topic in recent issues of "Educational Researcher" as well as other venues. In this article, the authors extend this discussion by observing that randomized trials of specific professional development programs have not enhanced our…

An educational intervention's effectiveness is judged by whether it produces positive outcomes for students, with the randomized controlled trial (CRT) as a valuable tool for determining intervention effects. However, the intervention-as-implemented in an experiment frequently differs from the intervention-as-designed, making it unclear whether…

This article provides practical guidance for researchers who are designing studies that randomize groups to measure the impacts of educational interventions. The article (a) provides new empirical information about the values of parameters that influence the precision of impact estimates (intraclass correlations and R[superscript 2] values) and…

In 2005, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) was commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to evaluate the secondary Social, Emotional and Behavioural Skills (SEBS) pilot. The aim of the pilot was to encourage secondary schools to take a whole-school approach to developing social, emotional and…

Learning to teach well is a complex task. Teacher-educators have a significant role to play in enabling students to reflect critically and analyse their own practice. However, there is a danger, as a result of funding pressures and other contrary factors, that many institutions that provide teacher education will become separated from their…

Despite the growing interest in 1:1 computing initiatives, relatively little empirical research has focused on the outcomes of these investments. The current special edition of the Journal of Technology and Assessment presents four empirical studies of K-12 1:1 computing programs and one review of key themes in the conversation about 1:1 computing…

The notion that completeness of a goal intent will cause a fundamental change in the whole character of evaluation methodology is discussed. In addition, a series of methodological gaps are described. The focus was the lack of a methodic way to: (1) Establish pertinent goals; (2) Acquire goals such that the original intended outcome remain…

A number of issues related to the development of evaluation methodology are discussed. These issues are as follows: the definition of the purpose, general strategies for the development of methodology, and methodological research. The evaluation methodology developed is for the purpose of providing data for decision making. Some specific…

Illinois State University and University of Illinois faculty collaborated to pilot test and evaluate Applied Academics curricula in Illinois. Three sets of pilot sites included the following: (1) 14 local education agencies that pilot tested Applied Communications and/or Mathematics; (2) 10 sites at which vocational teachers collaborated with…

This report describes the aesthetic education project, which embraces a conceptual structure, a perceptual approach to learning, and belief that aesthetics can be inculcated into the teaching-learning process. The project's goal was to develop an educational base and requisite expertise so that teachers can organize an aesthetic education…

The first part of a larger study of Experience-Based Career Education (EBCE), this report deals with the implementation of EBCE during its first operational year and identifies six major themes which emerged from visits to the four laboratories which developed EBCE and to 10 EBCE pilot sites. The themes, each presented in a different chapter,…

The Small House program at Slauson Junior High School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, during the 1971-72 school year was evaluated. Two purposes of the evaluation study were to assess developments in the Small House program and to develop a prototype or model for evaluating innovative educational programs that delineates the evaluation, design, and analytic…