From 2013 to 2016, the Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality and the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) partnered to design and test the Summer Learning Program Quality Intervention (SLPQI). The Summer Learning Program Quality Assessment, which defines quality as the presence of identified practices that benefit young people, was…

Just one of the ways career and technical education (CTE) is revamping its image is through increased attention to data-driven instructional techniques as a means of improving and focusing instruction on what matters most. Accountability and data have increasingly become a core focus of research, news, and commentary about education in recent…

As the only federal funding stream that provides dedicated funds for afterschool programs across the country, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) initiative plays an important role in supporting the innovation that takes place in afterschool programs. Social innovation has been defined as "a novel solution to a social…

High-quality care in the earliest years of life has been shown to relate to positive developmental outcomes for children, including improved early academic skills, social-emotional competencies, and cognitive functioning. Unfortunately, the early care experiences of many children are not always high quality; rather, research suggests that…

Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) perform an important role in the long-term care system because they provide the majority of paid care to nursing facility residents. Unfortunately, annual CNA turnover often exceeds 100 percent nationally. Many factors account for this, including stressful working conditions, low pay, and limited benefits. The…

Harvard Family Research Project's Out-of-School Time (OST) Program Research and Evaluation Database and Bibliography provide accessible and timely information about research and evaluations involving OST programs and initiatives. This Research Update explores key themes emerging from 13 recent reports added to the OST Research and Evaluation…

This report examines the program improvement strategies, step-by-step, that allowed The James Irvine Foundation's Communities Organizing to Advance Learning (CORAL) initiative to achieve the levels of quality needed to boost the academic success of participating students, and makes policy and funding suggestions for improving program performance.…

Internships have been used by many academic programs to augment the student's educational experience. We discuss two internship programs that have been continuously refined in recent years to provide the students with a structured learning experience. We present a model for enriching student experiences by integrating internship experiences with…

Total quality management (TQM) is based on the fundamental philosophy that it is always more effective to do something right the first time than it is to correct deficiencies. It seeks to improve quality and increase customer satisfaction by restructuring traditional management and organizational practices. Common characteristics of TQM include…

In an internationally competitive training environment, implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in vocational education can provide a comparative advantage in preparing the type of work force required for micro and macro economic reforms. The concept of TQM can be used as a management tool to improve the standards of vocational training.…

Indiana's Comprehensive Action Plan (I-CAP) provides a framework for program excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement in adult education. The action plan includes guiding principles and benchmarks for quality programs. Adult education programs are evaluated annually on these 10 established principles of program quality: educational…

A framework is presented for understanding how errors arise in institutional research, and principles are suggested to avert errors in work processes of institutional research offices. Error is defined as a product which fails to meet professional standards, has unacceptable process limitations, or is unacceptable to a client. The following four…

An eight-year study of 49 schools purporting to practice and apply Quality Management (QM) techniques and processes uncovered some revealing differences between what respondents thought "should be" happening in these schools and what they reported was happening. The gaps uncovered could be recognized as differences between rhetoric and…

This document describes six different approaches to outcomes assessments, approaches that are named in the titles of chapters 2 through 7. The chapters and authors are as follows: "Perspectives on Assessment Policy and Practice" (Bragg, Harmon); "Total Quality Management" (Bragg); "Assessing Student Success" (Harmon);…

This document profiles the Lansing Area Manufacturing Partnership (LAMP), which is a model school-to-career initiative featuring an innovative integrated, employer-driven curriculum that was designed, developed, and implemented through the joint efforts of the Ingham Intermediate School District in Lansing, Michigan, the United Auto Workers (UAW),…