In recent decades, a number of factors have contributed to the growth of alternative educational programs in urban settings. Public perception of cities as dangerous places and national media attention to high profile incidents of school violence are two influences. Here, Tallerico and Burstyn center on a subset of in-depth interview data provided…

This article describes a framework for assessing the positive influence of music activities in community development programs. It examines hybrid music, health and rich media approaches to creative case study with the purpose of developing more compelling evidence based advocacy that examines the claims of a causal link. This preliminary study…

In response to data from the initial survey published in October 2001, interventions were developed to increase vision screening knowledge and promote use of the "Iowa Vision Screening Program Guidelines" (Iowa Department of Education [IDE], 1997). The purpose of this evaluation was to measure differences in practice after interventions,…

This paper considers evidence from an intervention designed to raise standards in spelling and independent writing. "The Complete Spelling Programme" (McMurray and Fleming, 1998) is designed to ensure that all processes involved in learning to spell are activated and that the interaction between them is facilitated. In addition, a number…

In this study, the authors examined the long-term criminal activity of 176 youths who had participated in either multisystemic therapy (MST) or individual therapy (IT) in a randomized clinical trial (C. M. Borduin et al., 1995). Arrest and incarceration data were obtained on average 13.7 (range = 10.2-15.9) years later when participants were on…

Raising Healthy Children (RHC) is a preventive intervention designed to promote positive youth development by targeting developmentally appropriate risk and protective factors. In this study, the authors tested the efficacy of the RHC intervention on reducing adolescent alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use. Ten public schools, which comprised 959…

In 1997, the state of South Dakota instituted an incentive program to reward institutions for performance related to state policy priorities. The program had a specified starting and ending point, running its course in 2002. This program provides a unique opportunity to study the connection between higher education policy and performance, an issue…

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of high-stakes tests on teachers' instructional practices. Data were obtained from a survey instrument given to a stratified random sample of Mississippi social studies teachers who teach the same content that is tested on their state's high school graduation examination. An analysis found…

The last decade the development of (international) educational indicators has been extending in many ways: the number of countries involved, the aspects covered, the impact on educational policy, their attention in the media. More recent is the attention that is given to the feedback of indicators to individual schools. More and more stakeholders…

Event tourism is accompanied by social, economic and environmental benefits and costs. The assessment of this form of tourism has however largely focused on the social and economic perspectives, while environmental assessments have been bound to a destination-based approach. The application of the Ecological Footprint methodology allows for these…

This article explores the use of an evaluation model of learning and development utilizing formative, summative, and confirmative steps, along with a framework for developing evaluation tools aligned with organizational change goals. A case study is presented in which formative, summative, and confirmative evaluations were used to assess materials…

We report the impact of case management services and youth psychopathic features on twelve-month recidivism rates for youths involved in a Center for Substance Abuse Treatment funded clinical trial conducted in a juvenile diversion program. The project is evaluating an innovative intervention service providing 16 weeks of intensive case management…

The most important date in the Boston University Chelsea Partnership was not the day in 1989 when the initial partnership agreement was signed. Nor was it the date in 1997 when the School Committee voted unanimously to renew the partnership for five additional years. If an objective history of the Boston University-Chelsea Partnership were…

The Concept Shifting Test (CST) is a newly developed Trail Making Type test that measures concept shifting and executive functioning. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether CST performance was affected by age, gender, educational level, or handedness and to establish the normal range of test performance. The CST was…

This document is the third annual report of the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), appointed by George W. Bush under Presidential Executive Order 13256. The report for fiscal years 2004-2005 details the performance of the 32 designated federal agencies and departments during 2004-2005, and…