To update its teaching and departmental review processes, Phillips Academy Andover, an independent boarding school in Massachusetts, commissioned RAND Corporation researchers to review the school's policies, conduct a literature review, interview other independent high schools, develop potential recommendations for revision of Andover's processes,…

In 2012, Olin College initiated an effort to improve its faculty reappointment and promotion (R&P) system in response to a lack of alignment between faculty activities, the institutional mission, and the traditional assessment criteria defined in the faculty manual. Olin engaged in a six-step use-oriented design process that guided the…

Increasingly, early education, regardless of setting type, is considered to be an educational intervention that sets the stage for children's long-term school success. Accordingly, policymakers are focused on how to develop and support educators who have the skills and capacity to deliver high-quality programming to children. A pressing question…

Research and practical experience has shown that, more often than not, the professional development opportunities that are provided for teachers are not intentionally structured to meet their individual needs nor do they have a systemic impact on the knowledge base and skill sets of an entire faculty. Furthermore, the continuous pressure that…

A national provider of afterschool and summer programming plans to expand quickly into new regions, bringing its successful model of out-of-school learning to more children in disadvantaged schools and neighborhoods. A large number of staff members must be trained in the provider's program model in a short window of time. The organization needs to…

Every year 1.3 million U.S. high school students drop out of school with one quarter of female students failing to graduate on time. Female dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, to earn less when they are employed, to become pregnant before the age of 20, to become obese, to smoke, and to drink more heavily than their male counterparts. This…

The educational achievement and attainment of young people in the United States has been a long-standing issue of concern. While analyses of long-term trend data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show that students in the United States have made gains in reading and mathematics over the past few decades, a sizeable…

The document describes the process and presents the results of a field test of the Management Information System for Occupational Education (MISOE) Census Data System (CDS) Fall Reports. The data system was designed to collect and store basic census data (mandated State and Federal) for all occupational programs in Massachusetts and to meet all of…

This six-part document describes Project League, which was established to implement and refine the Individually Guided Education/Multiunit Elementary School Program (IGE) in Massachusetts. Part 1 provides an overview of the project. Parts 2 and 3 discuss two important objectives of the project, which are: (a) the development of an evaluation…

The State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Massachusetts' Year 1 Race to the Top implementation, highlighting successes and accomplishments, identifying challenges, and providing lessons learned from implementation to date. Massachusetts' Year 1 accomplishments include: capacity building within its Department of Elementary and…

This paper describes Massachusetts' progress in implementing a comprehensive and coherent approach to education reform from the time of application through June 30, 2011. In particular, it highlights key accomplishments over the reporting period in the four reform areas: standards and assessments, data systems to support instruction, great…

A random sample of the thirty-eight Elementary Secondary Education Act Title III projects funded in Massachusetts for the three year period, 1971-1974 was surveyed in order to determine if the Federal money was well used, what has been learned about change in the past ten years, and what worked and what didn't, and why. [Available from…

A PILOT STUDY WAS CONDUCTED IN EL SALVADOR AND HONDURAS TO TEST THE FEASIBILITY OF MULTINATIONAL EVALUATION OF THE RADIOPHONIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IN LATIN AMERICA. RADIO SCHOOL PROGRAMS WERE EXAMINED IN TERMS OF THEIR EFFECT ON PARTICIPANT ACHIEVEMENT, SATISFACTION, AND APPLICATION OF ACQUIRED SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE. ATTITUDINAL, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL…

These three collections of reports comprise the objectives, background information, project descriptions, and evaluations for public library programs funded through the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) in Massachusetts during the fiscal years 1977, 1978, and 1979. The projects reflect the efforts being made by librarians to provide…

A total educational information system for evaluation of vocational education in Massachusetts is described. Specifically, the evaluation guide describes the evaluation plan, reveals the philosophy of evaluation upon which the design was built, outlines the processes of evaluation called for in the design, introduces the forms for data collection…