The Massachusetts Early Childhood Support Organization (ECSO) initiative seeks to improve the quality of early education programs (EEPs) by supporting leaders to strengthen their organizational climate, provide job-embedded professional learning opportunities for educators, support the use of instructional curriculum and child assessments in their…

The PBIS Framework has demonstrated effectiveness in supporting schools in improving various prosocial outcomes including improved social, emotional, and behavioral skills; increased academic outcomes and attendance; decreased exclusionary discipline (e.g., office referrals, suspensions); and reduced reports of bullying and substance abuse. In…

Chronic absenteeism is a critical issue that has been linked to many adverse student outcomes. The current study focuses on improving a key system already in place in many school districts--early warning systems (EWSs)--in order to decrease chronic absenteeism in students' earliest schooling years. Using a demographically diverse population of…

Prioritizing social, emotional, and behavioral supports is essential for student success. By establishing systems to support students' social (how they interact), emotional (how they feel), and behavioral (how they act) needs and growth, educators and leaders can ensure that all students have full access to instruction and the essential skills for…

In 2015, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health conducted focus groups with school nurses (SNs) and athletic trainers (ATs) from Massachusetts middle and high schools to assess implementation of legislated regulations relative to the management of students' head injuries incurred during extracurricular sports. Four tape-recorded focus…

Recommendations for the prevention of childhood obesity encourage providers to counsel parents and their children on healthy diet and activity behaviors. This study evaluated the feasibility of a theory-based, tailored communication intervention for obesity prevention ("Team Up for Health") delivered during a well-child visit. A…

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…

The start of the college experience is often hectic as students discover their new surroundings on campus. Students must carry out several high-tech tasks on their laptops and mobile devices in order to be successful participants in the digital culture that permeates their institution of higher learning. This paper describes the implementation of…

In the United States, health insurance coverage for autism spectrum disorder treatments has been historically limited. In response, as of 2015, 40 states and Washington, DC, have passed state autism insurance mandates requiring many health plans in the private insurance market to cover autism diagnostic and treatment services. This study examined…

The Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program, authorized by Congress in 2011, is designed to improve the quality of early learning and development programs for children from birth through age 5. This discretionary grant program is administered jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services…

The Year 2 Preschool Expansion Grant (PEG) implementation study focuses on the second year of supports and outcomes for teachers, classroom quality, and supports for families. Overall, compared to its first year of implementation, the PEG programs in Year 2 (which was the 2016-17 school year) appear to have made progress towards delivering the key…

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 quality improvement system (QIS) is an intentional effort to raise the quality of afterschool programming in an ongoing, organized fashion. There are a number of reasons the QIS is gaining popularity. The main reasons community leaders are drawn to improving quality is that they know that 1) higher quality programs will mean better experiences…

This three-volume report describes the "SAM (School Administration Manager) process," an approach that about 700 schools around the nation are using to direct more of principals' time and effort to improve teaching and learning in classrooms. Research has shown that a principal's instructional leadership is second only to teaching among…

This evaluation report presents implementation and impact findings to date regarding the Striving Readers grant as implemented by the Springfield and Chicopee Public School Districts. Any questions regarding this final report should be directed to the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) at the U.S. Department of Education. There…