Evaluation is essential to the analysis of the performance of academic programmes and is a central feature of the academic accountability movement. Most study abroad programmes, however, lack evaluation protocols, even though establishing them and acting on the results would contribute to their credibility. This final section of a comprehensive…

How can assessment and evaluation policies work together more effectively to improve student outcomes in primary and secondary schools? The country reports in this series provide, from an international perspective, an independent analysis of major issues facing evaluation and assessment policy to identify improvements that can be made to enhance…

The "'Literacy Octopus' Dissemination Trial" aimed to test the impact on pupil outcomes of disseminating research summaries and evidence-based resources to schools. The materials aimed to support teaching and learning of Key Stage 2 literacy and were created by leading organisations with experience of engaging schools in evidence use.…

Adults with a diagnosis of High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HF ASD) are becoming a significant presence on college campuses across the United States. A number of colleges have created programs to provide services to support accommodations for these students under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); the first was created in 2002.…

What happens when teachers are given funding and time to identify and develop targeted and innovative professional learning? This article focuses on lessons learned from grants funded through the California Department of Education that were designed to do just this. As the state and the nation consider the best approaches to professional learning…

The study utilizes an inductive, qualitative approach to program evaluation to understand the nature of an afterschool literacy tutoring program for students with Down syndrome. Two research questions guide this study: (a) What are the curricular and instructional elements of the Let's Read Now (LRN) literacy tutoring program for students…

This paper explores the many and diverse factors that have driven changes to the field-based component of a program of teacher education in a large Canadian university over the past 10 years. We look at key contexts of influence to any work in program change; that of internal and external bodies at the institutional level, the operational or…

This dissertation investigated the extent to which accreditation-mandated assessment capacity contributes to assessment use in tertiary foreign language (FL) programs. Four research questions were posed to pursue this concern: What is the nature and extent of assessment capacity in college FL programs? Which assessment uses are occurring in…

This study reports on a large-scale implementation of Assessment for Learning (AfL) in a Swedish municipality. The implementation was founded on two principles: (1) teaching should be informed by educational research; (2) to be successful teachers' professional development needs to be based in everyday classroom practice. From these principles,…

The NEAIR 2015 Conference Proceedings is a compilation of papers presented at the Burlington, VT, conference. Papers in this document include:(1) Strategies to Analyze Course and Teaching Evaluation Data (Kati Li); (2) Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Assess a Leadership Mentoring Program (Betty Harper); (3) Flagship Institutions and the Struggle…

The Schools to Watch: School Transformation Network Project is a whole school reform model designed to improve the educational practices, experiences, and outcomes of low-performing middle-grades schools. Developed by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, the four-year project was funded in 2010 by a U.S. Department of Education…

Plans for curriculum or pedagogical innovation often lead to little change in practice. Many innovations successful in their early stages fail later, with little post-innovation analysis to understand why. In Scotland, in 2001, the Scottish Executive Education Department initiated the Assessment is for Learning (AifL) programme. Recognising…

Performance-based accountability along with budget tightening has increased pressure on publicly funded organizations to develop and deliver programs that produce meaningful social benefits. As a result, there is increasing need to undertake formative evaluations that estimate preliminary program outcomes and identify promising program components…

Even before the Great Recession prompted policymakers to take a closer look at public programs designed to help unemployed Americans re-enter the workforce it had long been clear that federal, state and local government workforce development programs have not always effectively prepared low-income individuals to obtain decent-paying jobs. Job…

State educational accountability models are in transition. Whether modifying the present accountability system to comply with existing state and federal requirements or anticipating new ones--such as the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) Race to the Top competition--recording the experiences of state education agencies (SEAs) that are currently…