Ongoing research and evaluation that produce actionable, widely disseminated evidence are central to the continuous improvement of U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) programs. In addition, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA) requires DOL to conduct periodic, independent evaluations to inform the effective operation of WIOA…

This report presents the findings from an external evaluation of Project COMPASS, an effort by Wake Technical Community College to redesign community college online courses to improve outcomes, particularly for students of color. The evaluation used a randomized controlled trial in which students were randomly assigned to course sections taught by…

Since the implementation of the ePortfolio Program in 2006, Clemson University has incorporated peer review for the formative feedback process. One of the challenges with this large-scale implementation has been ensuring that all work is reviewed and constructive feedback is provided in a timely manner. In this article, I discuss the strategies…

Every year, new teachers collectively spend about $4.8 billion on their training requirements, nearly all of which goes to teacher preparation programs. Unfortunately, it is unclear whether that is money well spent. Despite decades of research and ongoing calls to improve the quality of teacher training, we still do not know how to sculpt an…

Books by education experts and speakers at national professional conferences have inspired many school leaders to initiate professional learning communities (PLCs). Sustaining them effectively to raise student achievement is another matter. How can one know whether a PLC is moving toward a desired outcome? Measuring effectiveness requires an…

In the past few years researchers have published lists of evidence-based practices that research indicates "should" be in place in programs and supports for students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) (e.g., Farley, Torres, Wailehua, & Cook, 2012; Ryan, Pierce, & Mooney, 2008; Simpson, Peterson, & Smith, 2011). Some…

Environmental education organizations can do more to either institute evaluation or improve the quality of their evaluation. In an effort to help evaluators bridge the gap between the potential for high quality evaluation systems to improve environmental education, and the low level of evaluation in actual practice, we reviewed recent…

Church-related small private liberal arts baccalaureate minority-serving institutions like Wesley College have modest endowments, are heavily tuition-dependent, and have large numbers of financially-challenged students. In order to sustain the level of academic excellence and to continue to build student demographic diversity in its accessible…

Educational researchers and practitioners have paid considerable attention to the use of multiuser virtual environments (MUVEs) in recent years in order to support learning across curricula. Among MUVEs, Second Life (SL) is one of the most popular environments, with over 18 million account-registered users as of May 2008. This paper reports a…

Complete your review of where science education in the U.S. is heading with this wide-ranging look at secondary-level science curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Through lively examples of classroom practice, interviews with award-winning science teachers and science education experts, and a thorough review of the research, discover how…

Social initiations make up a core deficit for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In particular, initiated questions during social interactions are often minimal or absent in this population. In the context of a multiple baseline design, the efficacy of using the motivational procedures of Pivotal Response Treatment to increase social…

A professor of management looks at university management development programs and finds that, despite increasing enrollments in management seminars, both the organizations purchasing the educational services and the universities selling them are often dissatisfied. He offers suggestions for improving management development programs. (MF)

When a one-class-at-a-time approach can't address a pervasive discipline problem, you need this book to implement a schoolwide solution. In this follow-up to "The Educator's Guide to Preventing and Solving Discipline Problems", the authors provide you with a research-based model to help your school: (1) Build positive relationships with students;…

Could the labour market gender balance be improved by introducing new types of apprenticeship-trained workers? This article investigates what happened in the wake of the Norwegian VET programme for health and social care, a new approach introduced via the 1994 educational reform. By upgrading this traditionally female-dominated area of education,…

This document contains the final progress report and final internal evaluation for PROJECT DESIGN, funded under ESEA Title III. The first section describes the project's major activities leading to development of a master plan for education in Fresno, California. Significant modifications of operational plans are described and supplementary…