Pre-apprenticeship programs are a very effective tool to help youth and adults enter a Registered Apprenticeship program. Participants can also use the experience to pursue further training or enter the workforce. The pre-apprenticeship is designed to help youth or adults take a snapshot of their current skills and use that data to address gaps in…

As community-based global learning (CBGL) programs become more common on college/university campuses and utilize the UN's Sustainable Development Goals to guide programmatic outcomes, open-access evaluation instruments that both benchmark and effectively measure programmatic enhancements over time are needed. The 147-item Community Engagement and…

In an effort to better support the needs of PK-12 students identified as gifted or high-ability, school leaders need to be familiar and comfortable with supporting gifted education educators and developing and evaluating gifted education programs. Gifted education educators should have defined roles and responsibilities, and school leaders need to…

This study provides a template for and impact from an Asset, Capacity-Based (Altschuld, 2015) needs assessment focused on undergraduate student success. The purpose of this study is: (1) to provide a template and foundation for institutions to follow in gaining a depth of understanding of student needs and assets, as well as institutional…

In this second annual summary of the their work, the Investing in Community Initiative provides practical advice for community leaders and policymakers around four critical issues. First, how should local needs be defined? Chapter 1 argues that data about local economies can show whether communities are best served by creating new jobs,…

Evaluation capacity building (ECB) is an essential element for generating credible and actionable evidence on Extension programs. This paper offers a discussion of ECB efforts in Cooperative Extension and how such efforts enable Extension professionals to collect and use credible and actionable evidence on the quality and impacts of programs.…

Providing and using technical assistance for capacity building within educational agencies is a complex endeavor. The U.S. Department of Education funds technical assistance centers to support state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) in the capacity-building process. Established in 2018, the Center to Improve Social and…

Anyone who works in a school setting keenly feels the impact of COVID-19 on youth and families. They can remember the exhaustion and dysfunction that rippled out during the pandemic, and they can still see it today. The School Behavioral Health Academy (SBHA) responded to the youth mental health crisis by creating an online learning management…

Purpose and Method of Study: The purpose of this study was to explore the process of change of a local church ministry training program pursuing an additional location of Oral Roberts University. The program evaluation consisted of a needs and assets assessment, followed by qualitative interviews that informed a quantitative survey. An exploratory…

This article describes the curriculum and program development process that was used to create the North Carolina Extension Master Food Volunteer program. We used a rigorous program development process, including conducting a needs assessment, piloting and evaluating the program, incorporating revisions based on feedback, and receiving external…

The United States, in less than 50 years, has gone from legal segregation and exclusion of students with disabilities in schools to an emphasis on inclusion in the least restrictive environments based on individual student needs. The United States has made great strides in the physical inclusion of students with disabilities, but work is still…

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an effective approach for addressing health disparities by integrating diverse knowledge and expertise from both academic and community partners throughout the research process. However, universities and funding agencies have not done enough to invest in the foundational infrastructure and resources…

As the enrollment of students with intellectual disability in colleges and universities increases, so does the need to evaluate existing postsecondary education programs for students with intellectual disability from multiple perspectives. These programs are designed for students with intellectual disability, and the perspectives of students with…

Multitiered systems of support (MTSS) teams use data to match student needs with an appropriate Tier 2 intervention. School counselors mobilize quickly to provide evidence-based and culturally affirming interventions. We present a compilation of best practices for delivering culturally affirming, small-group Tier 2 interventions with fidelity.…

Public school systems across the U.S. have made major investments in tutoring to support students' academic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluate a large urban district's efforts to design, implement, and scale a district-operated, standards-based tutoring program across three years. We draw on extensive interviews and survey…