As community colleges across the country look for ways to promote student success, the need for scaling effective approaches is critical. This guide builds on a framework of four phases of scaling developed in Job For the Future's (JFF's) previous publication, "Thinking Big: A Framework for States on Scaling Up Community College…

Although a growing body of research points to the critical need to foster reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills for students in order to ensure their success in college, careers, and life, these efforts have tended to focus more on developing literacy skills in the early years, often ignoring secondary students. The outcome has…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in the development and dissemination of instructional tools to support teachers' incorporation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) into their classroom instruction. Math experts have developed formative assessment lessons (FALs) that teachers can incorporate throughout the year's curriculum.…

Math experts developed Formative Assessment Lessons that teachers can incorporate throughout the year's curriculum. Both tools target the "instructional core." A study by Research for Action (RFA) examining the first year of piloting the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and Math Design Collaborative (MDC) tools (2010-11) found…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in the development and dissemination of instructional tools to support teachers' incorporation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) into their classroom instruction. Literacy experts have developed a framework and a set of templates that teachers and other educators can use to develop content…

High-quality out-of-school-time (OST) programs have a positive effect on youth development, but many cities have found it difficult to address the challenges of expanding and improving the quality of programs offered to underserved and high-need students. In response, The Wallace Foundation sponsored an initiative to help five cities increase…

In 1975, the Kentucky Advisory Council for Environmental Education, consisting of representatives from education, government agencies, business, conservation groups, and concerned citizens, was appointed by the Kentucky Department of Education to develop and promote guidelines which would help increase environmental awareness in Kentucky. As a…

Specific problems (involving power, implementation, mission, time management, expertise, cultural constraints, avoidance, and motivation) are keeping school-based decision making from improving teaching and learning. Educators must begin with a clear mission, set explicit goals for the decision-making process, alter governance structures to…

This guide outlines the procedures for organizing and implementing STAR Event competitions held for members of the Kentucky Future Homemakers of America. (An acronym for the phrase "students taking action with recognition," the term STAR event refers to regional contests dealing with the skills taught in vocational home economics…

Based on the experience of Teams of NonTraditionals Support Network at Jefferson State Vocational Technical School (Kentucky), this manual is designed to help teachers and administrators to implement a support system for nontraditional students (primarily females in traditional male fields) in vocational and technical education programs. The…

This handbook is intended to aid vocational education learning center coordinators in establishing and/or extending the services available in their learning centers. Following a listing of the objectives of a learning center program, various learning center operational procedures are described, including individualized student instruction,…

This manual is intended for use in training new and first-year adult basic education (ABE) teachers in Kentucky. Discussed in the introductory chapter are the roots of ABE in Kentucky, the basic goals and objectives of ABE, and the ways in which programs are established and operated locally. Next, the characteristics of adult students are…

This monograph examines benefits, challenges, and methods of expanding access to adult literacy with online distance education (ODE). The following are among the topics discussed: (1) reasons for considering ODE (new technologies and delivery systems in education; ODE in higher education, business training, and adult basic education; state-level…

Early state and local progress toward implementation of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) was reviewed. Data were collected through visits to selected sites in Florida, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Vermont and a 90-item Workforce System Information and Evaluation (WSIE) data collection form. The following aspects of WIA…