This Annual Plan presents the major initiatives and priorities the U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) intends to undertake to assist the Department in fulfilling its responsibilities to America's taxpayers and students. The Department continues to face significant challenges in FY 2018 that impact its…

Every year organizations invest billions of dollars in Information Technology (IT) projects; however, IT project success rates continue to be low. Several critical success factors are mentioned in the research literature, the leadership skills of the project manager being one of the most frequently cited in the recent project management…

The Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation-Strong Start (MIHOPE-Strong Start) is the largest random assignment study to date to examine the effectiveness of home visiting services on improving birth outcomes and infant and maternal health care use for expectant mothers. The study includes local home visiting programs that use one of…

Agile project management is most often examined in relation to software development, while information security frameworks are often examined with respect to certain risk management capabilities rather than in terms of successful implementation approaches. This dissertation extended the study of both Agile project management and information…

This guidebook will help the staff members of education agencies gain an understanding of what Education Enterprise Architecture (EEA) is and how it can help an agency accomplish its vision and goals. The audiences for this guidebook include agency staff already charged with leading agency-wide planning and implementation that encompasses the…

One of the larger shifts in education is evaluating teacher knowledge acquisition to determine if it is effectively changing the way teachers learn, teach, and bring about student improvement. In the effort to do this, teachers often spend much time on administrative duties, such as documenting what classes or workshops they have taken, and this…

Many institutions implement a distributed antenna system (DAS) as part of a holistic approach to providing better wireless coverage and capacity on campus. A DAS provides wireless service within a particular area or structure via a network of separate antenna nodes that are connected to a common source through fiber or coaxial cable. Because DAS…

Concern about the research and writing abilities of undergraduate students led to the development, implementation and enhancement of four sequential writing assignments in an introductory course. These writing assignments--which included a report on an interview of a professional in the field, a research paper on an aspirational career, a research…

The study traced the assimilation of new administrative software in an Arab school, assisted by collaboration between the school and an Arab academic teacher-training college in Israel. The research used a mixed-method paradigm. A questionnaire consisting of 81 items was administered to 55 of the school's teachers in two stages to elicit their…

Information systems (IS) practitioners must regularly work cross-functionally with business users when implementing enterprise systems. However, most IS higher education is not truly cross-functional in nature with students typically relying on instructors or even themselves to represent user requirements. To address this gap, we describe an…

This report summarizes highlights from December 2015 discussions, or "platicas," held with Austin Independent School District elementary principals about the district's dual language program. Principals provided their opinions about the program and gave suggestions for improvements.

This paper is written for state educational agency (SEA) leaders who are considering the benefits of collaborative benchmarking, and it addresses the following questions: (1) What does benchmarking of best practices entail?; (2) How does "collaborative benchmarking" enhance the process?; (3) How do SEAs control the process so that "their" needs…

Illinois is investing in bridge programs as a strategy to help more low-skilled and low-wage workers improve their skills, acquire postsecondary credentials, and move up to better jobs. This guidebook is built on early lessons of bridge programs in Illinois. It is designed as a resource for those who want to develop a new bridge program or…

For colleges seeking to improve student outcomes, new technologies often appear to hold the promise of transformative change. Across the country, colleges are using technological tools to enhance reform efforts related to how they teach, how they provide supports to students, and how they guide students through programs of study. In order for…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have ardent supporters and strong critics. The actual effect of the CCSS, however, will depend much less on the standards themselves than on how they are used. Two factors are particularly crucial. The first is whether states invest in the necessary curricular and instructional resources and supports, and the…