In winter 2011, I traveled to 12 communities located throughout the state of Idaho to moderate focus groups with teachers, parents of kindergarten-to-12th-grade (K-12) students, and community members with no children in K-12 education. The focus groups were conducted the first year of a 5-year study using multiple methods to explore the cultural…

Background: In Ohio, levy campaigns are a burdensome task for district administrators and stakeholders alike. To date, there is little research on the districts' role in crafting school budget referenda campaigns. Purpose: This study asked three research questions: How did the macropolitical contexts shape stakeholders' decision making in terms of…

Background: Children in northern Uganda have undergone significant psychosocial stress during the region's lengthy conflict. A Psychosocial Structured Activities (PSSA) program was implemented in 21 schools identified as amongst those most severely affected by conflict-induced displacement across Gulu and Amuru Districts. The PSSA intervention…

Developed for an NIH training institute, this volume is organized around the most frequently asked questions by researchers starting their careers in applied research in child and adolescent development. With contributions from the leading scholars in the field, actual research experiences highlight the challenges one faces in conducting such…

This study investigated school administrators' perceptions of school improvement policies in a high-impact policy environment by measuring the impact of accountability, site-based management, professional development, and scheduling reform on the three dependent variables of a) academic outcomes, b) staff morale, and c) parent and community…

This book presents hands-on information on how to plan, administer, and analyze opinion polls. Guidance is also offered on how to make this strategy accessible to public interest groups. Several examples, checklists, warnings of possible pitfalls, and lists of material and human resources occur throughout the chapters. Major sections address the…

Georgia's Needs Assessment Package, which has many sample forms, includes a procedure which helps to identify short-range and long-range educational needs. This procedure utilizes community participation which broadens the decision-making base and serves to legitimatize actual decisions. It utilizes the opinions of professional educators,…

Background: The School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) 2006 examined 8 components of school health programs: health education, physical education and activity, health services, mental health and social services, nutrition services, healthy and safe school environment, faculty and staff health promotion, and family and community…

This position statement endorsed by the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities is designed to promote and facilitate research projects affecting and involving people with intellectual disabilities. The paucity of dedicated research infrastructure and expert ethical review processes to oversee research in…

The recruitment of respondents belonging to ethnic minorities poses important challenges in social and health research. This paper reflects on the enablers and barriers to recruitment that we encountered in our research work with persons belonging to ethnic minorities. Additionally, we applied the Matching Model of Recruitment, a theoretical…

Developing an effective vaccine remains a critical long-term approach to HIV prevention. Every efficacy trial should be responsive to the concerns of participating communities because the successful development of an HIV preventive vaccine will require long-term involvement of people who have been marginalized and who distrust the government and…