The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine patterns in implementation of Tier 2 and 3 school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) systems to identify timings of installation that led to higher implementation of advanced tiers. Extant data from 776 schools in 27 states reporting on the first three years of Tier 2…

In this longitudinal, qualitative case study, critical pedagogical and sociocultural perspectives were employed to analyze the language and literacy strengths, challenges, inequities, and gentrification issues that characterized the first three years of a two-way, 50-50 Spanish-English dual-language (DL) program's implementation, and how the DL…

Region One Education Service Center (Region One) was awarded an Investing in Innovation (i3) development grant funded by the Office of Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, entitled Project Health Education for ALL (HEAL[superscript 2]). Project HEAL[superscript 2] i3 initiative served a pipeline of high school grades 9 to 12…

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have become a popular reform initiative for schools looking to increase student achievement. School district officials can find it difficult to implement and sustain Professional Learning Communities as some teachers are not accustomed to the levels of collaboration with peers involved. If implemented and…

Purpose: This article seeks to enhance our understanding of the ever-present challenge of developing organizational capacity to implement complex education reform initiatives. We analyze the strategies in one large metropolitan education system used to address the district-level and site-level capacity challenges that surfaced as they implemented…

This brief documents the expansion of instructional specialist staffing in U.S. public school districts. We use data from the National Center of Education Statistics' annual Common Core of Data to chart staffing trends in public school districts between 1997-98 and 2012-13. The number of instructional specialists per 1,000 U.S students doubled…

This brief documents the expansion of instructional specialist staffing in U.S. public school districts. We use data from the National Center of Education Statistics' annual Common Core of Data to chart staffing trends in public school districts between 1997-1998 and 2012-2013. The number of instructional specialists per 1,000 U.S students doubled…

The de-adoption of evidence-based practices (EBPs) is a largely understudied topic. The present study examined factors related to the de-adoption of an EBP for students exposed to traumatic events in a large urban school district. Qualitative interviews conducted with school clinicians and district administrators 2 years after the district…

This report describes characteristics of the 11 model SEL schools in AISD and compares them to nonmodel SEL schools.

The four case examples presented in this brief are drawn from the Gardner Center's substantial experience conducting rigorous research in research-practice partnerships. The first case describes a partnership approach that enhances a school district's capacity to use integrated longitudinal data to tackle persistent problems of practice and…

Based on data from a longitudinal multiple case study, this article describes how district-level expectations, policies, and practices affected principals' responses to an external reform in two school districts, one urban and one suburban. The specific reform highlighted is a comprehensive family and community engagement approach developed…

In this study, the implementation of Accelerated Reader (AR), a computer-assisted supplemental reading program, was investigated as a research-based instructional strategy to assess whether it aided a high-performing, rural school district in meeting adequate yearly progress goals. The theoretical framework was based on Vygotsky's zone of…

In a recent publication, Senge ("All systems go: the change imperative for whole system reform." Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, 2010, x) stated "at no time in history has there been a more powerful need for a new vision of the purpose of education." Increasingly citizens, academics and practitioners are calling for radical…

New Jersey's Abbott Preschool program is of broad national and international interest because the Abbott program provides a model for building a high-quality system of universal pre-K through public-private partnerships that transform the existing system. The program offers high-quality pre-K to all children in 31 New Jersey communities with high…

Purpose: Coburn's (2003) multidimensional conception of scale includes four interrelated dimensions--depth, sustainability, spread, and ownership--that provide a framework to understand scale at both the school and district levels. This study was conducted to understand how reform leaders in four districts implementing the National Network of…