For decades, declines in library reference use have been inextricably tied to technological improvements. This article asserts that reference staffing models may be a significant predictor of a decline in reference questions. Using two years of data, collected from a large public university, the researchers determined user preferences among five…

This article describes how one very large, diverse school district developed a Student Acuity Tool for School Nurse Assignment and used a logic model to successfully advocate for additional school nurse positions. The logic model included three student outcomes that were evaluated: provide medications and procedures safely and accurately, increase…

When the Model Work Standards were first crafted more than two decades ago, they were built on the premise that quality child care jobs are the cornerstone of high-quality services for children and families. The intent of these standards is to make it possible for those who choose teaching young children as a career to reasonably and responsibly…

"Research Library Issues" ("RLI") focuses on current and emerging topics that are strategically important to research libraries. The articles explore issues, share information, pose critical questions, and provide examples. This issue includes the following articles: (1) ARL Library Budgets after the Great Recession, 2011-13…

Traditionally, journalism majors gain professional experience before graduation through internships, part-time or summer jobs, and campus media. Those avenues are often insufficient to adequately prepare them for the professional workplace and professional standards. This essay explores two of a journalism school's practice-based programs that…

The changing demands of the 21st century--and the students growing up in it--are generating fundamental challenges to historical assumptions about what education looks like. The challenge today is to provide a deeper level of personalized learning to each and every student so that all can achieve mastery of the Common Core standards and other…

This brief estimates the impact of a statewide implementation of Opportunity Culture models, using North Carolina as an example. Impacts estimated include student learning outcomes, gross state product, teacher pay, and other career characteristics, and state income tax revenue. Estimates indicate the potential for a statewide transition to…

This case study reports on the work of Denise Watts, who in 2011 was the newly named Project L.I.F.T. executive director and a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools zone superintendent. She approached Public Impact for help in meeting the new Project L.I.F.T. (Leadership and Investment for Transformation) goals. Facing urgent needs for real change, Watts…

This guide is primarily aimed at skills providers for unemployed adults, but will also be of interest to learning providers that wish to engage micro-businesses for the purpose of delivering other forms of provision such as apprenticeships and work-based learning through full cost recovery. The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education…

The Youth Villages Transitional Living program is intended to help youth who were formerly in foster care or juvenile justice custody, or who are otherwise unprepared for adult life, to make the transition to independent living. Youth Villages, which serves emotionally and behaviorally troubled young people, operates a number of programs in…

There's a lot of work happening all over the country to "turnaround" schools. Federal stimulus programs, including Title 1 Improvement Grants and Race to the Top, have caused many states and school systems to focus on how to address schools trapped in a cycle of failure and "turn them around." On the school level, there are…

At least since the early 1990s, academic libraries have been merging Circulation and various other related functions into a single department typically labeled "Access Services." In many cases, however, that merger has proven to be administrative rather than functional, with minimal integration of common workflows. This article describes…

The teaching profession has long been structured around full-time classroom responsibilities that are defined by the location, timing, and schedule of the school day and a ubiquitous one-teacher-per-classroom model. In most districts, the only option for highly successful teachers to advance in the profession or serve more students is to leave the…

In the 2006-2007 school year, the State of Wyoming adopted an evidenced-based school funding model. The Wyoming funding model reviewed in this study is considered an evidence-based approach, utilizing expert judgment to determine educational funding. In an evidence-based approach, educational strategies are identified and a dollar figure is…