The seven chapters of this volume demonstrate that evaluation evidence can overturn widely held beliefs and result in changes in programs and policies. These chapters show that policymakers can welcome findings that challenge long-established ideas and use them to Improve programs and services. (SLD)

This article describes a novel effort in New York City, the Learning Partners Program, which matches veteran principals with two or more newer ones. In 2014-15, the first full year of the effort, the city's Department of Education put 73 of the city's more than 1,800 schools into 23 groups of threes and one group of four. Every group comprised one…

There have been limited qualitative case studies exploring effective strategies designed to improve graduation rates in rural school districts. Specifically, few studies have presented information based solely upon the voices of practitioners themselves in solving the graduation crisis in America's public schools. This study will add to the…

The following design case illustrates the approach a group of advanced graduate online-design students, two design coaches, and an instructor used to design an online instructional intervention as a service-learning project for parents interested in improving their parenting skills with their pre-teens. This design case is distinctive in that it…

In this paper, we describe the faculty development resources, structures, and processes utilized to promote educational scholarship in a department of pediatrics. We discuss a 5-year effort based on the strategy of forming an "academy" of educational scholars and resulting in significant increases in peer-reviewed conference…

Crystal Bonds is Principal at The High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College, New York, NY. During her three years as a new principal at one of New York City's eight specialized high schools, she found herself constantly wrestling with two challenges: (1) Maintaining the school's high academic standards; and (2) protecting the…

Kimbel Library launched its mobile environment and ran it in full production for several months yet usage patterns were quite low and flat. The library only saw a substantial increase in usage when new, value-added services were integrated into this platform. Upon implementing and integrating discovery services, chat and SMS capabilities, and…

On July 7, 2014, the U.S. Department of Education announced plans to enforce a provision of the 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act meant to ensure that every student is taught by a great teacher and attends a school run by great administrators. The provision requires states to develop and implement plans to ensure that no subgroup of students is…

This article seeks to contribute to the recent discussion regarding school finance, teacher quality, and English language learners (ELLs) based on a comparative study within a school district with a significant ELL population. The study described in this article utilizes an exploratory multiple case study methodology to examine the complex…

Purpose: The No Child Left Behind Act laudably brings social justice and equity issues to the forefront; however, the act's threat- and sanction-driven methods are not only increasing stress levels but potentially causing a rigid response, especially in the growing population of schools labeled "program improvement" (PI). Specifically,…

This study is a mixed-methods case study of Antelope Valley High School (AVHS). AVHS was one of the first six schools in California to receive academic sanctions since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. It was also the first high school to receive a State Trustee who was embedded at the school every day for two school years. AVHS…

For social work practitioners to engage fully in efforts designed to improve the quality of social services, they need to understand what is meant by quality of care, grapple with its complexity, and know how to identify and leverage the key factors most likely to influence it. This article introduces a conceptual model that articulates numerous…

This article focuses on the evolution of faculty development in medicine. Of note, improving teaching in medical education is not a new concept. At a minimum, it was seriously discussed by pioneers like George Miller and Steve Abrahamson as early as the 1950s [Simpson & Bland (2002). Stephen Abrahamson, PhD, ScD, educationist: A stranger in a kind…

For any school improvement (SI) initiative to succeed, teachers' "buy-in" is a must. Usually, such a commitment is weak when the needed resources, training, know-how, and support are lacking. Bahraini public schools require teachers' "buy-in" and commitment. The twofold question though is this: (1) What are the experiences of…

This research study presents one in-depth case study that investigates the successes, challenges, and processes of developing and enacting arts education programming at the elementary school level given the time limitations and other constraints associated with the high stakes testing environment that currently characterizes many of California's…