This paper is a case study of a Master of Library and Information Studies degree program online option that has been unusually successful in retaining and graduating students. Design characteristics of this program that has maintained a retention rate of over 90 percent over five years are described and mapped to the literature on distance…

In late 2006, the New Zealand Government embarked on a series of initiatives to explore how the resources and expertise of eight, small, state-owned science research institutes could be combined efficiently to support science teaching in schools. Programmes were developed to enable students and teachers to access and become involved in local…

The State University System of Florida has developed three tools that aid in guiding the System's future: (1) The Board of Governors' new "Strategic Plan 2012-2025" is driven by goals and associated metrics that stake out where the System is headed; (2) The Board's "Annual Accountability Report" provides yearly tracking for how…

Each week, nearly 11 million children under age 5 are in some type of child care setting for an average of 35 hours. Parents, as consumers of child care, equate a child care license with state approval--a gold seal for those businesses to which a state grants a license. Child Care Aware® of America reviews state licensing policies, which include…

This evaluation study provides descriptive information about the implementation and outcomes of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) program in West Virginia, from September 2012 through May 2013. The report draws on information from online surveys of directors of 30 CCLC programs and from school teachers for 4,102 participating…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) program is a series of periodic assessments administered nationally to samples of students and designed to measure different content areas. This article describes a multi-year study that focused on the breadth of the development, administration, maintenance, and renewal of the assessments in…

Implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is a major undertaking for any higher education institution, with many challenges along the way. More than three years ago, Roane State Community College began a journey to implement an ERP system. Roane State recently completed a very successful implementation of the SunGard Banner Student…

This final report presents findings from a multi-year evaluation of the Comprehensive Technical Assistance Centers, a federally funded program that provides technical assistance to states in connection with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. With the redesign of the Center…

"The First-Year Seminar: Designing, Implementing, and Assessing Courses to Support Student Learning and Success," a five-volume series, is designed to assist educators who are interested in launching a first-year seminar or revamping an existing program. Each volume examines a different aspect of first-year seminar design or administration and…

One of the standard labor practices of research universities is to hire, pay, and promote faculty members on the basis of the research they produce. In the humanities, professors write books and articles and universities reward them accordingly. The system amounts to a considerable expenditure for the institution and a significant portion of…

Published studies have reported that Information System (IS) projects succeed or fail based on how effectively the organizational issues were understood and addressed in the specification, development and implementation stages of the project. This is particularly true in the design and delivery of Inter-Organizational Systems (IOS) that can affect…

At the 12th Annual National Learning Communities Conference in November 2007, Juan Carlos Huerta, Gale Stuart, Lauren Chism, and Michele Hansen participated in a panel discussion about new directions in learning communities assessment and research. The intent of the panel discussion was to hear from those involved in learning community assessment,…

Evaluation of public service programming is becoming increasingly important with current funding realities. The taxonomy of evaluation competencies compiled by Ghere et al. (2006) provided the starting place for Taxonomy for Assessing Evaluation Competencies in Extension. The Michigan State University Extension case study described here presents a…

"The First-Year Seminar: Designing, Implementing, and Assessing Courses to Support Student Learning and Success," a five-volume series, is designed to assist educators who are interested in launching a firstyear seminar or revamping an existing program. Each volume examines a different aspect of first-year seminar design or…

Over the past decade and a half, state governments have assumed greater responsibility over demand-side management (DSM) operations. Whereas DSM programs formerly were initiated primarily by utilities or state public utility commissions, they are now becoming increasingly state-initiated and incentivized through funding mechanisms or…