The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the stimulus package, appropriated $100 billion for education and included $3 billion for school improvement grants (SIGs) to help reform low-performing schools. This amount was in addition to the $546 million provided by the regular fiscal year 2009 appropriations bill for…

Many studies have shown that higher-quality early care and education (ECE) predicts positive developmental gains for the children who experience it. However, much ECE in the United States is not of sufficiently high quality to produce these benefits. Quality rating and improvement systems (QRISs) attempt to improve practice and care quality in ECE…

WICHE (the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education) is a regional, nonprofit organization. WICHE and its 15 member states work to improve access to higher education and ensure student success. Its student exchange programs, regional initiatives, and its research and policy work allow it to assist constituents throughout the West and…

A persistent mathematics achievement gap between African American, Hispanic, and European American students at one elementary school was the focus of this investigation. The research questions of this single site case study involved understanding why an achievement gap exists, and to identify the instructional strategies and best practices used to…

Worldwide, innovation in education is highly perceived as an effectual approach to promote awareness for sustainability. International organizations interested in education, research and training support projects seeking modernization of Higher Education (HE) and put much emphasis on developing new curricula, teaching methods or materials to…

Purpose: This paper assesses the effectiveness of volunteer farmer trainers in promoting adoption of agricultural technologies in western Kenya. Specifically, the purpose was to assess the type of information they disseminated, farmer trainers' characteristics desirable to farmer trainees, and how trainees evaluate farmer trainers.…

After more than a decade (and four years behind schedule) Congress finally seems ready to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. For years, critics have complained that the law's focus on test scores offers far too narrow a picture for judging school quality. There is also concern that the "adequate yearly progress," or…

To keep pace with accelerating technology and workplace expectations, high school and technology center students need access to high-level programs and courses that open the doors to further education and careers. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and nine states have launched a far-reaching program to provide rigorous and relevant…

These "Stories From the Field" describe five Wallace-funded programs working to expand learning and enrichment for disadvantaged children, so they can benefit from the types of opportunities their wealthier counterparts have access to, from homework help to swimming classes. The report details each program's approach, successes and…

This publication outlines a process for developing, instituting, and maintaining school improvement in a systematic way. The seven steps in the process are to (1) identify the problems affecting student performance, (2) establish standards by which to measure the success of improvement efforts, (3) collect appropriate data, (4) analyze the data…

A comprehensive five-year program is outlined for the improvement of library services, particularly programs which can be assisted by the Library Services and Construction Act. Prepared by the State Library staff and based on the program developed in 1972, it provides brief descriptions of the State Library, as well as public, university, school,…

The value of Strong's sentence-combining materials in increasing the syntactic maturity of first-year university students is tested and found positive. (KR)

Briefly describes a performance contract" which guaranteed to raise the reading and mathematics level of potential high school dropouts...one full grade level in 80 hours of instruction." (Author/AA)

An attempt to improve the quality of the life that many socially disoriented youth live in a mojor urban area is described. (CK)

For the past two years, Colby Junior College, in New London, New Hampshire, in cooperation with Operation Crossroads Africa of New York City, has successfully operated an eight-week secretarial improvement course for African office employees. (Author)