The practicum experiences in which educational leadership students participate serve as critical bridges between the classroom work and the field. One regional university restructured the experience to include 15 hours of fieldwork embedded in each course leading up to an 85-hour field-based capstone course. The intent was three-fold: (1) to…

The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) task force for Re-Examining Paradigms of Campus-Based Aid was established in June 2017 to examine the "one grant/one loan" concept with a specific focus on whether and how the existing campus-based programs fit into this model. Proposals to eliminate campus-based…

The Department of Education (Education) provided more than $125 billion in federal student aid funds in fiscal year 2016 to help students pay for higher education. To participate in federal student aid programs, postsecondary schools must be accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by Education. This report examines: (1) the strengths and…

As the first major effort to use a behavioral economics lens to examine human services programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the United States, the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project demonstrated the value of applying behavioral insights to improve the efficacy of human services programs. The BIAS…

Over the years, most states and districts have focused professional development on teachers rather than principals. However, evidence suggests that principals can play an important role in reaching our national goals of high achievement for all students. School leaders are powerful levers for change--when given the right training and support. But…

A critical component of school systems that contributes to impactful student outcomes is teacher retention and the support structures designed to improve teacher retention. There has been substantial research into teacher attrition and retention rates in the K-12 public-school sector (Brill & McCartney, 2008; Ingersoll, 2012; Ingersoll &…

Systemic efforts to strengthen teacher preparation in Louisiana led to the first statewide value-added assessment (VAA) of teacher preparation programs (TPPs). Subsequently, a number of states have adopted VAA of TPPs. The authors describe challenges that were confronted around the deployment of Louisiana's VAA of TPPs. The discussion is organized…

Context: Continuing education (CE) is a form of professional development intended to improve knowledge and skill beyond entry-level practice; however, we lack data to understand how athletic trainers (ATs) choose to implement CE experiences into clinical practice. Objective: To explore ATs' motivators for pursuing professional development through…

Improvement networks are a novel organizational form designed to support collaborative, interorganizational learning and improvement aimed at solving complex, interdependent problems spanning classrooms, schools, systems, and their broader contexts. These networks aim to develop and augment local capabilities for innovation and improvement by…

Provision of dynamic guidance services is an important aspect of any educational system of a country. Because of changes in the life style of people and working patterns in various sectors due to scientific and technological developments, several problems have also come up which are linked to various aspects of education, vocational training,…

An online survey sent to the community of professional librarians in the United States who provide information literacy instruction in academic libraries provided insights into their practices and the challenges they face. Data include current pedagogical methods, client groups of focus, assessment and evaluation, marketing, instructional…

Despite much progress in improving the quality of preschool programs, there is still an uneven quality of instruction in early childhood settings. Providing support and professional development (PD) for teachers that is practical, systematic and sustainable is one potential avenue to increase classroom quality in preschool, including quality of…

The Michigan State University (MSU) Libraries' Website has a case of TMI: too much information organized by librarians for librarians. Finding relevant information about various library services, including the 24/7 Distance Learning Support Line, and access points to scholarly resources is often cumbersome, and given the limited time and staffing…

The articles in this special issue discuss efforts to improve academic reading outcomes for students and ways to achieve high implementation fidelity of promising strategies. At times the authors discuss if--and how--strong fidelity is associated with strong outcomes and potentially even impacts (the difference between program and control group…

Public schools follow school improvement guidelines to improve outcomes for students. This study utilized a quantitative method with a correlational design to discern any relationship between the NCStar School Improvement Program Indicators and student proficiency scores. The population for the study was 636 public high schools implementing the…