Little is known about the impact of staff development programs on student reading comprehension performance. This study examined the impact of staff supported through "Reading Next"'s Project C.R.I.S.S. on middle and high school student remedial reading performance in one Southwestern U.S. school district from 2005 to 2010. This…

In 2001, Congress established the Teaching American History (TAH) program, which seeks to improve student achievement by improving teachers' knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of traditional American history as a separate subject within the core curriculum. Under this program, grants are awarded to local education agencies (LEAs), which…

How can the average educator who teaches online, without experience in evaluating emerging technologies, build on what is successful and modify what is not? Written for educators who feel ill-prepared when required to evaluate e-learning initiatives, "Evaluating e-Learning" offers step-by-step guidance for conducting an evaluation plan of…

Recent efforts to improve K-12 educational outcomes have had mixed success. One possible reason is that many students entering kindergarten lack the basic skills to succeed in school. In 2007, with support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Hawai'i launched its P-3 (preschool through third-grade) initiative, the early childhood component of the…

This summative program evaluation study investigated the Response to Intervention (RTI) pilot literacy block program that was implemented in first and second grade classrooms in a small southeastern suburban school. All 111 students in the first and second grade were involved in this RTI model during the 2010-2011 school year including special…

Despite expansive improvements in both treatments and research, the majority of persons with autism use non-empirically supported interventions. One way to decrease the research-to-practice gap involves increasing the direct applicability of research findings to clinical settings. Effectiveness research achieves this goal by identifying treatments…

The study was designed to collect and document both quantitative and qualitative data based on instructional services provided to students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The study examined the types of professional development and training provided to teachers of students with ASD and gathered the perspectives of local education agency…

Educational paradigm shifts call for 21st century learners to possess the knowledge, skills, abilities, values, and experiences associated with multiple forms of literacy in a participatory learning culture. Contemporary educational systems are slow to adapt. Outside of school, people have to be self-motivated and have access to resources in order…

This was a study of an education doctorate program at a small, private college. It examined the following nine components: theory of leadership for school improvement; candidate recruitment and selection based on leadership; coherent curriculum; use of active learning strategies; knowledgeable faculty; high quality internships; social and…

Findings from the ninth triennial administration of the National Survey of First-Year Seminars, describing the nature and extent of first-year seminars on American college campuses. Drawn from a broad sample of colleges and universities from every institutional type, control, and size, the survey addresses topics including seminar characteristics…

This paper reports on an analysis of large-scale assessments of Grades 5-8 students' writing across 10 provinces and 2 territories in Canada. Theory, classroom practice, and the contributions and constraints of large-scale writing assessment are brought together with a focus on Grades 5-8 writing in order to provide both a broad view of…

Academics are expected to write for publication and meet publication targets in research assessment processes. These targets are set by national bodies and institutions, and they can be daunting for academics at the start of a research career. This article reports on an intervention designed to address this issue, writer's retreat, where academics…

This research study evaluates the effectiveness of a Spanish-English dual language immersion (DLI) program. Many researchers have found that high-quality and long-term DLI programs promote academic achievement and high levels of language proficiency for both language groups. Despite the evidence, leaders from the field of bilingual education have…

Research in commercial organizations has provided a multitude of examples on how leadership development can effectively foster employees' performance and work-related attitudes such as commitment or satisfaction. In contrast, to date systematic leadership development is largely lacking for employees in higher education. However, we suggest that…

The United Nations projects that the United States will have the highest migration rates of any nation in the world between 2000 and 2050. As American society becomes increasingly diverse, it is paramount that superintendent preparation programs produce pluralistic urban superintendents capable of synergistically energizing an increasingly…