Four organizations with promising practices in teacher Professional Growth & Support have significantly raised outcomes for low-income students. The charter management networks, Achievement First and Aspire Public Schools, and the two reform organizations, Teach Plus and Agile Mind, have successfully increased student achievement with a…

Stagnant earnings and growing inequality in the US labor market reflect both a slowdown in the growth of worker skills and the growing matching of good-paying jobs to skilled workers. Improving the ties between colleges, workforce institutions, and employers would help more workers gain the needed skills. Evaluation evidence shows that training…

In this paper, the authors draw on empirical data from CCRC's Scaling Innovation project to examine trends in developmental education instructional reform and outline a framework for reform adoption and adaptation. The paper's findings are based on two qualitative data sources: a scan of developmental education reforms that involved changes to…

For the past decade, MDRC has evaluated a number of interventions designed to improve the outcomes of community college students, including enhanced counseling, learning communities, and financial incentives. Encouragingly, many of these strategies have produced positive effects, affirming that changes in institutional practices and policies can…

Coaching has garnered support as a professional development approach that helps teachers use research-based instruction to teach emergent literacy skills to young children. However, approaches to coaching vary widely, as do the backgrounds and training of the teachers included in different studies. This study investigated the influence of…

Data-driven decision making has become increasingly important in education. Policymakers require educators to use data to inform practice. Although the policy emphasis is growing, what has not increased is attention to building human capacity around data use. Educators need to gain data literacy skills to inform practice. Although some…

This paper describes an urban teacher residency program, the Newark Montclair Urban Teacher Residency, a collaborative endeavor between the Newark, New Jersey Public Schools and Montclair State University, built on a decades-long partnership. The authors see the conceptual work of developing this program as creating a "third space" in…

During recess, the participation of a student with visual impairments in terms of movement can often be both challenging and rewarding for the student and general education teacher. This paper will address common characteristics of students with visual impairments and present basic solutions to improve the participation of these students in the…

Continuous improvement has been a strategic priority for Loyola College in Maryland's Executive MBA (EMBA) Program since the program's inception in 1973. In the summer of 2008, Loyola began an intensive EMBA curriculum review. The process resulted in a recommendation to make a significant shift in the curriculum's emphasis. This paper reports on…

In 2001, less than two years after the Columbine High School shootings, a plan to copycat the Columbine shooting in a junior high school was interrupted by police. This was one of the first documented cases of interrupted school violence and the school where this was to occur was traumatized both by the fact that students were planning violence…

Leading through change is a difficult process. School leaders who hope to create meaningful, long-term change must be cognizant of numerous factors. This study was undertaken with the hope of increasing educational leaders' awareness of how their decisions are viewed by those who follow them. Case studies revealed pertinent data within two schools…

This two-part "Implementation Guide" will help to deepen your understanding and sharpen your ability to implement each of the strategies discussed in "Leading School Change: Nine Strategies to Bring Everybody on Board" (ED509821). Part One offers discussion questions and activities which focus on each of the nine strategies. They can be completed…

The purpose of this article is intended to present the procedure and outcomes of an evaluation of the Assistive Technology Resource Center in a city of Taiwan. The evaluation was initiated by Chiayi City Government through inviting three professionals in the field of assistive technology as evaluators. For the purpose of evaluation, the Executive…

Are your new campus employees experiencing and acting positively as they assume their new roles? Do they exhibit excitement and anticipation toward their new jobs? Are they enthusiastic about sharing, learning and contributing? Research shows that investing the extra effort, or "onboarding," to capitalize on the enthusiasm of new hires pays…

Although it is common to hear people espouse the importance of education to ensuring a strong and vibrant democracy, the assumptions underlying such statements are rarely unpacked. Two of the most widespread, though not necessarily complimentary, assumptions include: (1) to truly participate in a democracy, citizens must be well educated; and (2)…