The terms "outcome" and "impact" are ubiquitous in evaluation discourse. However, there are many competing definitions that lack clarity and consistency and sometimes represent fundamentally different meanings. This leads to profound confusion, undermines efforts to improve learning and accountability, and represents a…

Background: Conducting evaluation and research is one of the seven areas of responsibility for health education specialists. However, there is little evidence to suggest that professional preparation programs use the competencies as identified by the 2015 Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis (HESPA) as a basis for instruction. Aims: To…

Evaluations of environmental education (EE) programmes and resources are becoming increasingly visible and important. While benefits accrue through evaluation, many programmes and resources have yet to realise these. Issues such as a lack of clear objectives, reliance on traditional, summative approaches and inattention to context have prevented…

The quality assurance of online Higher Education online programmes is one of the great challenges faced by Spanish universities. Regular assessment of these programmes is essential in order to take actions to improve their quality. The said assessment should be complex and include all of the components of the programme, as well as its planning and…

This article shares principles for offering effective professional development for classroom teachers at historic sites and museums, identified through ongoing research at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (TJF). Supported by an IMLS National Leadership Grant, the initial findings challenged the education staff to more fully embrace their roles as…

Theory of change (ToC) is currently "the" approach for the evaluation and planning of international development programs. This approach is considered especially suitable for complex interventions. We question this assumption and argue that ToC's focus on cause-effect logic and intended outcomes does not do justice to the recursive nature…

Countless research studies have shown that employing a variety of instructional methods results in greater student engagement, higher graduation rates, and better student achievement overall (Shernoff, et al., 2003). In order to incorporate a large variety of methods into the classroom, it is important to make use of external resources to help…

Suicide is the third most common cause of death for youth aged 14-19. School counselors need a school-wide prevention plan to address the mental and emotional needs of students experiencing suicidal ideation and behaviors. Although researchers have suggested that suicide prevention programming and suicide screening programs lower the rate of…

A small college in the Midwestern United States has a prior learning assessment (PLA) program that has never been evaluated from the perspective of the faculty and staff. The problem is that campus leaders have a limited understanding of faculty and staff knowledge and their role in the PLA program. The study was approached from an appreciative…

In the context of the "Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2015" (HES Framework), 'scholarship' means those activities concerned with gaining new or improved understanding, appreciation and insights into a field of knowledge, and engaging with and keeping up to date with advances in the field. This includes…

In 2018, the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) and the National Book Foundation (NBF) initiated a collaborative effort to bring Raising Readers to DYCD-funded program sites. Raising Readers is designed to ignite and strengthen adult participants' love of reading and, by modeling the habit of reading for pleasure,…

Developmental Education is the gateway to higher education for the thousands of students who desire to attend college but lack the prerequisite academic skills to be successful. In recent years, DE has been cast into unfavorable light by national policy organizations composed of wealthy entrepreneurs and philanthropists, and the result has. been a…

Although many young children face risk factors for academic failure, most research about family interventions do not focus on at-risk children. For example, although Parents Interacting with Infants Model (i.e. PIWI) and Baby TALK programmes are widely used family interventions, no empirical research has been conducted about PIWI or Baby TALK…

To introduce and provide equine-related activities to military personnel and their families, Utah State University Equine Extension created and implemented an effective program called Ride Utah! Equine-related activities have been shown to improve mental health and build strong family relationships in participating individuals. Ride Utah!…

Teachers' practice is based on their beliefs about how student learning should be developed. In the practice of programme leaders in outdoor environmental education centres, experiential learning is considered to be one of the prominent learning theories. This study analyses the ways in which experiential learning is interpreted and transferred…