A great deal has been achieved in recent years in understanding how universities can best support the transition to higher education of an increasingly diverse student body (Kift, 2015). Numerous studies have identified transition program elements that correlate with improved success and retention for commencing students. Lizzio's 'five senses'…

Higher education teaching certificate programs can improve graduate students' and postdoctoral scholars' teaching while preparing them for their future roles as faculty, providing a multi-tiered benefit to universities' teaching goals. This article documents the decision points and initial success of a redesign of one such teaching certificate…

We implemented an Extension-led language and literacy training and coaching intervention targeting preschool teachers and children in low-income communities in Nevada. Participation in the intervention had a positive influence on the language and literacy instruction skills of preschool teachers and language and literacy skills of children.…

A strong emphasis has been placed on social-emotional learning (SEL) during the preschool years; however, there is a dearth of research into the drivers of program success in this setting. This study examined the effectiveness of a formal, teacher-led social-emotional learning program, COPE-Resilience, on the development of 4 to 5-year-old…

Randomized control trials (RCTs) are commonly regarded as the 'gold standard' for evaluating educational interventions. While this experimental design is valuable in establishing causal relationships between the tested intervention and outcomes, reliance on statistical aggregation typically underplays the situated context in which interventions…

Drug Outreach, Promoting Awareness (DOPA) is an undergraduate outreach program for local high school students designed to convey the neurobiological basis, risks, and addictive potential of commonly abused drugs. Here we describe DOPA and evaluate the program, including its impact on high school student attitudes about drug harm risk and…

Client projects have long been recognized for their value as an experiential learning device and as a way to increase a wide range of skills, including critical thinking and problem solving. The extant literature, however, has not fully explored the relationship among student attitudes, learning outcomes, and project evaluations. Through…

Educator preparation programs have a responsibility to prepare professionals to meet P-12 learner needs. Research and changing demographics provide evidence and rationale of the importance to increase the number of educators of color and to prepare all educators to be racially conscious. Educator preparation programs, in tandem with P-12 school…

The State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP), WV GRADUATION 20/20 was implemented during the 2015-2016 academic school year beginning with 69 schools in 36 counties, representing 59% of West Virginia's high schools. During the 2016-2017 academic year the number of high schools grew to 72 and the cohort included 20 middle schools bringing the total…

The use of the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) to improve early childhood education program quality is based in part on assumptions that the quality of programs can be measured and that quality ratings are associated with meaningful differences in learning outcomes for children. This report reviews all of the state QRIS validation…

As diagnostic numbers within autism continue to climb, educators, parents, and other professionals have an ever-increasing demand to provide effective, empirically based programs that foster improvements across a variety of developmental, academic, and social needs. This study incorporated use of a Peer Mediated Instruction and Intervention (PMII)…

International sojourners who are learning a new language in an immersion environment are the focus of many second language acquisition research studies. Several studies have examined the language socialization of populations such as study abroad participants (Duff, 2007; Kinginger, 2008, 2015) and international students (Ortactepe, 2013; Umino…

In Winnipeg, several school divisions (Winnipeg, River East Transcona, St James-Assiniboia, and Louis Riel School Division, to name a few) have opened alternative site "Off-Campus" programs and opportunities in an effort to better engage reluctant school attendees. Approximately 20 students, aged 12 to 15 years old, attended the…

This article reports on an evaluation of three action research projects developed by a group of teachers working across the early years in three independent schools. The article examines the role of action research in developing educational leadership capabilities. Drawing on the educational leadership literature, concepts and ideas of action and…

When linked to program review and improvement, program evaluation can help practitioners to ensure that career-technical education (CTE) and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs offer equitable access and outcomes for underserved student groups.