The MOM Program is an innovative home visiting program whose aim is to empower low-income urban mothers to obtain health and early intervention services for their children. The authors discuss a recent evaluation of the MOM program which sought to examine maternal involvement in the program. The results raise important questions and call for…

Information Technology (IT) is said to be the technology of 21st century. There has been a huge growth in the field of information technology. Traditionally IT was used only to provide the back office support to organizations. Nowadays it plays a strategic role in organizations supporting many business functions and also shapes new strategies in…

Background: One of the reasons for the slow and uncertain translation of research into practice is likely due to the emphasis in science on explanatory models and efficacy designs rather than more pragmatic approaches. Methods: Following a brief definition of what constitutes a pragmatic approach, I provide examples of pragmatic methods, measures,…

Evaluation occurs within a specific context and is influenced by the economic, political, historical, and social forces that shape that context. The culture of evaluation is thus very much embedded in the culture of accountability that currently prevails in public sector institutions, policies, and program. As such, our understanding of the…

The purpose of the study was to evaluate an undergraduate distance education (DE) programme based upon adult learners' perceptions. The study investigated the value of the Human Resource Development programme at the University of Arkansas by examining the students' reasons for returning to college, their attitudes towards the programme and the…

The overall purpose of this study was to capture the relationships made during the Campus Canines Program, an animal-assisted activity program, at the University of Pittsburgh. Meaningful social relationships create greater educational satisfaction. These social relationships are an important piece to creating and sustaining student involvement,…

The North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten Program (NC Pre-K) is a state-funded initiative for at-risk 4-year-olds, designed to provide a high quality, classroom-based educational program during the year prior to kindergarten entry. Children are eligible for NC Pre-K based on age, family income (at or below 75% of state median income), and other risk…

Although many practitioners have turned to the Internet as a viable means of reaching youth with their programs, there is little research on how and when youth engage with online educational resources. The present study employed a grounded theory design to gain an understanding of how practitioners can develop online programs that engage youth.…

Autism spectrum disorder is characterized as a complex brain disorder that impacts the life of an individual (Autism Society, n.d.; Autism Speaks, 2013). The prevalence of autism is on the rise (Baio, 2012; CDC, 2012), impacting the stress of the family (Haimer, 2012; Hall & Graff) and the need for services (Haney, 2012). This capstone study…

This article presents a checklist as a guide for Extension professionals to use in research and evaluation studies they carry out. A total of 40 statements grouped under eight data quality components--relevance, objectivity, validity, reliability, integrity, generalizability, completeness, and utility--are identified to ensure that research…

The focus of this Executive Position Paper (EPP) is school improvement through the development and implementation a comprehensive, research-based, intervention plan for Millsboro Middle School (MMS) in the Indian River School District (IRSD). Studies conducted for this EPP began with an informal investigation of MMS data that included the Delaware…

This evaluation was undertaken as a method of gathering, providing, and analyzing data that would assist educators at a weekend school in ascertaining the perceptions of stakeholders concerning the school. The evaluation sought to determine various recommendations that, if implemented, would be beneficial to the weekend school under study.…

The study examined the adequacy of preparation that graduate teaching assistants receive before or during the pursuit of their graduate degree. Specifically, this study looked at graduate teaching assistants' perceptions of their particular programs. Additionally, this study explored how prevalent or non-prevalent TA training was before…

The objective of my dissertation is to create a general approach to evaluating IS/IT projects using Real Option Analysis (ROA). This is an important problem because an IT Project Portfolio (ITPP) can represent hundreds of projects, millions of dollars of investment and hundreds of thousands of employee hours. Therefore, any advance in the…

Objective: This article reports on the impact of the Individual Development Account (IDA) program on credit. Method: Using a convenience sample of IDA participants (N = 165), data were analyzed using paired sample "t" tests, independent sample "t" test, one-way analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney "U" Tests, and…