The 2002-2003 meetings of the Looking at Student Work project (LASW) represent a new phase of the project featuring new organizing principles and practices. Previous year's sessions were observed and documented by EDC/CCT research staff and by Center for Arts Education (CAE) staff. Because the 2002-2003 version of the project introduced new…

This report focuses on the innovative strategies study component of the Peer Assessment and Compliance Review (PACR) project. California (Court Appointed Special Advocates) CASA programs have developed many innovative strategies to serve children in their communities. At each of the programs visited during the PACR project, the team identified at…

Education policy makers identify access to quality pre-Kindergarten programs as a critical step in early childhood development. While most agree on access, definitions of quality vary widely. A new study by the National Center for Early Development & Learning (NCEDL) finds that families define quality in broader terms than educators,…

Funded in 1999, the "Learning by Doing" (LBD) program of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system Center for Teaching and Learning was designed to increase faculty knowledge, skills, and confidence in using active learning strategies. This report marks the end of an in-depth evaluation study of active learning and the effects of LBD on…

This study examines how the Biology 101 curriculum at The Ohio State University, a non-major's course, was changing with regard to recommendations expressed in the National Science Education Standards (NSES) and Benchmarks for Science Literacy. The Bio 101 course was observed to compare the content topics identified in the syllabus with topics…

This implementation guide is designed for community-based organizations interested in developing programs similar to Plain Talk, a neighborhood-based initiative aimed at helping adults, parents, and community leaders develop the skills and tools needed to communicate effectively with youth about reducing adolescent sexual risk taking. The guide is…

Papers in this collection result from the work carried out in the context of an Invitational Roundtable on System-Level Indicators for Higher/Tertiary Education organized by the European Centre for Higher Education (UNESCO-CEPES) and the Research Institute for Higher Education of Hiroshima University, Japan. Section 1, "The Roundtable--An…

The core activity of the first year's in-depth study of the JASON Project impact on student learning centered on school site visits. The Center for Children and Technology (CCT) and JASON staff developed a set of criteria to select a diverse group of participating schools. One of the most important dimensions was based on the JASON Foundation for…

This report, the third in its series, examined the implementation of the pilots, assessed their costs, and estimated their impacts on a set of outcomes designed to measure the success of the school meal programs in providing free or reduced-price meals to their target population without providing benefits to ineligible students. This report…

Harvard Family Research Project's series of Out-of-School Time Evaluation Snapshots distills the wealth of information compiled in our Out-of-School Time Program Evaluation Database and Bibliography into a single report. Each Snapshot examines a specific aspect of out-of-school time (OST) evaluation. This Snapshot draws on information from Harvard…

This paper addresses the research question: "What is the Motive for the Review of Higher Education Administration (HEA) Doctoral Degree Programs? The data derived from a larger study, "Impact of Program Review on Higher Education Administration Doctoral Degree Programs" that documents, through in-depth case studies, the processes faculty and…

This study evaluated a program that was designed to empower staff members form nonprofit organizations to design evaluations that help further their organizational mission, addressing the needs of their clients more effectively and efficiently. In 2001-200, the program was offered in five bimonthly, 2-day sessions. Twenty participants from 10…

After-school programs that provide additional learning opportunities for children are seen as potentially powerful opportunities to improve student learning and facilitate other positive youth outcomes. This digest summarizes a research synthesis conducted by the Regional Educational Laboratory at SERVE. The synthesis summarizes research and…

The findings from this study show that the Public Charter Schools Program is achieving its intended purpose: to provide states with flexible funding to support new charter schools. As can be evidenced by their growing popularity, charters are an important educational option for the nearly three-quarters of a million students who attend…

This paper describes the collaborative development of an instrument to assess graduates from 1 to 5 years after teacher education program completion. The study shows how a consortium of colleges and universities used the same instrument to gather data for research and program improvement. Examples of research results in the University of New…