Urbanization is causing a major shift in Extension's programming throughout the United States. We present results of a nontraditional urban program (the Parent-Child Reading Enhancement Program) that is being implemented by Alabama Cooperative Extension System's Urban Affairs and New Nontraditional Programs unit. Findings suggest that this…

A key challenge for 21st-century schools, families, and communities is to develop knowledgeable, responsible, and caring students who are able to work well with others from diverse backgrounds in socially and emotionally skilled ways. This case study tells the story of one middle school's journey through the implementation of a social and…

This report examines the influence of social and emotional learning (SEL) implementation and longevity on selected staff and student outcomes. Results indicate that the degree to which schools implement SEL with fidelity is more related to student and staff outcomes than years of participation in SEL. This research brief outlines key takeaways…

This executive summary provides highlights from the full evaluation report (published separately). The report presents a baseline description of outcomes for the 2017-2018 school year, the first year of GEAR UP Austin implementation in AISD. Specifically, the report describes program implementation, student participation in GEAR UP Austin, and…

Based on a practical, six-part framework for reducing peer cruelty and increasing positive behavior support, "End Peer Cruelty, Build Empathy" utilizes the strongest pieces of best practices and current research for ways to stop bullying. The book includes guidelines for implementing strategies, collecting data, training staff,…

The recommendations in this brief create a framework for using data effectively to make instructional decisions. The availability of student-level data for educators has pushed forward the movement to strengthen the role of data to guide instruction and improve student learning. While improvements in technology and assessments, as well as recent…

The racial achievement gap is a problem that is plaguing America's school system. Across the country, black and brown students are performing below their white classmates. According to researchers like Gloria Ladson-Billings and Geneva Gay, one of the most effective ways to reduce the achievement gap is to use culturally relevant instruction. The…

With the advances in technology, there has been a steady and unstoppable expansion in online education, and as technology has kept changing, so has online education. These changes have impacted the experiences of the faculty members, which has led to a growing interest in examining what online faculty members' lived experiences are. To have a…

The purpose of this study was to examine how adult education providers in Chicago, Houston, and Miami are designing and implementing career pathways (CP) programming, especially for adults who are immigrants or have barriers to employment and education. The researcher-practitioner partnership included the Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy…

With decades of evidence to support early childhood development (ECD) programs and policies, investment in ECD has expanded worldwide. Currently, over 70 nations have national ECD legislation, the majority in the last 20 years. However, with these increased investments comes evidence that the capacity of policy systems to support ECD--across…

Collaboration with stakeholders throughout Asia and the Pacific is increasingly important to develop quality and relevant lifelong learning systems. Technical planning tools like qualifications frameworks aim to promote transparency around expected learning outcomes, yet education and training providers in many countries struggle to deliver on…

This case study focuses on one district's process of continuous improvement in family engagement. The improvement effort addresses the point at which family engagement tends to decline precipitously and students are particularly vulnerable--the transition into high school. In this article we analyze the implementation of a continuous improvement…

In this technical report, implementation strategies from the first two years of Project ICEBERG exploration are described. Over this period of time, a new preschool assessment, curricular activity, and teacher training tool called the Learning Receptiveness Assessment-Greenhouse application, was iteratively developed, refined, and piloted to…

In this paper we discuss our development and use of a conjecture map for a large research project on the design and implementation of an online professional development model. Following Sandoval's (2014) model, we built the conjecture map to reflect our high-level conjectures (overarching goals of the project), the embodiment of the learning…

The objective of the audit presented in this report was to evaluate the Office of Special Education Programs' (OSEP) implementation of its differentiated monitoring and support component under the results driven accountability initiative. The audit covered differentiated monitoring and support (DMS) that OSEP conducted under Part B of the…