The list of 61 finalists for the latest Race to the Top competition shows that the U.S. Department of Education was successful in enticing high-scoring applications from districts in rural America and in states that had not shared in the Race to the Top bounty before. But whether the ultimate winners, which will be announced this month, will be…

Meet your students' literacy needs with this book from Pamela Craig and Rebecca Sarlo. Literacy experts Craig and Sarlo explain how the implementation of a Problem Solving/Response to Intervention framework in grades 4-12 will help all students greatly improve their reading skills. Written for secondary teachers and administrators, the book shows…

The goal of improving student academic and behavior outcomes is to ensure that all students have access to the most effective and accurately implemented instructional and behavioral practices and interventions possible. Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) provides an operational framework for achieving these outcomes. In general,…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have ardent supporters and strong critics. The actual effect of the CCSS, however, will depend much less on the standards themselves than on how they are used. Two factors are particularly crucial. The first is whether states invest in the necessary curricular and instructional resources and supports, and the…

The research study will examine the impact of using the ClassScape program and targeted interventions on 3rd grade reading levels of performance. The conceptual and theoretical framework for the study suggests the need to connect formative, benchmark, and summative assessments in North Carolina. Furthermore, the review of the literature will…

Texas requires a school district to offer bilingual education when its enrollment of limited English proficient (LEP) students in a particular elementary grade and language is twenty or higher. Using school panel data, we find a significant increase in the probability that a district offers bilingual education above this 20-student cutoff. Using…

Departmental and programmatic eliminations represent a new paradigm in the history of American higher education. Hastened by a national economic recession and competing state funding priorities, public post-secondary institutions have turned to academic attrition as a solution to continuous budgetary shortfalls. As a means of addressing the lived…

The previous decade has seen the creation of African American Male Initiative programs at colleges and universities across the United States. These programs were created in response to the low retention and graduation rates of African American males on these campuses. There has been little research, however, to discover best practices for these…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of individualized interventions for young children with persistent challenging behavior. Three children between the ages of 4 and 5 years participated in the study. For each child, target activities and target behaviors were identified. Multicomponent interventions were developed that…

Public education reform designed for K-12 and higher education exists to transform teaching and learning within the United States in order to graduate today's student. One specific initiative on the federal, state, and local levels is the implementation of Chinese language programs. Some of the Chinese language programs in the K-12 education…

The purpose of this explanatory mixed methods study was to explore the perceptions of Nebraska teachers about their experiences in the transition from STARS to NeSA. The study explored their perceptions of the influence of the transition on implementation of a balanced assessment system. As defined by NDE, a balanced system included NeSA testing,…

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, is proud to present the third in its latest series of four issue briefs examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This brief explores afterschool and parent engagement. There is little dispute…

Correctional programs that respond to female offenders with young to school-aged children are growing in number. Girl Scouts Beyond Bars is one of these programs. Research and evaluation of female-specific programs in corrections is limited. This study examined the experiences and individual perceptions of female offenders while participating in…

This is a report on the New Mexico Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) project conducted over 5 years as part of a national initiative launched by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration with the aim of increasing integration of substance use services and medical care. Throughout the state, 53,238…

The author is a site manager employed by a small community-based organization (CBO) that provides afterschool programming at a number of school-based sites scattered throughout southern King County in Washington State. As such, he belongs to one-half of the afterschool youth development (AYD) workforce: the (for the most part) full-time, salaried…