Over approximately the first decade of the 21st century, Nebraska educators have experienced the development and implementation of two differing assessment systems. The STARS system, implemented in 2001, was the first standards-based assessment system that Nebraska had supported and required of schools in the state. In early 2008, the Nebraska…

Many school systems across the United States have begun redesign efforts by investing in smaller high school settings (Cawelti, 1999). Transforming schools into structured academic or career-themed academies has been associated with increased student achievement and more personalized learning environments. Ongoing collaboration of district level…

Implementation of school turnaround strategies under School Improvement Grant and Race to the Top programs has provided States with a unique opportunity to rethink how to govern effectively and to organize their efforts to improve their lowest achieving schools. States have had to consider such issues as whether to provide support directly to…

The year 2012 is significant for English teachers in Australia, not only is it the National Year of Reading, but it is also the year when an increasing number of English teachers across the country are implementing the "Australian Curriculum: English," the first national curriculum in the history of the nation. This paper addresses the…

In February 2009, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement No. 54, "Find Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type Definitions." This statement changes how a fund balance is classified on the face of the government fund financial statements and refines the definitions for government fund types. The statement's…

Minimal effects found across youth physical activity (PA) interventions, and increased attention to circumstances that impede adequate delivery of program components, has highlighted the importance of learning from staff what is needed to foster staff comprehension and engagement for developing, adopting, and successfully implementing PA-based…

Collaborative Evaluation systematically invites and engages stakeholders in program evaluation planning and implementation. Unlike "distanced" evaluation approaches, which reject stakeholder participation as evaluation team members, Collaborative Evaluation assumes that active, on-going engagement between evaluators and program staff,…

In this article, John Papay argues that teacher evaluation tools should be assessed not only on their ability to measure teacher performance accurately, but also on how well they inform and support ongoing teacher development. He looks at two major approaches to teacher evaluation reform: value-added measures and standards-based evaluations. Papay…

The research literature in higher education is abundantly clear that each student's engagement and involvement in the college experience make a difference in the kind of education the student receives as well as the outcomes. Peer leadership programs in higher education are growing in popularity because they provide a variety of ways to…

To increase the rigor of pediatric rehabilitation research, there is a need to evaluate the degree to which an intervention is conducted as planned (i.e., fidelity). Generic fidelity measures evaluate more than one intervention and often include nonspecific attributes of the therapy process common to both interventions. The objective of this study…

Alternative education (AE) programs and schools usually serve distinct populations of students with educational disabilities and mental health or other needs. AE program staff often employ a range of curricula, interventions, and strategies that form an eclectic approach to addressing student needs. This may result in practices that are…

Over the last four decades, International Baccalaureate (IB) schools have become increasingly important in the global market of international education. This is especially evident in Asia Pacific, which has evidenced the fastest growth in IB schools, as well as international schools more generally, across the world over the last decade. Despite…

Informing both program evaluation and practice research, this paper describes lessons learned during the planning, implementation, and pilot phases of an abstinence education program based in a rural community in a southern state in the USA. Although a number of challenges can emerge in successfully implementing and evaluating such a program in a…

Information systems (IS) practitioners must regularly work cross-functionally with business users when implementing enterprise systems. However, most IS higher education is not truly cross-functional in nature with students typically relying on instructors or even themselves to represent user requirements. To address this gap, we describe an…

Through a series of summit meetings, the Adult Education Great Cities Summit Initiative explored the needs and concerns of adult education students, teachers, and local program administrators in five large, urban settings. Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and Houston participated in a series of activities focused on improving learner…