The major purpose of this descriptive report is to provide an overview of the structure, capacity, and roles of educational service agencies (ESAs) across five states--Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin--in the Great Lakes region, within the context of the broader statewide systems of support for educational improvement and progress.…

For the past eight years, Midwest Educational Research Consortium (MERC), located at Western Michigan University, received two multi-million dollar grants through a U.S. Department of Education program entitled Gaining Early Awareness and Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP). GEAR UP is a school/university partnership using a cohort model with the…

The long-term sustained impact of the Saginaw School District Chapter I Supplemental Teacher Participation (STP) program on third grade students during the 1979-80 school year was examined. A total of 256 students were classified into one of four categories: 1 year, 2 year continuous, 3 year continuous, and 2 year interrupted. Two different…

This paper examines alternative teacher certification in the NCREL region (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin), reviewing relevant literature, analyzing current Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) data, reviewing information on alternative certification programs in these states, and offering results from a survey of…

Describes results from the Perry Preschool Project, which began in 1962 to assess whether high-quality preschool programs would provide short- and long-term benefits to impoverished African American students. Longitudinal data indicated that compared to nonparticipants, participants had significantly higher earnings, percentages of home and second…

A study examined the practices of 121 school-based intervention teams from Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Findings revealed several positive practices by teams from all states; however, teams from Illinois displayed consistent superiority across several measures. Discussion focuses on implications for practice and educational and legal reform.…

KLICK! (Kids Learning In Computer Clubhouses!), a federally funded, after school, computer clubhouse operating in Michigan, is investigated as a means for supporting positive, engaging, and innovative after school activities for teens. A quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test survey suggests that participating in KLICK! is differentially effective…

Employing a graduate assistant in the assessment process can be rewarding for both the student and the academic department. This article describes the skills, challenges, and rewards of the author's work on program assessment in the Interdisciplinary Technology Department at Eastern Michigan University. The author hopes to provide some insights…

This exploratory study examines the impact of a professional development program where a K-16 networked learning community approach was implemented to provide training and support for technology integration in science education. The study presents findings from a three-year project with five cohort groups that included 17 student teachers, 17…

This study was conducted to develop methods of providing effective vocational education for disadvantaged students in rural areas, including improvement in vocational educators' attitudes and teaching methods with respect to teaching the disadvantaged. A random sample of 20 rural high schools in northwest Michigan with less than 400 students in…

Using data from a longitudinal sample of former and current welfare recipients in Michigan spanning 1997 through 1999, the Womens Employment Study, this analysis examined how transitions from welfare to work affect parenting behavior and child behavior problems. Researchers used a fixed-effects regression design to control for all time-invariant…

Father involvement enhances children's well-being. A growing body of research supports this conclusion, showing that children with involved fathers exhibit greater school readiness, increased cognitive development, higher levels of empathy, and other positive characteristics (Administration for Children and Families 2004a). Research also indicates…

History departments are not generally known as hotbeds of assessment activity. Doctoral programs in history rarely touch the issue of how to assess student learning, while program review as an idea appears to many historians as an invasion of their turf by outsiders. At Eastern Michigan University, members of the faculty in the Department of…

This Primer is intended to help individual citizens and community leaders and organizers (1) better understand the complex nature of decision making in democracy and (2) identify strategies for having a larger voice and impact. This publication is predicated and draws upon the author's 40 years of extensive and hands-on experiences in varied…

"Childhood Programs and Practices in the First Decade of Life" presents research findings on the effects of early childhood programs and practices in the first decade of life and their implications for policy development and reform. Leading scholars in the multidisciplinary field of human development and in early childhood learning…