The aim of this study was to examine genetic variations underlying the early neurodevelopmental outcome of developmental disabilities (DDs). The study cohort consisted of 191 children with DDs. Diagnosis was assessed at baseline and at the index age (72-84 months). Exome sequencing was conducted and putative risk variants were identified.…

In 2019, approximately 91,000 child care and early education (CCEE) providers cared for one or more young children in a home-based child care (HBCC) setting and were "listed" by state or local CCEE agencies (National Survey of Early Care and Education [NSECE] Project Team 2021). Listed HBCC providers experience three predominant CCEE…

Improvement networks are a novel organizational form designed to support collaborative, interorganizational learning and improvement aimed at solving complex, interdependent problems spanning classrooms, schools, systems, and their broader contexts. These networks aim to develop and augment local capabilities for innovation and improvement by…

Purpose: This mixed-methods study examined the association between the degree to which principal evaluation systems include intrinsic and extrinsic sources of motivation and principals' perceptions of whether their district's evaluation system promotes leadership change and improvement. We also investigated how principals experience intrinsic…

Lean Engineering can be used in the higher education sector to improve administrative processes. This study focused on the unit that delivers part-time programmes. Staff from this unit and from the faculty registries were interviewed to identify which processes were being used. A workshop used five Lean tools to establish which were most useful.…

The CORE Districts, a nonprofit formed by large urban districts in California, received a Networks for School Improvement grant from the Gates Foundation to launch a network focused on improving ninth-grade on-track rates. CORE based its approach on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Breakthrough Collaborative model, where a hub identifies…

Though researchers have documented the consequences and causes of chronic absenteeism, there is limited empirical evidence about what schools and districts are actually doing to improve attendance. This study presents evidence about the types of attendance practices that forty-seven high-absenteeism districts in Michigan are planning and…

Networked improvement communities (NICs) aim to build capacity for school-based educators to work collaboratively as active agents of problem solving and change. Yet, the benefits accrued to educators from participating in improvement networks have been sparsely researched. Using survey responses from the members of 34 improvement networks, we…

This study examines the efficacy of the Japanese version of the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS), which focuses on improving social functioning through making friends and maintaining good relationships for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual disabilities. Originally developed in…

The state of Texas requires that each district and campus write an annual improvement plan (Texas Education Code, n.d.b). Although this study was conducted in Texas concerning Texas districts and campuses, it would be reasonable to assume that most, if not all, of the other states in the U.S. have similar improvement planning processes. The…

This technical report accompanies the "Listed Home-Based Child Care Providers and Child Care and Early Education Policies Series." This series of three research briefs presents findings from the first nationally representative analysis of the patterns and predictors of listed home-based child care (HBCC) providers' interactions with…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a continuous improvement project (CIP) at a Mexican university designed to increase engineering graduate student loyalty. Design/methodology/approach: A plan-do-check-act problem-solving methodology was implemented, and a SERVQUAL survey was conducted on 67 master's engineering students. Findings:…

Licensed family child care (FCC) programs serve millions of children and families annually and tend to serve more vulnerable families than center-based programs. Low-income families, families needing infant and toddler care, and families that are Hispanic or African American are more likely to place their children in FCC programs than in…

The education sector is embracing the hope that continuous improvement will lead to more beneficial student outcomes than standards-based reform and other approaches to policies and practice in prior decades. This report examines attempts in California to realize the potential of continuous improvement in some of the state's largest districts.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion about entrepreneurship education through undergraduate dissertations (UDs). In order to achieve this objective, this paper addresses the problems detected in the degree subject "UD" -- which entails the creation of a business plan -- and the proposal of improvements in…