This report presents the findings of the process evaluation of the Stronger Practice Hubs (SPH) programme. The SPH programme was launched in November 2022 to run as a two year programme, though was subsequently extended to the end of March 2025. The aim of the programme was to support settings to address the impact of the pandemic on young…

The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) at the University of Louisiana at Monroe aimed to improve academic performance in two gateway science courses that are required for all STEM and pre-health sciences majors and are known to be barriers to student success. The project sought to achieve this primarily by a course redesign that incorporated an extra…

This study investigated how and to what extent colleges and universities are integrating self-efficacy components within their Quality Enhancement Plans. Higher education institutions that are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS), the regional accrediting body for 11 southern states, are…

In recent years, arts education has become a focus of some school improvement efforts, with consistent evidence emerging that vibrant arts programs can improve factors commonly listed as goals in school improvement plans, including engagement, attendance, and school climate. Such models mainly make use of arts integration, an approach that marries…

Modern-day educators often share a sense they lack voice and agency with school administration. A classic example is curriculum development, where third-party designers develop uncontextualized curricula, and teachers then must implement the design even if inefficient and ineffective. What happens if this identical situation occurs at the program…

As teachers play a significant role in language learners' academic achievement, their training programs should be subjected to ongoing evaluation and analysis in order to ascertain teachers are equipped with adequate knowledge and skills. This study aimed to evaluate a private sector pre-service teacher-training program using the Context, Input,…

Although research scholarship offers valuable guidance to those hoping to use improvement science in their teaching and practice, it tends to center the perspectives of researchers and EdD program faculty. Less research has focused on the voices of practitioners who use improvement science in their schools and organizations. We draw on sensemaking…

The PreK-12 and higher education systems operate as separate and distinct entities (Kirst & Venezia, 2004). States organize them as separate units and the administrators in the systems are formally trained separately and operate separately with few exceptions. While studies have been conducted from the PreK-12 and higher education perspectives…

The "Program Administration Scale" (PAS) is designed to reliably measure and improve the leadership and management practices of center-based programs--the only instrument of its kind to focus exclusively on organization-wide administrative issues. In the third edition, the authors share updated information supporting the reliability and…

The New Hampshire Department of Education (NHED) designed a school accountability system in 2016 and 2017 to meet the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015. The system was implemented in 2017 and 2018 for the first time and has been operating continuously since then, except for 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.…

The results of a reflective survey, used for program evaluation, demonstrate how EdD scholars used their learning about Improvement Science as an insightful lifeline and for practical guidance within their professional practice in an uncertain time. Scholars imparted valuable information to EdD faculty about the strains and challenges they were…

Purpose: Unless higher education institutions ensure that first-rate academic programme offerings are supported with the provision of high-quality services, student satisfaction, retention, enrolment and ultimately, viability of the institutions will be adversely affected (Canic and McCarthy, 2000). The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the…

In an effort to improve high school graduation and college enrollment rates among students who are Black, Latino, or experiencing poverty, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation established the Networks for School Improvement (NSI) initiative and awarded five-year grants to intermediary organizations to develop networks of school teams that work…

The State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP), WV GRADUATION 20/20 was implemented during the 2015-2016 academic school year beginning with 69 schools in 36 counties, representing 59% of West Virginia's high schools. During the 2016-2017 academic year the number of high schools grew to 72 and the cohort included 20 middle schools bringing the total…

"Program Review and Assessment for Continuous Improvement: Asking the Right Questions. Occasional Paper No. 48" summarizes essential questions and discussions campuses should have regarding academic program reviews and the integration of assessment into such reviews. This document contains the following Appendices related to that paper:…