This publication summarizes an academic review paper on preschool effectiveness, "Lottery Evidence on the Impact of Preschool in the United States: A Review and Meta-Analysis" by Jesse Bruhn and Emily Emick. The 44 papers summarized fall into three categories: studies of three model preschool programs begun in the 1960s known as…

This paper reviews research on the design and effectiveness of preschools in the United States. Three randomized controlled trials that enrolled roughly 350 total children in demonstration studies during the 1960s and 1970s shape much of the current discussion of preschool. We examine what these studies and more recent ones based on random…

The Australian federal government is preparing a new higher education quality assurance framework under the leadership of the recently established Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). Groundwork for this framework included a major national demonstration project to develop outcome-based graduate standards in a selected range of…

This paper seeks to examine a number of issues which relate to the provision of appropriate and high-quality residential and community care for people with an intellectual disability. A number of key themes emerging from this Special Issue of the "Journal of Intellectual Disability Research" are identified and explored: (1) normalisation; (2)…

Interested in bringing the benefits of the arts as integral to quality education for all children, in 2004 the Ford Foundation launched the National Arts Education Initiative, a seven-year demonstration in nine communities across the United States. Building from arts education programs that serve "pockets" of children, Ford investments…

The Algebra Project DR K-12, funded by the National Science Foundation as a Research and Development Project, addressed the challenge of offering significant STEM content for students to ensure public literacy and workforce readiness. The project's primary purpose was to test the feasibility and effectiveness of a model for establishing four-year…

This document describes the 25 exemplary programs serving young children and their families in West Virginia. The programs were participating in the final stages of a process for state recognition as an exemplary program by the Early Education Quality Improvement Project Committee of the Governor's Early Childhood Implementation Commission in West…

During the spring of 2004, the first federally funded voucher program--the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP)--was established. The School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) recognized that publicly-funded school vouchers represent a relatively new and unstudied approach to school choice and education reform. To address …

Visits to 62 effective elementary and middle schools in 14 states provided substantial evidence of what is right with American education. This article lists the characteristics of effective schools, then briefly cites exemplary programs and curricular features found in 14 schools or districts. (PGD)

Describes (as part of a series of articles describing exemplary school reading programs) several innovative programs designed to connect home, school, and classroom at Baltimore Highlands Elementary School. (SR)

A project was undertaken in New York State to develop a low-cost statewide system for identifying and disseminating information on two-year college programs or activities that are effective in addressing a major occupational education issue. The resulting system consists of the following components: (1) a call for nominations, which involves the…

To the data analyst, outliers can present both a problem and an opportunity. Stray or outlying observations can severly distort estimates of a distribution's central tendency (like the mean) and estimates of one variable's relationship to another (like the regression coefficient). These problems are frequent and serious, and as a result,…

Initiated in October 1970, the program trained teachers to use an individualized teaching approach to teach a cross-age range of children in a small group (six to eight children). Over the winter, the teachers received intensive training with the expectation that during the mobile phase they would be required to work with the children in isolated…

In August 2004, the WVDE asked the Appalachia Educational Laboratory at Edvantia, Inc. to evaluate the demonstration project, in order to meet the evaluation and reporting requirements set forth in the law. According to Fink (1993), baseline evaluation data allow for subsequent analyses of the effect or impact of a program. The purpose of this…

In 1994, Congress directed the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, to establish panels to evaluate educational programs and recommend to the Secretary of Education those programs that should be designated as exemplary or promising. The purpose of these panels was and is to provide practitioners,…