The Learning Through Play (LTP) at School Research Study Ukraine was a four-year intervention study funded by the LEGO Foundation and implemented by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Ukrainian Educational Research Association (UERA). The intervention was a two-year professional learning program that blended online, and…

Background: Educators in rural schools are uniquely situated to address youth mental health disparities, yet often face challenges in delivering mental health supports. This paper describes the process of adapting the evidence-based Coping Power program, a small group prevention program for youth with aggressive behavior problems, to be a…

In this brief, we discuss embedding and framing the evolving literatures related to improvement and implementation sciences into a general intervention perspective. From that perspective, we sketch out some basic considerations related to improvement and implementation research, practice, and policy.

Background: Few "intervention agnostic" strategies have been developed that can be applied to the broad array of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in schools. This paper describes two studies that reflect the initial iterative redesign phases of an effective leadership-focused implementation strategy--Leadership and Organizational Change…

In pursuance of analyzing attendance at Midwest Public Urban School District (a pseudonym), the researcher investigated the high school's truancy intervention program's effectiveness. The research intervention program's goal was to find what worked in the program, what needed to be changed, and how practical the truancy intervention program was.…

The significant decrease in student achievement levels following the pandemic has become a pressing national problem, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts showed some of the sharpest academic achievement declines in the country. To assist schools in recovering from the pandemic, the federal government allocated three waves of funding through its…

A case study was implemented in one rural district as it transitioned to a trauma-informed environment. A theoretical framework based on the literature framed the data collection around the seven themes of awareness, positive culture, intentional instruction, restorative practice, self-care, mental health support services, and professional…

Multiple meta-analyses have now documented small positive effects of teacher professional development (PD) on pupil test scores. However, the field lacks any validated explanatory account of what differentiates more from less effective in-service training. As a result, researchers have little in the way of advice for those tasked with designing or…

Inquiry-based science interventions aim to improve students' science proficiency by helping them understand scientific processes. In these interventions, students conduct hands-on investigations of science concepts and everyday phenomena, construct explanations for what they observe, consider alternative explanations, and communicate and justify…

This study was a quasi-experimental design (QED) that examined the impact of Intervene K-12 tutoring on mathematics achievement for Grade 9 ELL students identified by HPS as having experienced considerable learning disruptions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and having recently arrived in the United States. Achievement gains for treatment…

The Learning Through Play at School Research Study Ukraine was a four-year longitudinal intervention study funded by the LEGO Foundation and implemented by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Ukrainian Educational Research Association (UERA). The study was implemented between 2019 and 2024, during COVID-19 and the…

This book brings together influential scholars of social and emotional learning (SEL) to discuss current issues in the field. Chapters address issues related to theory and research, educational reform and intervention, social justice, neurobiology, and assessment. Children engage in a wide range of school-related tasks that require not only…

Background: Efficacy trials in education often possess a motivating theory of change: how and why should the desired improvement in outcomes occur as a consequence of the intervention? In scenarios with repeated measurements, certain subgroups may be more or less likely to manifest a treatment effect; the theory of change (TOC) provides guidance…

Context: Vocational education and training (VET) plays a key role in reducing early leaving from education and training, and integrating youth at risk in upper secondary education. To ensure that more young people complete upper secondary education, the OECD suggests designing interventions that address the specific needs of youth at risk such as…

In this dissertation in practice, the background of middle grades mathematics acceleration detailed why the organization benefited from a program analysis. Middle grades mathematics acceleration encourages students to take high school Algebra I in eighth grade so they can earn college-level math credits for free in high school. Often acceleration…