The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) mandates that its Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) and Institutional Development Award Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) institute formal mentoring programs to promote the core program objective of junior investigator development. Despite this NIGMS…

Effective teaching practice focused on encouraging deep engagement helps all students learn and succeed. Considerable work by researchers and change agents, encouraged by national organizations such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Research Council, has promoted greater use of evidence-based educational practices, such as…

The Striving Readers program aimed to raise the literacy levels of middle and high school students reading below grade level and to build a strong research base on effective adolescent literacy interventions. This report summarizes the results of a systematic review of evaluations of the ten different interventions funded by the Striving Readers…

This 20-year follow-up study examined elementary special educators' use of curriculum-based measurement. Elementary special educators (N = 1,077) in four Midwest states participated in the survey. Results indicated that the overall use of CBM was much higher than 20 years ago with reading CBM as the most prevalent area of monitoring with data used…

This article examines definitions, rationales, and calculations associated with higher education performance measures: persistence, retention rate, attrition rate, drop-out rate, and graduation rate. Strengths and limitations of these measures are scrutinized relative to online master's programs. Outcomes of a sample of students (N = 96) enrolled…

Career and technical education (CTE) is increasingly seen as a major potential contributor to the recovery of the U.S. economy. However, the effectiveness and impact of the current Carl D. Perkins Act (otherwise known as Perkins IV) that governs CTE are unclear. Is the federal investment in CTE paying off? To answer this, we need to establish the…

In state needs assessment meetings held in late June 2008, the leadership of two Central Region state departments of education, South Dakota and Missouri, asked Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Central to determine how the states in the region evaluate their supplemental educational service (SES) providers. Specifically, these SEA staff…

Although advances in prevention science over the past two decades have produced a growing list of tested and effective programs and policies for preventing adolescent delinquency and drug use, widespread dissemination and high-quality implementation of effective programs and policies in communities has not been achieved. The Community Youth…

To date, research has not sufficiently addressed the impact of personnel preparation programs on secondary special educators in relationship to specialized competencies needed to impact students during transition from school to adult life. This study sought to evaluate transition competencies gained by secondary practitioners involved in a…

Policy decision makers, early educators, and early interventionists face numerous challenges as they develop and implement statewide accountability systems to evaluate and improve children's early intervention and early childhood special education outcomes. Kansas was an early adopter of the Child Outcomes Summary Form (COSF) developed by the…

This year the Center on Education Policy analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps between…

Background: Coordinated school health programs (CSHPs) bring together educational and community resources in the school environment. This method is particularly important in rural areas like Kansas, where resources and trained health professionals are in short supply. Rural Stafford County, Kansas, struggles with health professional shortages and…

This report on vocational education in Kansas covers the following four areas: evaluation of programs, services, and activities proposed in the state plan for the year under review; analysis of policies for distribution of Federal funds; review of the state's evaluation activities; and assessment of the extent to which employment and training…

This guide, designed to help school staff members evaluate their testing programs, may apply to district-wide or state-wide programs. The four sections contain: forms to be completed of current testing inventory; a form covering the organizational and administrative details of the local testing program; an evaluation form dealing with the…

The 1992-93 analysis of the Kansas Chapter 1 evaluation results is described. In the 1992-93 school year, 100 percent (304) of Kansas districts participated in the Chapter 1 program. Approximately 7 percent of the student population participated in Chapter 1 programs, and 82 percent were in grades 1 through 6. A majority of these students were…