This paper explores the successful mentoring of Timor-Leste early years teachers by Australian teachers to expand their knowledge and practice of child-centred play-based pedagogy. The mentoring programme for the Timorese teachers occurred through an extended visit to a school in Victoria, Australia, for eight weeks to work with mentor teachers in…

This research explored the biliteracy experiences of three kohanga reo children as they started school in one of three school settings: a bilingual unit, a mainstream classroom, and kura kaupapa Maori. A Kaupapa Maori approach underpinned this research and guided the case study methodology employed. The children's literacy experiences were…

While sufficient methodological training and effective implementation of assessment approaches are essential for successful evaluation in student affairs, those with an interest and passion for social justice may be conflicted. Many of the assessment approaches employed today are misaligned with social justice agendas, lack theoretical grounding…

This resource was prepared for a Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) State in response to a request for examples of States that support local Early Learning Councils. Local Early Learning Councils are public-private partnerships that work to align and strengthen a comprehensive early childhood system and to coordinate funding coming…

As participation in online learning continues to expand, higher education institutions must implement policies and procedures to ensure quality at the course, program, and institution levels. In this paper, the authors describe a process that the State University of New York (SUNY) System implemented, utilizing the OLC Quality Scorecard, to help…

The standard scoring of the CLASS PreK produces three domain scores that are widely used in research, practice and policy. Despite these domains being based on developmental theory and research, limited empirical evidence exists for the three-domain structure as operationalized in the CLASS PreK. Using the 2009 and 2014 Head Start Family and Child…

This essay offers key highlights from a panel discussion that took place at the 2014 National Association of Communication Centers (NACC) conference at Arizona State University -- West in Glendale, Arizona. The panel included communication center directors from across the United States. Each participant was asked to describe assessment efforts at…

This chapter focuses on IR's role in coordinating a pilot of the Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP) for assessment in a new master's degree program and provides guidance on frameworks that can be used, important technical considerations, and ways IR can be involved to advance the use of rubrics as a primary program assessment tool.

Learning analytics has been defined as the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs. The potential use of data and learning analytics in educational contexts has caught the attention of educators and…

As implementation of multi-tiered systems of support becomes common practice across the nation, practitioners continue to need strategies for intensifying interventions and supports for the subset of students who fail to make adequate progress despite strong programs at Tiers 1 and 2. Experts recommend making several changes to the structure and…

Lifelong Learning Skills (LLS) provide the foundation for learning and working. They broadly support student thinking, self-management, and social interaction, enabling the pursuit of education and career goals. Collectively, LLS are the means by which students master academic content and translate knowledge into action. There is a growing…

The current study investigated the impacts of a program that employed a blend of sports and cultural enrichment, known as Olympism, to build bridges between Greek and Turkish Cypriot children residing on the island of Cyprus. The four-month long program included two months of instructor training, meetings with the parents and a six-day summer camp…

Surveys and benchmarks continue to grow in importance for community colleges in response to several factors. One is the press for accountability, that is, for colleges to report the outcomes of their programs and services to demonstrate their quality and prudent use of resources, primarily to external constituents and governing boards at the state…

From 2004-2008, capacity to conduct program evaluation was built among the "Network for a Healthy California's" 48 largest local partners. Capacity building was done within a framework of Empowerment Evaluation and Utility-Focused evaluation. Tools included: a Scope of Work template, a handbook, a compendium of surveys, an evaluation…

Sound evaluation planning requires numerous decisions about how constructs in a program theory will be translated into measures and instruments that produce evaluation data. This article, the first in a dialogue exchange, examines how decisions about measurement are (and should be) made, especially in the context of small-scale local program…