The University of Minnesota Extension conducted a social network analysis (SNA) to examine its outreach to organizations external to the University of Minnesota. The study found that its outreach network was both broad in its reach and strong in its connections. The study found that SNA offers a unique method for describing and measuring Extension…

A prerequisite for AfL to be successfully implemented in the classroom is the teachers' assessment practice. In many contexts, including the Norwegian, AfL has not been successfully dealt with during initial teacher education, and there is a need for qualified teachers to engage in professional development in AfL. This article first discusses…

The focus article "Road Maps for Learning: A Guide to the Navigation of Learning Progressions" by Black, Wilson, and Yao (this issue) is a veritable tour-de-force, covering a great deal of education ground while spanning the heights from models of the interplay among curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment to interpretations of student…

This article describes the Voluntary Support for Education (VSE) Survey, an instrument created by the Council for Aid to Education. Our objective is to explain VSE's potential value as a tool to inform both institutional and academic research regarding fund-raising activities at community colleges. Of particular interest is how the data available…

Evaluation of the design and implementation of a web-based e-health application offers an opportunity to apply extensive research findings and evidence-based practices from the learning and performance literature. In this study, we examined how interactions between stakeholders influenced the design, implementation, and outcomes of an e-health…

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is an approach to learning in which learners can actively and collaboratively construct knowledge by means of interaction and joint problem solving. Regulation of learning is especially important in the domain of CSCL. Next to the regulation of task performance, the interaction between learners who…

We report a study that addressed behavior data recording by direct-care staff at a child services program. In response to a decreasing percentage of daily data recording in two community-based group homes, a supervisory intervention was implemented, consisting of a revised data recording form and providing performance feedback to the direct-care…

Student learning and program effectiveness is often assessed using rubrics. While much time and effort may go into their creation, it is equally important to assess how effective and efficient the rubrics actually are in terms of measuring competencies over a number of criteria. This study demonstrates the use of common factor analysis to identify…

Objective: Leadership is important in practice change, yet there are few studies addressing this issue in mental health and social services. This study examined the differential roles of transformational (i.e., charismatic) leadership and leader-member exchange (i.e., the relationship between a supervisor and their direct service providers) on…

This article describes three challenges encountered during a developmental evaluation and explains how these were addressed from the evaluators' perspective. The evaluation was conducted to support the implementation of a three-year educational technology leadership project funded by the Alberta provincial government. The developmental evaluation…

Program and/or course evaluation is, in fact, one of the essential aspects of any curriculum. It is a kind of quality control in which various aspects of an instructional program are explored. Program evaluation is an attempt in which different elements of a given curriculum are scrutinized in depth. To this end, an evaluator makes every effort to…

The purpose of this extended commentary article is to frame the set of studies in the first of two issues and recommend areas of inquiry for future research. This special series issue features studies examining the technical qualities of formative assessment procedures that were developed to inform intervention. This article intends to emphasize…

In this age of heightened accountability, academia is increasingly being asked to link assessment to candidate performance outcomes in multiple ways. Research demonstrates the importance of aligning assessment with content standards but cautions that it is critical that assessments match the content, cover a wide range of knowledge, are…

The purpose of this study was to determine (a) if the reading program adopted by Sally D. Meadows enhanced the achievement of students placed in the Early Intervention Program (EIP); (b) if the students' reading achievement scores increased more after the second year of implementation than they did after the first year of implementation; and (c)…

Evaluation is the process of collecting and using information for decision-making. A hallmark of School-wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) is a commitment to formal evaluation. The purpose of this SWPBS Evaluation Blueprint is to provide those involved in developing Evaluation Plans and Evaluation Reports with a framework for (a) addressing…