Identification of the problem: Coaching programs (CPs) in schools often focus on student and teacher wellness, leadership development for teachers and administrators, nutrition and physical activity, and academic achievement. However, there is limited use of CPs for the development and implementation of Local School Wellness Policy (LSWP). The…

California's investment in Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) reflects a commitment to providing access to UTK for all 4-year-olds in public schools by the 2025-2026 academic year. However, the implementation of transitional kindergarten (TK) presents challenges for districts in aligning this new grade coherently with existing grade levels…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a program evaluation case study on the impact of standards-based grading in a North Carolina school district. The implementation procedures and end products of grading reform were assessed using the CIPP model. Data from teacher questionnaires, principal implementation checklists, interviews, and…

The PBIS Framework has demonstrated effectiveness in supporting schools in improving various prosocial outcomes including improved social, emotional, and behavioral skills; increased academic outcomes and attendance; decreased exclusionary discipline (e.g., office referrals, suspensions); and reduced reports of bullying and substance abuse. In…

Empathy plays a vital role in improving student engagement and supporting organizational change in schools. In fact, empathy is widely recognized as an essential skill for integration during such efforts. In collaboration with Battelle for Kids, the Cumberland Valley School District in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, launched a vision for school…

Family engagement has long been recognized as crucial to a child's overall academic achievement. The National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) recognizes that evolving from traditional parental involvement to effective partnerships between families and family-facing practitioners improves learning outcomes for students as a critical practice…

Students in our nation's largest school systems--a majority of whom are students of color from nondominant communities--are unlikely to attend schools with strong, consistent leadership. Those big-city school systems are increasingly adopting principal pipeline initiatives to address the quality and stability of their principal corps. Principal…

The study explores the implementation of teacher evaluation models and federal education policies, particularly AchieveNJ, in an urban public school district in New Jersey. It focuses on principals' experiences and perceptions, uncovering their challenges and thoughts on the policy's effectiveness in enhancing teacher performance and student…

Educators have embraced the promotion of social emotional development, student well-being, and mental health as essential educational objectives to promote academic readiness and growth. To address known research-to-practice gaps and limited availability of evidence-based, universal high school programs, we took a community-based participatory…

In 2012, the United States Department of Education announced the Race to the Top-District grants. One joint award was made to two large educational cooperatives in the same state that together represented 111 mostly rural schools in 22 districts. One of the grant's identified four essential projects was the implementation of personalized learning.…

School districts choose programs based on limited data, word of mouth, or cost-effectiveness. STEM-based schools often choose project-based learning (PBL) programs to deliver curricula through limited research and word of mouth effectiveness. This study evaluated one PBL program implementation in the context of a suburban Texas middle school by…

In a number of settings risk prediction models are being used to predict distal future outcomes for individuals, including high school risk prediction. We propose a new method, non-overlapping-leave-future-out (NOLFO) validation, to be used in settings with long delays between feature and outcome observation and where there are overlapping…

Creating a strong clinical practice experience for every teacher at scale requires that three core actors--prep programs, school districts, and states--work together. This framework sets out the six focus areas of clinical practice backed by research and supported by the field as the most important to build a quality clinical practice experience.…

This literature review, aligned to National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ) Clinical Practice Framework, explores various components of clinical practice and how they affect a range of outcomes, including aspiring teachers' feelings of preparedness, their entry into teaching, their retention in the classroom, and perhaps most importantly,…

Clinical practice opportunities are critical elements of teacher preparation. However, the landscape is extensive, encompassing an ever-growing variety of preparation models, from centuries-old traditional student teaching to newly minted registered apprenticeships. The purpose of this paper is to create a clinical practice lexicon for the…