Elementary charter schools increasingly serve students who are at-risk for reading challenges, giving them a critical role in establishing literacy for young children. This article examines the complexities of starting early childhood literacy programs in charter schools. Specifically, the first year of K-3 literacy programs in a new and a…

Nationwide, personnel preparation programs are responding to the changing population demographics and its impact on Pre K-12 classrooms. Needs surveys conducted by the Monarch Center over the past ten years have consistently yielded a need for support in redesigning program course and fieldwork components to better prepare their teachers and other…

In this chapter, we describe the evolution of an intermediary organization, the Institute for Learning (IFL) at the University of Pittsburgh, devoted to improving teaching and learning in some of America's largest and most challenged school districts. Over the nearly 20 years of IFL's life, we have learned that design-based researchers have to…

In the field of medicine, research and practice are joined in teaching hospitals. In these institutions, researchers work alongside doctors to incorporate recent advances in medical research into practice and track results. There is a growing movement in the field of education to create analogous institutions in education called research schools.…

Criticism and recommendations made toward teacher education programs do not usually examine the diversity among these programs. This article explores characteristics of various institutions, their education students, and the content of their programs. (DF)

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…

This report looks at the experience of those young people who broaden their learning and develop their essential skills by undertaking school-college partnership programmes. Its primary aim is to identify what makes these programmes successful for young people and what needs to be done better. It is intended to help schools, colleges, and local…

The National Center on Scaling up Effective Schools (NCSU) is a five-year project working to develop, implement, and test new processes to scale up effective practices in high schools that districts will be able to apply within the context of their own unique goals and circumstances. This report describes the activities and findings of the first…

In 2006, the National Science Foundation (NSF) began funding the Model Replication Institutions (MRI) program, which sought to improve the quality, availability, and diversity of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Faced with pressing national priorities in the STEM fields and chronic gaps in postsecondary…

This descriptive study of the twenty regional Education Service Centers in Texas is an exploratory analysis of programs and services that promote school improvement. Data collected from each service center website enabled the researcher to determine which programs and services are available to school districts and also allowed the researcher to…

The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) funds schools located on 63 reservations in 23 states across the nation. Of the 183 schools, 59 are Bureau operated and 124 are tribally controlled. One-hundred and sixteen schools provide instructional programs, 55 provide instructional as well as boarding services and 12 peripheral dormitories provide only…

In 2004, Lumina Foundation for Education launched "Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count," a national initiative aimed at improving success among community college students, particularly low-income students and students of color. Now encompassing more than 130 institutions in 24 states and the District of Columbia, Achieving the…

This report describes how Miami Dade College (MDC) has begun to develop a systematic and data-informed method for assessing and improving student outcomes across its large eight-campus college. Told from the point of view of MDC's Office of Institutional Effectiveness, the report recounts how the college has responded to the problem of poor…

When school nurses embrace evidence-based practice (EBP), higher-quality care is provided to students, their families, and the larger community. Despite this, school nursing has been slow to embrace EBP. Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRNs), which capitalize on the combined strengths of clinicians and researchers to study clinical questions,…

For nearly a decade, the Chicago High School Redesign Initiative (CHSRI) has worked to improve educational opportunities for Chicago adolescents by opening and supporting small high schools across the city. While the overall results of the initiative have been mixed, several CHSRI schools have successfully improved students' outcomes. This latest…