The growing demand for leadership competencies in the global workforce has expanded undergraduate programs integrating leadership theory, organizational development, and data-driven decision-making. This paper examines the development of an undergraduate leadership program evaluation at a liberal arts college in the southern United States.…

As evidence-based interventions are scaled, fidelity of implementation, and thus effectiveness, often wanes. Validated fidelity measures can improve researchers' ability to attribute outcomes to the intervention and help practitioners feel more confident in implementing the intervention as intended. We aim to provide a model for the validation of…

Prevention science has now encompassed decades of research exploring risk and protective factors and effective programs for the prevention and treatment of childhood behavioral, emotional, and developmental concerns. This paper shares our experience over the last 40 years as program developers and researchers in responding to contemporary needs…

Early Words with Childminders is a programme aiming to support the practice of childminders by providing them evidence-based activities and strategies that foster children's early language development, and confidence and skills to engage with parents. Piloted between September and December 2023, the programme provides practitioners with training…

Drug use trends change rapidly among youth, leaving educators and researchers struggling to respond promptly. Widely adopted universal evidence-based interventions (EBIs), such as the Michigan Model for Health™ (MMH), and their delivery systems offer an opportunity to reach large youth populations and reduce the onset and escalation of emerging…

As the youth mental health crisis continues to worsen, there is a need for more evidence-based social-emotional interventions that can be applied in schools -- the setting in which youth are most likely to seek and receive mental health treatment (Simon et al., 2015). Further, exploring ways to culturally adapt interventions for marginalized…

This paper presents a systematic review of the literature on evaluation and program planning strategies for technology integration in education. The aim of the review was to examine the evidence on different types of strategies that can be used to design, implement, assess, and improve technology integration in educational settings, as well as the…

Bullying is a public health priority but to date, there is a lack of evidence-based anti-bullying programmes or interventions designed for use in special schools. KiVa is a successful anti-bullying programme for mainstream schools currently used in 23 countries. This brief paper outlines the co-development and adaptation of two KiVa lessons into…

Mental health difficulties often start in childhood and the number of young people experiencing mental health difficulties is rising, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. School-based programmes have been identified as an effective way to provide support for young people and present an opportunity to offer universal programmes, which can…

This article explores the underutilized potential of incorporating gamified approaches into anatomy outreach initiatives. While gamification and game-based learning approaches have been widely adopted in formal educational settings, there is a surprising lack of research on their application for community-based public engagement with anatomy. We…

Creating school connectedness can enhance the overall development and academic progress for youth. The purpose of this article is to provide teachers with both a theoretical and applied understanding of how to develop and support school connectedness with students through recreation-based learning activities. The theoretical concepts grounded…

The Campbellian validity typology has been used as a foundation for outcome evaluation and for developing evidence-based interventions for decades. As such, randomized control trials were preferred for outcome evaluation. However, some evaluators disagree with the validity typology's argument that randomized controlled trials as the best design…

Multitiered systems of support (MTSS) teams use data to match student needs with an appropriate Tier 2 intervention. School counselors mobilize quickly to provide evidence-based and culturally affirming interventions. We present a compilation of best practices for delivering culturally affirming, small-group Tier 2 interventions with fidelity.…

Despite growing evidence about the significance of Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs, public investment has been relatively low, resulting in slower expansion of evidence-based ECD programs. This dissertation consists of three essays on conducting and using economic evaluation methods to scale up early childhood education and development…

The demand for preventive and easily implemented interventions to address the needs of children with significant behavioral challenges in general education settings is well-documented. First Step to Success is an evidenced-based program to address challenging behavior in preschool and elementary-school settings with a 20-year history of successful…