In this paper we present a history of the idea of Open Educational Resources, overview the current state of the Open Educational Resources movement, report on critical issues facing the field in the immediate future, and present two new projects to watch in 2009.

Recruiting, preparing, and retaining high quality secondary mathematics and science teachers are three of the most critical problems in the nation's urban schools that serve a vast majority of children from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Although the factors contributing to these problems are complex, one area that has caught…

This article discusses the use of propensity scoring in experimental program evaluations to estimate impacts for subgroups defined by program features and participants' program experiences. The authors discuss estimation issues and provide specification tests. They also discuss the use of an overlooked data collection design--obtaining predictions…

The New York State Experimental Prekindergarten Program, which operates in 52 school districts, is designed to reduce potential educational deficits of economically disadvantaged children. This article reports on the program's effects on cognitive functioning of children in their kindergarten years and discusses implications for educational…

In an effort to determine the effectiveness of 309 (b) projects (experimental demonstration projects in Adult Basic Education funded through the Adult Education Act), selected projects were used as the basis for several case studies and evaluated. Project RFD was never intended to be utilized by Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs but instead…

Describes the University of Utah's experiment in liberal education, involving almost 100 freshmen in an integrated series of courses designed to promote educational and social growth. Explains that diversity among students and among teachers affected the programs' success, with approaches working for one student (or teacher) not working for…

Group-randomized trials (GRTs)--studies that evaluate the efficacy or effectiveness of interventions occurring at the group level--are increasingly used to assess the effects of school-based prevention programs on behavioral outcomes of children and adolescents. These designs pose many implementation and design challenges for school…

Recounts the creation of an ethnographic study of literacy acquisition among nomadic pastoralists in Gujarat (India). Describes the project's goals and methods, research problems, and experiments with Regenerated Freirean Literacy Through Empowering Community Techniques (REFLECT) methods for literacy learning. Concludes with suggestions for future…

Dual superintendency is a popular tack in rural America for the preservation of proud communities. The job is not for someone who wants to coast. There are two budgets to develop and monitor, two school boards, two sets of priorities. Keeping everyone in two school districts satisfied is more than a full-time occupation. Other school communities…

This document is an issue of a journal "Linkages," that in general serves as a forum for exchanging information and ideas on issues relevant to three City University of New York (CUNY) programs. The programs are Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge (SEEK), College Discovery (CD), and College Discovery and Development Program…

This booklet provides a brief review of programs selected by school administrative units in North Carolina that received mini-grants, funded by the Department of Public Instruction Support Services Area and designed to enhance educational programs. These exemplary educational programs were made available through the National Diffusion Network…

In 1984 the State of New York mandated participation in the Comprehensive School Improvement Program (CSIP) for elementary schools that ranked in the bottom 9 percent on statewide student competency exams. To discern the overall effectiveness of the program and identify why it appeared to succeed in some schools and fail in others, the changes in…

Experimental programs using modified schedules for native-language instruction of immigrant children in Swedish compulsory junior and intermediate schools are described and evaluated in this report. Following background information on school and immigrant statistics, regulations concerning grants, and a list of interim related reports, the report…

An experimental program to individualize intermediate French instruction through specific, personalized work emphasizes oral language in the classroom, and reading, listening, and writing in its individualized portion. (MSE)

The regional seminar on the evaluation of the Teacher Education Program (TEP) tryout was held at the Regional English Language Center (RELC) in 1968. The seminar's purpose was to determine the usefulness of TEP in preparing teachers of English as a second language in the RELC member countries in Southeast Asia. This document is the seminar report.…