When the five-member Board of the Alameda Unified School District selected Kirsten Vital as the new superintendent in 2009, they chose someone from outside their tight-knit community. Board Trustee Margie Sherratt thought Vital was chosen to "get us moving," to be a change agent on closing the achievement gap. Vital, in her initial…

The purpose of this "Handbook" is to bolster the effective implementation of the intervention models and strategies outlined in the "2010 School Improvement Grant" (SIG) program--section 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)--in order to achieve the program's clear goal--rapid improvement of persistently…

This article focuses on the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY TCM) intervention as an example of an evidence-based program that embeds fidelity and adaptation within its design. First, the core features of the IY TCM program along with the methods, processes, and principles that make the intervention effective are described. The…

Over the past three years, the authors' team at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) has been researching a professional development program in science, "Foundations of Science Literacy" ("FSL"), for preschool lead and assistant Head Start teachers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Year 1 was a pilot year, so it is the…

In schools across America, school safety and student discipline remain primary concerns for all stakeholders in the education process. Researchers and educators suggest that implementing a school-wide discipline plan tailored to meet the needs of a particular school setting is one solution to the complex behavior management problem. The limited…

In 2004 ECMC Foundation published a guide called "Realizing the College Dream" (RTCD) which is designed for educators and staff to help low-income, first-generation college, middle and high school students increase their expectations of attending postsecondary education, and take steps to realize this goal. While ECMC Foundation trainings and…

The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (Hall & Hord, 2006) is one tool educational leaders can use to understand the process of change and teachers' stage-related concerns when implementing innovations. This paper presents select findings from a comparative case study of two urban elementary schools in which changes in teachers' reports of their…

It is hypothesized that factors related to teacher burnout influence treatment adherence. This study examines the relation of teacher burnout to the frequency and quality of behavioral intervention implementation. A sample of 45 general and special education teachers were trained to implement the Good Behavior Game, an intervention designed to…

Value-added indicators are now a central part of school accountability in England, and value-added information is routinely used in school improvement at both the national and the local levels. This article describes the value-added models that are being used in the academic year 2007-8 by schools, parents, school inspectors, and other…

Spatial visualization skills are vital to many careers and in particular to STEM fields. Materials have been developed at Michigan Technological University and Penn State Erie, The Behrend College to assess and develop spatial skills. The EnViSIONS (Enhancing Visualization Skills-Improving Options aNd Success) project is combining these materials…

This chapter examines the characteristics and performance of adult immigrants and adult English language learners on the National Assessment of Adult Literacy. These factors are related to key social outcomes such as involvement in the labor force, income, and welfare participation, and the data reported can be used in making decisions about…

After approximately two decades of using the Quality Core Curriculum, in 2005 the State of Georgia began the process of implementing the new Georgia Performance Standard. In this article the authors examine the strengths and weaknesses of this new curriculum, along with the proposed model of implementation. In this examination, the authors will…

This brief shares the latest research on the effects of social and emotional learning (SEL) on students and includes strategies for implementing SEL. It explains how SEL works, elaborates on how SEL can be an integrative prevention framework that addresses the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) core elements, and spells out implications of the…

This publication provides background to inform the implementation of Programs of Study (POS) as required by grantees of funds authorized under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006. The report is a review of the evidence on the effectiveness of previous similar initiatives and an examination of the implications…

The main aim of the Bridging the Gap project was to encourage Indigenous families to use a home book-reading program to minimise the disadvantage often experienced by their children when learning to read. The project was implemented in Western Sydney by Aboriginal Education Assistants (AEAs) from the Indigenous Catholic Education Unit within the…