Professional Learning Communities (PLC's) are designed to help schools improve student achievement; all decisions are based on the needs of students. PLC's are an effective way to receive professional development (PD), allow for collaboration with fellow teachers, and offer timely intervention to all students. In a district known for PLC…

There is growing empirical evidence that instructional coaching can help teachers transfer their learning from professional trainings (e.g., new strategies) to classroom practice and that coaching promotes greater collaboration and reflection among teachers. At the same time, however, research on the effectiveness of particular coaching models and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of an Australian health promoting schools (HPS) project to identify key features of the concept of resilience and how it can be used in a school setting to develop and strengthen protective factors in young people, as a mechanism for improving social functioning and reducing involvement in…

The goal of this study was to design an intervention that would help people stay in the continued response phase of the Behavior Change Process and help prevent weight relapse. Using the Behavior Change Process and regulatory focus theory, an intervention was developed that leveraged short message service (SMS) to deliver messages to people who…

The purpose of this mixed-methods participatory action research study was to explore the impact of learning communities on students enrolled in the lowest level of developmental math at a two-year college. The learning community consisted of twenty-three students who were enrolled in both a student success course (GEN102) and a developmental math…

The purpose of this study was to describe perceptions of stakeholders (leadership of Concordia Language Villages, staff members and villagers of "Lac du Bois", the French Language Village of Concordia Language Villages), related to achievement of the mission statement. The research question was: How do stakeholders in "Lac du…

An emphasis on instruction has been growing in libraries as a result of the cumbersome amount of information that is produced and available globally. This, coupled with the growing diverse student populations and the demand for higher education, has created the need for students entering the workforce who can think critically, adapt quickly and…

This study attempted to examine students' learning outcomes and their learning experiences through playing a Serious Educational Game. A mixed-method research design was employed collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. A total of 98 middle-school students ranging from sixth to eighth grades participated through paper-and-pencil…

This paper describes an exploratory evaluation of the Peers Early Education Partnership "Room to Play", an innovative and experimental "drop-in" service seeking to attract and engage "hard-to-reach" families in one of the most deprived areas of a Midlands city. Located in a shop unit of a busy community shopping…

In 1970, this first program supporting college students with language-based learning disabilities was a radical pioneer. While an exemplar for 40 years, there are fresh challenges today in the form of competition for diminished numbers of 18 year olds. To better understand what helps and what matters to students, research needs to go beyond most…

There is a continuing emphasis in the United States to improve student's mathematical abilities and one approach is to better prepare teachers. This study investigated the effects of using lesson study with preservice secondary mathematics teachers to improve their proficiency at planning and implementing instruction. The participants were…

Law enforcement requires the officer to invoke reason and critical thinking skills in order to solve intricate problems in real time, on the job. This study examined the course development of a large national organization (State Police Academies) to ascertain what strategies are being used in their courses to promote training for higher order,…

The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to examine the effectiveness of a professional development approach in increasing the knowledge and use of instructional technology in the classrooms of elementary teachers. The participants were comprised of 14 elementary teachers in a rural public education school district in the southeastern…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Digital Backpack program in a Northern New Jersey School District using the CIPP Management-Based Evaluation model as a framework. The Stufflebeam (1971) CIPP model is an acronym for Context, Input, Process, and Product Evaluation. A "Digital Backpack" is a rolling computer bag given to K-12…

"Pathways to the Future: Nga Huarahi Arataki," the ten year strategic plan for early childhood education (ECE) in New Zealand, identified reviewing the delivery of professional development as one strategy for "promoting the effective delivery of 'Te Whariki'"(Ministry of Education, 2002, p. 15) within the overall goal of…