In recent years, access to higher education was greatly improved through public funding. This improvement is not matched by a similar increase in graduation rate. The purpose of this study is to examine what postsecondary institutions can do to improve college freshman retention. The conceptual framework was based on research on college student…

Analyzing mathematics and reading achievement outcomes from a district-level random assignment study fielded in over 500 schools within 59 school districts and seven states, the authors estimate the 1-year impacts of a data-driven reform initiative implemented by the Johns Hopkins Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education (CDDRE). CDDRE…

Community colleges are struggling financially due to underfunding. Recent state budget cuts coupled with the elimination of federal stimulus money has exacerbated the issue as these funding streams had contributed to operating costs (Moltz, 2011). In response to these budget cuts, community colleges are challenged to improve, increase, and develop…

Increasing attention to "Implementation Research" and the "Implementation Problem" has given rise to confusion about matters such as the role of "empirically-supported practices," "fidelity of implementation," and "monitoring fidelity of implementation." To clarify the matters, we approach these topics from the broad perspective of efforts to…

This article describes the use of benchmarking in universities in the Czech Republic and academics' experiences with it. It is based on research conducted among academics from economics schools in Czech public and private universities. The results identified several issues regarding the utilisation and understanding of benchmarking in the Czech…

Interventions based on the results of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) have been the topic of extensive research and, in certain cases, mandated for students with disabilities under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. There exist a wide variety of methods for conducting such assessments, with little consensus in the field. The…

This research explores and tests the effect of an innovative performance feedback practice--feedback supplemented with web-based peer benchmarking--through a lens of social cognitive framework for self-regulated learning. The results suggest that providing performance feedback with references to exemplary peer output is positively associated with…

While postsecondary completion rates are a concern among many student populations across the country, college graduation rates for Latino students, especially Latino male students, are even lower than the national average. Low-income Latino men face many barriers to postsecondary success, including both financial and personal obstacles. This…

In today's economy, employers' demand for an educated workforce is steadily rising. Policymakers, education leaders, and communities across the country recognize the need to improve college attendance and success, but are constrained by the current budgetary environment. Meanwhile students themselves face mounting college costs, and financial aid…

This paper examines rationales, aspirations, assumptions and methods shaping an international assessment of learning outcomes: the OECD's Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO) feasibility study. The first part of the paper is analytical, exploring formative rationales, and shaping contexts and normative perspectives that frame…

Professional development school partnerships can improve teaching and learning in our schools. To support these partnerships, the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) developed standards for professional development schools. In this article, we address the questions, "What NCATE standards work from the point of…

Researchers are increasingly interested in the issue of school accountability. Despite this, program standards for afterschool programs are not as fully developed as in other fields. This study bridges that gap and presents the results from a study to identify benchmarks and indicators for high quality afterschool programs. This research employed…

As lifelong learning and workforce education grow increasingly more important in American life, the mission of community colleges is shifting more and more toward continuing education, certificate training, and workforce training. The lack of a standard set of indicators has led to a variety of approaches to the assessment of noncredit workforce…

Adopting technology in the K-12 classroom is evolving from adapting lessons that highlight a technology to pervasive use of interactive and handheld devices. In this environment, school leaders have the complex task of incorporating technologies to enhance teaching and learning. The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative study was to…

For the past 15 years, the New Zealand government has initiated major efforts to reduce persistently large inequities in achievement outcomes in literacy education, including the development of a national literacy strategy. The aim of this study was to provide an analysis of the factors that have contributed to the failure of this strategy and…