When estimating causal effects from observational data, it is desirable to approximate a randomized experiment as closely as possible. This goal can often be achieved by choosing a subsample from the original control group that matches the treatment group on the distribution of the observed covariates. However, sometimes the original control group…

The Virginia Alternate Assessment Program (VAAP) is the assessment tool that Virginia uses to measure the progress of students with significant cognitive disabilities on the state's Aligned Standards of Learning (ASOL). The VAAP was developed in order to comply with No Child Left Behind's (2001) requirement of educational accountability for all…

Objective: To measure test-retest reliability of the Stop-Signal Task (SST) and the Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CPT) in children with ADHD. Methods: 12 children with ADHD (age 11.46 plus or minus 1.66) participated in the study. Primary outcome measures were stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) for the SST and CPT's commission errors (%FP).…

Objective: The complexity and scale of health promotion interventions present challenges for the standardization of delivery. Furthermore, health promotion practice favours adapting interventions according to perceived client need. This paper examines the fidelity of intervention delivery within A Stop Smoking in Schools Trial (ASSIST),…

Purpose: Creative expression (CE) programs are emerging interventions to improve the quality of care and life of persons with dementia (PWDs) in long-term care settings. However, limited empirical evidence exists to support the effectiveness of these programs. Here, we report the findings from an assessment of the impact of TimeSlips (TS), a group…

We investigated the effectiveness of the 360-credit National Professional Diploma (NPDE) as a programme that is aimed at the upgrading of currently serving unqualified and under-qualified educators, with a view to improving the quality of teaching and learning in schools and Further Education and Training colleges. To this end, the National…

The results of the U. S Census provide evidence that our population is becoming more varied and that diversity is most salient in our schools. This demographic shift will continue to have a significant impact on the curriculum, students, teachers, and other aspects of education as we have historically known it. One of the most challenging…

A current trend in education is that small teacher groups, called professional learning communities (PLC), are being advocated as a tool to help teachers reach struggling students. Educators planning to use PLC as an intervention strategy can benefit from research-based information about PLC best practices. This multiple case study addressed the…

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the impact of principal participation in a leadership capacity building and support program on educational leaders' practice and the professional practice of teachers. The two examined principals participated in the Duncan Principal Coaching Initiative (DPCI), a comprehensive, research and…

This mixed method study examined the impact of a LEGO-based, engineering-oriented curriculum compared to an inquiry-based curriculum on fifth graders' content learning of simple machines. This study takes a social constructivist theoretical stance that science learning involves learning scientific concepts and their relations to each other. From…

In this paper we investigate the experiences of elementary school children over a two-year period during which they engaged with a hybrid Adventure Learning program. In addition to delineating Adventure Learning experiences, we report on educational technology implementations in ecologically valid and complex environments, while drawing inferences…

This article reports on issues arising from the external evaluation of a teacher development project--the Active Learning in Primary Science (ALPS) project--undertaken in eight Bristol (UK) primary schools during 2007. The ALPS project aimed to raise pupil attainment in science by developing participating teachers' skills, knowledge and enthusiasm…

Background: Cumulatively, research indicates that teachers who are emotionally supportive and create positive classroom climates influence the outcomes of at-risk students in nontrivial ways. Prior research has also established that teacher behaviors that support autonomy, provide higher level thinking opportunities, and value students' social and…

Drawing on portraiture methods, this case study is an exploration of the experiences of pre-service teachers who participated in a music-integrated literacy methods course during their first semester in an elementary teacher preparation program. The study is a response to previous researchers' findings that arts-integrated university courses hold…

Despite expansive improvements in both treatments and research, the majority of persons with autism use non-empirically supported interventions. One way to decrease the research-to-practice gap involves increasing the direct applicability of research findings to clinical settings. Effectiveness research achieves this goal by identifying treatments…