This report describes the final evaluation of a condensed work schedule, the Summer 2009 4-Day Work Week (S4-DWW), adopted by The School Board of Broward County, Florida. The goal for the program was to close the entire district for 1 day each week to reduce utility costs. Except for a few cases, district schools and offices were closed on Fridays…

While there is a wide body of research to support the effectiveness of schoolwide positive behavior support (PBS), there are significant challenges to facilitating sustainable implementation. The present study begins to address these challenges by exploring PBS implementation in a diverse, regionally isolated elementary school that previously…

An assessment of a brief, but intensive modified Bully Busters universal prevention program on measures of teacher efficacy, teacher self-efficacy, teacher skills and knowledge about peer victimization, and teacher-reports of students' peer victimization was conducted with 30 elementary school teachers. Paired-samples "t" tests revealed…

The Accelerated Reader program from Renaissance Learning Inc. is a popular program implemented in elementary and middle schools across the country that encourages students to read and monitors their progress in the program. Despite its widespread use and popularity, there have been some questions about the program's effectiveness at increasing…

Following a model for an extended-day kindergarten program that had been in operation in select schools for nearly 20 years, a southeastern Virginia school division expanded the Extended-Day Kindergarten (EDK) Program with an additional 40 classes in 39 schools during the 2006-2007 school year. The EDK Program supplemented the traditional half-day…

Recruiting quality teachers is a top priority for school districts across the country. However, recent research demonstrates that an even greater challenge facing schools is retaining newly recruited teachers, particularly in urban school settings. This article analyzes the effects of two key components of many formal induction programs--mentoring…

The School-Based Mental Health Program's goals are to identify at-risk children, reduce ineffective functioning of at-risk children, provide social service interventions, increase effective parenting skills, help families access community resources, and support mental health education. The program was designed to develop a comprehensive,…

The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (BPP) is an internationally recognized school-based bullying prevention program. This project sought to evaluate pilot implementation of the program in one urban district using fidelity of implementation, bullying incident density (BID), student surveys, and serious incident reports as process and outcome…

Describes the Austin (Texas) Independent School District's evaluation of its Summer Opportunity to Accelerate Reading (SOAR) pilot program, designed to help low-achieving students in grades 1 through 3 to improve reading skills. Participating students improved skills, teachers and other staff supported the program, and 45 participating teachers…

Describes the Broward County (Florida) Research and Evaluation Department's assessment of a Sylvan Learning Systems remedial reading program employed in two district schools during 1993-94. Sylvan staff adequately equipped both sites, appropriately used diagnostic tests for placing students, implemented motivation and direct-instruction…

Evaluates an approach that supplemented existing Reading Recovery programs with small-group, early literacy instruction in 28 Arkansas public schools. The program enabled many children to receive timely support. When space became available in Reading Recovery, these children made accelerated progress and were discontinued earlier than children who…

Describes and evaluates Youth Leadership Broward, a Leadership training program provided for approximately 50 outstanding Broward County (Florida) juniors each year. Funded primarily by business, YLB is an eight-month program of structured activities that increases participants' knowledge of current issues and community resources and helps develop…

Based on interviews with a principal and two teachers at a Virginia elementary school piloting a multiage program for six- to eight-year-olds, this article describes the program's bottom-up development, holistic orientation, and stress on team teaching and continuous progress. Next year's program will offer more options, including a fourth- and…

Aware of increasing poverty among his students, a Virginia principal enlisted a retired teacher's assistance to provide direct support for underachieving students' families. After developing trust and rapport with identified families, the home-school consultant visited families to establish mutual goals, ranging from obtaining medical care, food,…

A transitional "pre-first-grade" program (for kindergarten "graduates" judged unready for first grade) has been operating in the Irving (Texas) Independent School District since the early 1980s. This evaluation, comparing three sets of students (participating pre-first-grade students, nonparticipating refusers who entered first…