For southern New England, the middle-skills gap is projected to become acute by 2020, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Historically and currently, the middle-skills labor pool in Massachusetts has been significantly below national rates and has been recently experiencing a decline. Closing the middle-skills gap depends on improving…

Basic phylogenetics and associated "tree thinking" are often minimized or excluded in formal school curricula. Informal settings provide an opportunity to extend the K-12 school curriculum, introducing learners to new ideas, piquing interest in science, and fostering scientific literacy. Similarly, university researchers participating in…

Today's teacher candidates frequently exhibit confusion and express discouragement while navigating the expectations of their educational journeys and career goals. Characteristically, many candidates tend to be first-generation college students limited in universal knowledge, global travels, diverse experiences, and multiple perspectives.…

Problem Statement: The presence of leaders who will lead societies to success is an important gain for a society. In the present time, leadership development has become a strategic requirement. Although there is a common agreement on the need for leadership education, there are few studies on the education process of leadership and the efficacy of…

Social initiations make up a core deficit for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In particular, initiated questions during social interactions are often minimal or absent in this population. In the context of a multiple baseline design, the efficacy of using the motivational procedures of Pivotal Response Treatment to increase social…

The challenge to provide incarcerated youth the skills needed to succeed and avoid recidivism has prompted the use of family-systems approaches in juvenile detention centers. A quasi-experimental study was conducted in northern Alabama to determine the impact of a conflict resolution workshop on the family members of incarcerated youth. Results…

The persistent research-to-practice gap poses a problem for counselor education. The gap may be caused by conflicts between the humanistic values that guide much of counseling and the values that guide research training. In this article, the authors address historical concerns regarding research training for students and the conducting of research…

Background: Individuals with disabilities experience higher rates of abuse than the nondisabled. Few evidence-based prevention interventions have been published despite a need for such work. This study evaluated IMPACT:Ability, a safety and self-advocacy training for individuals with cognitive and/or physical disabilities. Methods: A…

This paper reports on the implementation of a high level contextualized mathematics curriculum by 12 adult basic instructors in a midwestern state. The 10-week pilot curriculum embedded high level mathematics in contexts that were familiar to adult learners. Instructors' weekly online posts were coded, and the following themes emerged: (a)…

The Better Balance, Better Bones, Better Bodies (B-Better©) program was developed to disseminate simple home-based strategies to prevent falls and improve functional health of older adults using a train-the-trainer model. Delivered by Family & Community Education Study Group program volunteers, the lesson stresses the importance of a…

This report describes the assessment, evaluation, and subsequent development of reading intervention strategies for a struggling middle school student. The family background and popular culture of the student were the primary means for creating the interventions. The student was taught to apply the reading strategies while completing…

Scientific discoveries indicated the importance of brain growth during the first 5 years of child life. To support early childhood development, California voter passed Proposition 10 in 1998 to collect a 50 cent per pack tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products. Kern County Children and Families Commission (First 5 Kern) receives funding from…

States and districts can use this tool to create their own plans for continual improvement of an observation system, no matter where they are in their implementation. Included are action steps to improve observation rubrics, observer training, observer assessment, and monitoring. A planning process is described to assess current status, determine…

U.S. social programs, set up to address important problems, often fall short by funding specific models/strategies ("interventions") that are not effective. When evaluated in scientifically-rigorous studies, social interventions in K-12 education, job training, crime prevention, and other areas are frequently found ineffective or…

In recent years, governments across the world have increased their investments in early childhood education programs (Britto, Yoshikawa, & Boller, 2011; Engle et al., 2011; Myers, 2006; UNESCO, 2006). This investment in preprimary education reflects the proven value of providing early learning opportunities in promoting later educational…