This study responds to a national conversation about the role that Career Technical Education (CTE) might play in meeting workforce demand for soft skills. It is challenging for CTE programs to offer soft skills for several reasons. Both educators and employers tend to associate CTE with hard skills, or technical skills and therefore the programs…

Outcomes assessment in an academic family science program led to the accidental discovery of grade inflation that was causing impaction problems in upper-division major courses. The current analysis evaluates the effectiveness of a policy intervention designed to improve academic rigor in previously grade-inflated classes. The new policy required…

This program evaluation study used an objectives-oriented evaluation to determine the impact of professional development on effective communication to enhance leadership skills of school and district leaders in a southwestern Florida school district. Professional development is offered by the district to teachers, school leaders, district leaders,…

As the transition point between middle school and high school, ninth grade can either set a student up for long-term success or diminish a student's likelihood of graduating high school altogether. Interventions that can help educators better meet the needs of students during this critical juncture represent powerful levers for driving school…

As the transition point between middle and high school, ninth grade can either set a student up for long-term success or diminish a student's likelihood of graduating high school altogether. The Ninth Grade Success Initiative is a dropout prevention program, piloted in five Washington State high schools in 2019-2020. We evaluated the effects on…

Rigorous evaluation of social and emotional learning programs requires the use of measures that provide reliable and valid information on the meaningful differences in children's social emotional skills across treatment and control groups, as well as changes over time. In contexts affected by conflict and crisis, few measures can provide the…

Design2Learn (D2L) is an afterschool program aimed at increasing science interest, engagement, and achievement among middle school students who historically have been underrepresented in STEM. The D2L model, designed and implemented by ExpandED Schools, uses three core strategies to foster students' interest and engagement in science: (1)…

This article provides a systematic review of the literature related to college transition programs for students with autism. It addresses how individual programs themselves, as well as associated research, can be enhanced to accommodate the needs, identities, and pathways of individual students with autism more effectively. Methods entailed…

Over the course of six years, a diverse group of school districts and charter management organizations in California ran a substantial experiment in implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in elementary and middle grades. WestEd led an extensive evaluation of that effort, the California K-8 NGSS Early Implementers Initiative,…

Active learning promotes the capacity of problem solving and decision making among learners. Teachers who apply instructional processes toward active participation of learners help their students develop higher order thinking skills. Due to the recent paradigm shift toward adopting competency-based curricula in the education of healthcare…

The purpose of this study was to develop, test, and use an instrument to measure the effectiveness of a community-based, mandated drug education intervention program, Youthful Offenders Program (YOP), targeting college students at risk. A total of N = 350 students voluntarily agreed to participate in an evaluation of program effectiveness using…

Background: Providing medical and dental care for adults with developmental disabilities requires specialised care that includes caregiver's perceptions of processes of care as integral to informing care delivery. Method: We examined the reach and efficacy of a medical-dental clinic serving adults with developmental disabilities as part of a…

This article attempts to bridge a divide between the empirical use of Bourdieu's concepts and the theoretical discussion of field theory with regard to education. I ask how a school can be 'international' where education is predominantly embedded in nation-states. First, I introduce field theory and its applications to globalization and education.…

Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, educators and school administrators need to understand the available distance learning models and programs that may assist students who attend school from a remote location. To meet this need, this rapid evidence review sought to identify and report on what works in distance learning educational programming.…

Between June 2018 and November 2020, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) conducted an evaluation of the Tailored Support Programme (TSP) on behalf of the Department for Education (DfE). The aim of the evaluation was to explore perceptions of the TSP and, in particular, gather data on: reasons for engagement; what was delivered;…