In developing countries, an increasing number of civil society organizations (CSOs) engage in independent monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of government programs and policies. Most CSOs rely on a range of M&E tools in combination with advocacy strategies to hold government accountable and improve the implementation of programs and policies.…

The FNS Research Corner provides a continuing series to summarize recently completed and current research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in the area of child nutrition. Summaries of recently completed research projects and in-progress research are provided in this article.

The Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program, more commonly known as GEAR UP, is a product of federal legislation designed to increase high school completion and college attendance of low-­income youth. It is a federally funded discretionary grant program that is planned, organized and operated at the state and local level.…

The FNS Research Corner provides a continuing series to summarize recently completed and current research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in the area of child nutrition. Summaries of recently completed research projects, research conducted through grant activities, and in-progress research are…

This report is the second from the congressionally-mandated evaluation of the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) program authorized by the Education Sciences Reform Act (P.L. 107-279). For this report, 8 (out of 24) impact study reports produced by the RELs under their 2006-2011 contracts and published by IES were rated by expert panels for…

Attending high-quality early childhood care and education (ECCE) is associated with higher cognitive and social-emotional skills, especially for children growing up in poverty, but access to high-quality ECCE is limited. This study capitalizes on the random assignment design of the Head Start Impact Study to better understand whether the…

This report presents a summary of the findings of fiscal year (FY) 2016 monitoring reviews, fulfilling the reporting requirement in Section 641A(f) of the Head Start Act. It highlights the enhancements made to the FY 2016 monitoring review system, summarizes grantee review outcomes, and describes the types of findings most commonly identified in…

Evaluations of teacher preparation programs (TPPs) based in part on the performance of program completers have emerged as an education reform strategy in several states and have become central features of the Race to the Top (RTTT) grant competition. The objective of this policy review is to examine how the state of Tennessee measured and reported…

This report presents a summary of the findings of fiscal year (FY) 2018 Head Start monitoring reviews, fulfilling the reporting requirement in Section 641A(f) of the Head Start Act. It highlights the enhancements made to the FY 2018 monitoring review system, summarizes grantee review outcomes, and describes the types of findings most commonly…

The federal role in higher education has grown over the past two decades, and now a new administration has the opportunity to strengthen policies that support students and their colleges and universities. To help inform these decisions, the Urban Institute convened a bipartisan group of scholars and policy advisers to write a series of memos…

In Canada, in-depth evaluations of federal programs are intended to occur every 5 years. As such, evaluation is a periodic retrospective (lag) indicator examining results achieved versus program objectives. In a Canadian context, stand-alone evaluations have proved challenging to implement, time consuming, and not well adapted to annual management…

Earth science, which in this context does not include oceanic, atmospheric, and space sciences, is vital to the wellbeing of the United States and many of its issues, such as water resources, are expected to grow in importance. An earth science workforce will be needed to deal with this issues and it's important that this workforce draw on the…

This report presents a summary of the findings of Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 monitoring reviews, fulfilling the reporting requirement, Section 641A(f), of the Head Start Act. It highlights the enhancements made to the FY 2013 monitoring review system, summarizes grantee review outcomes, and describes the types of findings most commonly identified in FY…

San Francisco's Mission Promise Neighborhood (MPN) is a federally-funded Promise Neighborhood initiative that supports community-based organizations, schools, and other public agencies to work in defined neighborhoods and build integrated supports for children and youth from cradle to college and career. Since 2013, the Gardner Center has…

Trial-based functional analysis (TBFA) is a procedure for experimentally identifying the function of challenging behavior within applied settings. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a TBFA teacher-training package in the context of two Head Start centers implementing programwide positive behavior support (PWPBS). Four Head…