Taking students seriously is the key to the student evaluator model. Aided by an experienced evaluation facilitator, students design and carry out evaluations of specific programs in which they are involved. For a project to succeed, those in charge must place their trust in the students and help create a climate of acceptance for the project. Two…

Describes the School Transitional Environment Project and its successor, the Project on High Performance Learning Communities, that have contributed to building a model for school improvement called the High Performance Learning Communities. The model seeks to build the principles of prevention into whole school change. Presents findings from…

Explains why philosophy should undergird development and marketing of educational programs, employment and supervision of teaching staff, and program evaluation and accountability. (SK)

Presents a critical appraisal model that is proactive, research based, and learner oriented. Discusses process, content, political, and contextual issues. Uses a case study of a continuing education master's program to illustrate the model in practice. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)

Describes how an Alabama school system incorporated the National Staff Development Council's Standards for Staff Development into a district-wide effort to improve staff development. Evaluation of the professional development effort was a top priority, with participant input an important component. Professional development was designed to be…

Determined general and specific processes of program approval and program review found in 50 states and 8 foreign countries. Defines models that depict these procedures and discusses strengths and weaknesses of each. Suggests alternatives to current practices by U.S. state agencies. (SLD)

Matching Needs and Services (MNS) is a practice tool intended to help people who work with vulnerable children use rigorously assembled information on needs as a guide to design, implement, and evaluate more-effective services. To do this, MNS focuses on needs but links them to outcomes and thresholds before dealing with the services to achieve…

The purpose of this mixed method research is to understand and support educators' continuing learning and growth better by using a lens of transformative learning to examine their experience and professional development practice and responsibility. Data from 58 participants and the course professor are analyzed to consider the occurrence of…

The paper will present findings from a Social Science and Humanities Research (SSHRC) funded participatory evaluation conducted over the past four years in the Cree nation of Wemindji in Quebec, Canada. COOL (Challenging Our Own Limits) or "Nigawchiisuun" in Cree, was launched in 2003 as part of a broader program of governance…

Over the last decade, the Intelligent Computer Tutoring Group (ICTG) has implemented many successful constraint-based Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) in a variety of instructional domains. Our tutors have proven their effectiveness not only in controlled lab studies but also in real classrooms, and some of them have been commercialized.…

The Duke University School Research Partnership (SRP) Office was developed with support from the Office of the Provost and the Center for Child and Family Policy. Begun in 2006 as the Duke Office for Research in Schools (DORIS), the SRP Office is an integral part of the work of the Center for Child and Family Policy. The SRP Office facilitates…

As knowledge of effective treatments for mental disorders has grown, so too has the field of mental health promotion and positive development. Studies completed during the last two decades have synthesized the state of mental health promotion and documented that universal mental health supports positively affect child and adolescent developmental…

In April 2008, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) contracted with the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) to facilitate a series of regional workshops and provide technical assistance to strengthen efforts to improve college readiness for all students. This final report summarizes these activities…

This report describes the design and implementation of the three interventions tested in Project Upgrade, one of four experiments conducted as part of the Evaluation of Child Care Subsidy Strategies. The evaluation was a multi-site, multi-year effort to determine whether and how different child care subsidy policies and procedures and quality…

The book is a highly readable integration of the latest assessment policies, and includes valuable information regarding young children with special needs and English Language Learners--topics that have rarely been touched upon in other textbooks. Focusing on practical applications of key concepts, this text provides a knowledge base of what every…