Teacher empowerment is a central issue in relation to the efforts to improve the quality of education. However, teacher empowerment will remain an abstract idea if its implementation is not supported by an appropriate strategy. The demands for a quality education will be unreciprocated if teachers do not have the opportunity to empower themselves.…

This report summarizes the first year of the prekindergarten partnership between AISD, United Way for Greater Austin, and participating child development centers that served 417 students. Classrooms and students displayed high quality of instruction and academic performance, and teacher professional development opportunities are summarized.

Purpose: This paper is one of seven in this volume elaborating upon different approaches to quality improvement in education. This paper aims to delineate a methodology called Implementation Science, focusing on methods to enhance the reach, adoption, use and maintenance of innovations and discoveries in diverse education contexts.…

Scholars widely agree that community-engaged learning can significantly improve the learning experience for students while simultaneously having a positive impact on the community. This paper explores student perceptions in online pre-professional undergraduate courses in the legal studies and human resources management fields in which…

The purpose of this presentation is to describe some of the activities of a partnership forged between NYU researchers and senior leaders in NYC that was intended to provide research infrastructure and capacity-building solutions while also addressing jointly identified research questions about the "Pre-K for All" (PKA) program. The…

Research has shown that an idle summer is not just boring; it can cost a student as much as two to three months of educational progress. Summer is critical to each child's development, both mind and body. Any meaningful attempts to get at America's equity divide and the consequent gap in opportunities for kids must include summer education as a…

While Massachusetts has received accolades for its high scores on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, absolute results from standardized tests tend to correlate strongly with family income and parental education. The Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education…

Community Partnership School (CPS) serves 90 to 95 students annually in preK-5th grade. Of these, 100 percent are African American or multiracial, and all qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Community Partnership School began as a collaboration between Germantown Academy, which had trouble recruiting low-income students to its suburban…

International development organizations increasingly use "participatory development" approaches to improve the effectiveness of their programs. Participatory frameworks are commonly limited in scope and funder-driven; these top-down approaches to participation have proven to be both ineffective, and at times, contradictory in their…

The Year 2 Preschool Expansion Grant (PEG) implementation study focuses on the second year of supports and outcomes for teachers, classroom quality, and supports for families. Overall, compared to its first year of implementation, the PEG programs in Year 2 (which was the 2016-17 school year) appear to have made progress towards delivering the key…

This EPI Policy Perspectives covers a presentation given at the European University Association Annual Convention (March 20, 2009, in Prague, Czech Republic) that addresses the Bologna process in the European Union. The process raised many questions regarding the role of the university, and the entire tertiary/postsecondary system of education.…

A major challenge for education policymakers and educators globally is the strong and persistent impact of student socio-economic status (SES) on learning. This is a challenge that will not be addressed solely by school-focused reform. However, one policy initiative that could make a positive difference in this regard, and could bring other…

As part of the federal Preschool Development Grant Program in late 2014, the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) was awarded a Preschool Expansion Grant (referred to as the Massachusetts PEG program) to expand high-quality early childhood education to four-year-old children from low-income families. The Massachusetts PEG…

It started with a dream: to create a national best practices teaching and learning center that would not only provide the best available care and education to children ages 0 to 5 years old, but would also serve as a model for adult learners and like-minded entities and individuals in the early education arena. Committed to elevating the quality…

The federal "Promise Neighborhoods" program underscores the importance of all children and youth having "access to great schools and strong systems of family and community support that will prepare them to attain an excellent education and successfully transition to college and a career." From this perspective, this brief stresses the importance…