Considers a collaboration model (Eastman-Rochester Partnership) between an urban school district music program and a nationally recognized collegiate-level school of music. Explains that the purpose of this coalition is to build a new model of urban music education while restoring a once outstanding inner-city music program. (CMK)

Examines the role of marketing, promotional activities, and public relations in library instructional services and discusses some reactions to using these techniques to improve instruction programs. Considers information technology, the explosion of available information, and changes in users, and emphasizes the need to respond to user needs.…

Describes the standards and guidelines developed for learning assistance programs by the Committee for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS), and those for program components by the National Association of Developmental Education (NADE). Suggests how they can be used to identify needs and improve existing services. (VWC)

Continuous quality improvement efforts are vital to high-quality early intervention services. This article describes an ongoing quality improvement project within an infant mental health-based Early Head Start program. Both strategies and challenges in implementing issues and lessons learned in the initial 2-year phase of the quality improvement…

Although focus groups continue to gain popularity in marketing and social science research, their use in program evaluation has been limited. Here we demonstrate how focus groups can benefit evaluators, program staff, policy makers and administrators by providing an in-depth understanding of program effectiveness from the perspective of…

Over the past decade, state legislatures have experienced increasing pressure to hold higher education accountable for student learning. This pressure stems from several sources, such as increasing costs and decreasing graduation rates. To explore the feasibility of one approach to measuring student learning that emphasizes program improvement, we…

The alternative education program remains a viable response for engaging students who would otherwise be dropouts. Raywid (1994) synthesized and advanced an alternative school typology describing organizational characteristics with related effectiveness that appeared useful for considering and improving program practices. A Unique opportunity…

The process of program evaluation was utilized to evaluate the education program, provide information to make decisions on its ability to comply with mandates from the state education department, and develop or improve the program to meet the goals of the new initiative to meet the needs of English language learners. The program evaluation process…

Professional school counselors are educational leaders with training and expertise to address the mental health concerns of students. Unfortunately, work conditions at some schools can create barriers to the delivery of effective mental health services. This article presents a case of one rural, diverse high school that transformed its school…

The intersection of No Child Left Behind (2002) and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) made it necessary for educators to examine achievement trends within their schools and implement a Response to Intervention (RTI) program. This study examines the achievement trends in one school district since its…

This article is third in a series written to address questions regarding the need for more empirical research in the field of human performance technology (HPT) and the need to determine the future direction of HPT research. The call for more empirical research has been published in journals such as "Performance Improvement Quarterly" and…

This document examines the policy implications of recent findings of the Promising Programs study, conducted by researchers at the University of California at Irvine, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Policy Studies Associates, Inc. Most efforts to improve after-school opportunities focus on strengthening the effectiveness of individual…

Among Canadian teacher unions, discussions of class size are increasingly being informed by the importance of considering the diversity of student needs within the classroom (often referred to as class composition). For teachers, both class size and diversity matter. Teachers consistently adapt their teaching to address the individual needs of the…

The International Society for Performance Improvement has always been divided by two often-conflicting views of what its purpose or mission really is. Is it primarily technology focused (focusing on the development and promotion of the field) or member focused (focusing on members' interests and their professional development)? This difference in…

Previous work on policy implementation has often suggested that schools leave their "thumbprints" on policies received from above. During the implementation of Primary Class Size Reduction (PCS) Initiative in Ontario, Canada, however, school principals spoke with remarkable uniformity about the ways PCS affected their work. This article…