This document represents the findings of the Greater Akron and Canton Regional Chambers of Commerce under an Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and Ohio Department of Development Graduate Retention Initiative (GRI) Planning Grant. The document also includes a proposal for the implementation phase of the initiative with a geographic scope…

Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York, is a leader in the learning community movement. The college has run learning communities for many years, and more than half of its incoming freshmen were enrolled in one as of 2010. This Brief summarizes findings from an evaluation of the same title of Kingsborough's "Career-Focused…

"Formative assessment is a powerful learning tool that is too seldom, too haphazardly, and too ineffectively used in the United States," Pendred E. Noyce writes in the introduction to this volume. "The purpose of this book is to delve into why this is so and how it can be changed." Formative assessment involves constantly monitoring student…

Education partnerships are central to--and often a requirement of--most education reform initiatives promoted by state and local governments, by foundations, and by business funders. Many fail for failure to understand the dynamics of their complex relationships. This book provides insights and guidance to enable prospective and existing education…

To date, 44 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Achieve has prepared this planning document to help all states in the American Diploma Project Network (ADP) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) consortium engage educators in the essential work of…

This article focuses on how educators could design professional development to empower the learning of individuals to serve the growth of an organization that was all about student success. The leadership team at Mapleton Expeditionary School for the Arts (MESA) in Thornton, Colorado, responded to this with its version of a teaching and learning…

In 1997, Minnesota became the first state in the nation to pass legislation establishing an education and support program for family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) care providers. This article describes the Minnesota Family, Friend and Neighbor Grant Program and findings from an evaluation of the programs and a curriculum scan of materials used in…

Purpose/Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the extent to which school nutrition (SN) programs have implemented food safety programs based on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles, as well as factors, barriers, and practices related to implementation of these programs. Methods: An online survey was…

The authors comment on Porter, McMaken, Hwang, and Yang's recent analysis of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics by critiquing their measures of the focus of the standards and the absence of an assessment of coherence. The authors then consider whether the standards are an improvement over most state mathematics standards by discussing…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of two implementation variables (source of technical support and time of implementation) to first grade reading achievement across three naturally-occurring conditions over a six-year time span. Two of the conditions involved implementation of Direct Instruction (DI) curriculum programs,…

Applied Research Consultants (ARC) is a graduate student run consulting firm that provides experience to students in evaluation and consultation. An overview of this program has been compiled in order to serve as a model of a graduate training practicum that could be applied to similar programs or aid in the development of such programs. Key…

Research Findings: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified by Denmark in 1991 but never incorporated into Danish legislation; instead the State party has chosen a stepwise implementation in legal and social praxis. However, this process mirrors a remarkable reluctance to approve the Convention as a legitimate part of…

Pivotal Response Training (PRT) combines research on task interspersal, direct reinforcement, and role of choice in a treatment for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Parents of children with ASD have been trained to implement PRT to improve language and social interaction. Variables other than child characteristics, such as parental…

Service provision to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) older adults is a dynamic and sensitive area, requiring rigorous and extensive inquiry and action. Examining the readiness and assets of organizations serving GLBT older adults requires not only heart and sensitivity but also resources and a clear vision. The Community Readiness…

The International Baccalaureate[R] (IB) world, known as "the IB World," is doubling in size every five years. The IB has become a complex educational product, but offers high levels of consistency and reliability in terms of delivery and assessment. However, since late 2008, a number of concerns have been raised about the quality and manageability…