States in the midst of implementing evaluation reforms face a common dilemma: how to ensure that all your districts are implementing quality educator evaluation systems while still providing them with the flexibility to design systems best suited to their own unique needs. One answer is to create an equivalency process (also known as an approval…

Students with emotional behavioral disorders (EBD) are educated in restrictive placements at higher rates than students in other disability categories due to their challenging behavior and inability to function in the general educational environment (Bullock & Gable, 2006). The increasing utilization of alternative programming to educate…

The growing calls for accountability within higher education have mobilized student affairs divisions to develop practices that provide evidence of student learning and development. In order to do this effectively student affairs divisions understand the importance of creating, managing, and sustaining a culture of assessment. The purpose of this…

The number of academic institutions offering courses online has increased with courses being offered across almost all academic disciplines. Faculty members are often confronted with the responsibility of converting a face-to-face course to an online course while simultaneously dealing with new technologies and the interrelationship between the…

Educators, parents, and the public depend on accurate, valid, reliable, and timely information about student academic performance. Testing irregularities--breaches of test security or improper administration of academic testing--undermine efforts to use those data to improve student achievement. Unfortunately, there have been high-profile and…

The purpose of this study was to remedy the paucity of knowledge about higher education's conflict resolution practice of online dispute resolution by providing an in-depth description of mediator and instructor online practices. Telephone interviews were used as the primary data collection method. Eleven interview questions were relied upon to…

This report presents data collected through a questionnaire of State education agencies and local educational agencies on the growing use of social media to reach key stakeholder groups and engage with primary audiences.

A human rights perspective places the care for children in the obligation sphere. The duty to protect from violence is an outcome of having a declaration confirming inalienable human rights. Nationally, rights may be reflected in constitutions, charters, and criminal codes. Transnationally, the United Nation's (UN) Convention on the Rights of the…

In the past 50 years forensic psychological practice has expanded dramatically. Because the practice of forensic psychology differs in important ways from more traditional practice areas (Monahan, 1980) the "Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychologists" were developed and published in 1991 (Committee on Ethical Guidelines for Forensic…

The purpose of this article is to provide a framework that offers a way for early intervention (EI) service providers to better meet the needs of the culturally diverse children and families they serve. This framework was created to organize existing research and literature on cultural responsiveness in a way that fit the unique context of EI. The…

This Methodological Brief gives an overview of statistical methods used to gauge academic growth and discusses issues surrounding the measurement of growth in gifted populations. To illustrate some of these issues, we describe a growth model that examines differences in summer lag between gifted and nongifted students. We also provide…

The movement toward evidence-based practice has had a tremendous impact on the early childhood field over the past decade. The authors describe the origins of the evidence-based movement for the early childhood profession and various definitions associated with it. They provide resources for identifying programs and practices that have been…

I conducted case study research on five third-grade teachers to go "beneath" the appearance of best practices and understand what helps students make the greatest literacy achievement. I asked principals and reading experts to complete a best practices rubric and then selected the two highest scoring teachers from three schools. I…

The Legislature mandated the California Research Bureau (CRB) explore known best practices for charter school authorizers and survey California authorizers about their practices and costs. Additionally, the Legislature mandated CRB provide an analysis of current reimbursement for charter school oversight and include suggestions for improving…

This qualitative study sought to explore best practices at small, private liberal arts institutions that experienced large increases in African American graduation rates. Particular focus was on institutions that enrolled less than 17% minority students whose overall enrollment fell within the middle 50% of all SAT scores and the middle 50% of…