This College Success Research Brief is one of a series of briefs documenting the implementation and impact of Mass Insight's College Success/STEM program. The research briefs are intended to share key findings, highlight ongoing questions and lines of inquiry, and inform the thinking of practitioners and policymakers on how to scale up efforts to…

In a previous article for "EJHE," I detailed Curricula Reform (CR) efforts in Higher Education (HE) in four (relatively) well developed regional and national settings (The EU, the USA, Hong Kong SAR China, and Singapore). I detailed the backdrop motivating the moves by policymakers to reform the curricula in such "world class"…

The purpose of this study is to examine if low SES students respond differently to Tier I and Tier II interventions than Non-Low SES students. The study also seeks to determine the effect Tier I and Tier II interventions have on a group of second grade students. Forty-four Tier I and Tier II Caucasian second grade students from a rural Ohio…

Institutional performance benchmarking requires identifying a set of reference or comparator institutions. This paper describes a method by which an institution can identify other institutions that are most similar to itself using a methodology that identifies the nearest institutional neighbors based on a balanced set of metrics accessed from…

A challenge gift helps fundraisers reach goals by stimulating multiple aspects of a fundraising program. First, the message of a challenge grabs the attention of prospects and generally generates excitement beyond the case for support. It also commands the attention of the prospect managers in an organization, particularly when the challenge…

Concomitant with the rise of rationalizing accountability in higher education has been an increase in theoretical reflection about the forms accountability has taken and the ones it should take. The literature is now peppered by a wide array of distinctions (e.g. internal/external, inward/outward, vertical/horizontal, upward/downward,…

This article describes the role of language and literacy assessment in Response to Intervention, the assessment requirements and intent of RTI legislation, and the assessment principle in the International Reading Association's guiding principles on RTI. It outlines the multiple purposes of assessment required for a coherent RTI system, including…

With decentralisation becoming increasingly widespread across Europe, evaluation and accountability are becoming key issues in ensuring quality provision for all (Altrichter & Maag Merki, 2010; Eurydice, 2004). In Europe, the dominant arrangement for educational accountability is school inspections. The purpose of this research is to identify…

Commercial publishers have shaped reading and writing instruction in American schools through their interpretations of state-developed reading and writing standards and standards-aligned materials, which teachers then implement in English classes, including those serving multilingual learners. This paper uses microethnographic discourse analysis…

Since 1959, ACT has collected and reported data on students' academic readiness for college. As a trusted, nonprofit leader in research on college and career readiness, ACT is committed to continuing efforts to provide data and information to help solve the daunting problems faced by our nation. This report is part of a series of reports that…

As in past years, this report draws from a survey of Grantmakers for Education membership that provides a snapshot of giving patterns as well as grantmakers' qualitative impressions of lessons and insights from their work. For the first time, this report has sought out the perspectives of non-members who are active in the field, to help broaden…

An important question for geography teachers all over the world is how to define, stimulate and test geographic literacy. Although modern technology is no guarantee of quality, it offers new possibilities for teaching and testing, as can be seen in contemporary geography learning/teaching units using digital maps and interactive tests. Tests such…

Recent national reports have indicated a need for significant changes in science higher education, with the inclusion of more student centered learning. However, substantial barriers to change exist. These include a lack of faculty awareness and understanding of appropriate pedagogical approaches, large class sizes, the time commitment needed to…

Research and policy have established that data are necessary to guide decisions within education. Many of these decisions are made within problem solving and response to intervention frameworks for service delivery. Curriculum-Based Measurement in Reading (CBM-R) is a widely used data collection procedure within those models of service delivery.…

This study tracks the development of syntactic complexity in the writing of two beginning German as a second language learners with English as a first language over four semesters of collegiate language study by using developmental profiling techniques applied to an annotated learner corpus. The focus of the investigation is on individual…