Context and Purpose: With heightened attention to medical errors and patient safety, we surveyed Utah and Missouri hospitals to assess the "state of the art" in patient safety systems and identify changes over time. This study examines differences between urban and rural hospitals. Methods: Survey of all acute care hospitals in Utah and…

To enable improvements in school health promotion, this paper examines associations between the number of health-promotion issues addressed by primary school teachers in the Netherlands and factors thought to influence this behavior. The main factors studied are context characteristics and constructs of attitude, social influence, self-efficacy…

This article describes a physical education program self-assessment tool, "The Physical Activity and Fitness Promotion Checklist," which was developed by a panel of nationally recognized physical education teachers. This checklist, which specifically addresses national physical education standards three and four, includes 20 items organized into…

A pilot study was designed to examine student perspectives on the first two years of the foreign language program at an east coast college. The study addresses key areas of foreign language teaching and learning in terms of goals and objectives, effectiveness of instruction and instructional approach, and student suggestions for improvement. The…

The Early Development Index (EDI) is a teacher-completed checklist, intended to be a population-level tool to measure children's readiness for school and to alert communities to potential developmental problems in children. In response to the increasing popularity of the EDI, this paper provides a critical and timely evaluation and identifies the…

This guide is designed as a resource for leaders and evaluators of K-12 online learning programs. In this guide, the term "online learning" is used to refer to a range of education programs and resources in the K-12 arena, including distance learning courses offered by universities, private providers, or teachers at other schools;…

This report summarizes Austin Independent School District's 2007-2008 state-funded program to assist students who are struggling in reading and math.

This fact sheet summarizes data gathered in the 2009 survey of National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant recipients. Conducted by The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University, this was the tenth annual survey of ATE projects and centers. Included here are statistics about the program's grantees and…

Data on student achievement are increasingly being used to support effective policy and practice, and to move education systems towards more evidence-informed approaches to large-scale improvement. In this paper, we outline strategies used in Ontario, Canada to create, enhance and apply a range of data to support educational improvement. These…

This article reports on how Delaware pushes to meet Race to the Top promises. The Delcastle Technical High School teachers are on the front lines of the push to deliver on promises that last year won Delaware, 10 other states, and the District of Columbia shares of the Race to the Top pie, the $4 billion competition that is driving much of the…

Developmental education has increasingly become part of the national debate in higher education. This is particularly true for developmental mathematics courses which, in general, have the highest rates of failure and non-completion of any developmental subject area. This manuscript describes the current state of the art in developmental…

Saying "teaching matters most" is easy, and seems obvious. Making it the top priority for school leaders and staff is not so easy--in fact, it's messy. If we want to change how students write, compute, and think, then teachers must change how they teach. They must transform the old "assign-and-assess" model into engaging, compassionate, coherent,…

This brief by the Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse is about reaching for the stars--stories of vision and commitment from educators in small and large schools. Everyone knows of people who are held up as "visionaries" throughout history: Leonardo Da Vinci, Mahatma Gandhi, Jules Verne, Thomas Edison, Susan Anthony, or John Dewey, to name a few. The…

This study examined Missouri's A+ Schools Program and its impact on school improvement. Effective schools research combined with the mission learning for all provided a conceptual foundation for guiding research development. A mixed-method design allowing a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data was applied using telephone interviews…

On July 24 and 25, 2012, members of the Task Force on Admissions in the 21st Century gathered in Reston, Virginia, to discuss the progress made by the implementation team in addressing action items from the Task Force's Preserving the Dream of America 2008 report; the current environment for admission; and actions to be taken to further the task…