The Center for Research in Educational Policy (CREP) has partnered with the Virginia Department of Education since 2005 to evaluate the Commonwealth's 21st Century Community Learning Centers program. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) is a federal grant program established by Congress as Title X, Part 1, of the Elementary and…

This evaluation, which focuses on the capacity-building mission of the Comprehensive Centers, was designed to add to the findings of the previous national evaluation of the Comprehensive Centers Program. That evaluation, completed in 2011, used survey data, structured interviews, and rating scales to analyze the extent to which State Education…

Consistent, sensitive caregiving across home and childcare contexts supports optimal development. In this paper, we share the story of the development of Hearts and Minds on Babies (HMB) for Early Head Start (EHS) administrators, teachers, and parents. HMB was designed to support caregiver reflective functioning and sensitivity and reduce…

Engagement in citizen science can result in participant outcomes including increased science and environmental literacy and civic action. One factor which may increase the likelihood of these outcomes is facilitation by groups such as employers, schools, or other organizations. We examined how a partnership between SciStarter and Girl Scouts of…

This research aims to evaluate the Inspirational School Program using the CIPP (Context, Input, Process, Product) model, focusing on providing insights and recommendations for enhancing its effectiveness and sustainability. Data collection methods in qualitative descriptive research include interviews, observation, and documentation. The study's…

Objective/Research Question: This practitioner-scholar study investigated perceptions and experiences of community college students who transferred upon completion of their associate degree programs in Colorado, a state with multiple state-level transfer policies. Each student participated in a cohort-based transfer support program offered at…

The preschool landscape is complex, consisting of several publicly funded programs supported by federal, state, and local funds. Included in this landscape is Head Start, a critical early childhood education (ECE) program that serves--in every state and territory--young children in families with incomes at or below the federal poverty line,…

Teachers' conceptions of assessment are a significant indicator of teacher assessment literacy. This study contextualized pre-service teachers' conceptions of assessment in Chinese second language education. An exploratory factor analysis generated eight first-order factors and the following confirmatory factor analysis found a hierarchical model,…

Background: Adolescent girls are at an increased risk of low physical activity and the associated health consequences. Girls Can Move!, an after-school intervention guided by social cognitive theory, was designed to increase physical activity. Purpose: To examine the feasibility and initial effectiveness of Girls Can Move! Methods The 8-week…

While motivation has been recognized as a key catalyst for the uptake of self-initiated professional development (PD), motivational changes that occur in the course of self-initiated PD practices remain unexplored in English Language Teaching (ELT) contexts and beyond. Yet this research area warrants closer attention since motivation is a dynamic…

Master of Science (M.S.) programs, including geography through geographic information science and technology (M.S. GIST), play a key part in training the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce. A master's thesis has been a traditional part of geography programs, and across all kinds of disciplines the value of a thesis is…

With the introduction of in-class group-based virtual reality (VR), multiple students can interact in a single shared "metaverse". One geography-focused group VR option is the Wooorld app, available on various Meta Quest unit models. To evaluate the feasibility of group VR in a higher education geography lecture classroom, a pilot study…

More than ever, nations around the world understand that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills are key to driving economic growth and overall competitiveness. A compact between the United States, through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the country of Georgia's government sought to bring international higher…

The October 2021 declaration of a national emergency for child and adolescent mental health resulted in the call for innovative methods for addressing barriers to seeking care, including the suggestion of mental health apps using transdiagnostic approaches. In line with this, the current study sought to validate the app "Amaru: The Self-Care…

This study explored factors impacting the decision for gifted females to pursue a career in computer science. The study used a phenomenological approach to delve into the experiences of ten gifted alumnae of The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science (Gatton), a residential STEM program, aiming to reveal nuanced insights into factors shaping…