The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act defines "homeless children and youths" as "individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence." However, because the circumstances of homelessness vary with each family's or unaccompanied youth's situation, determining the extent to which the family or youth fits…

While educators often have rich information on the strategies used in their own school, they may have little information about the strategies or practices in other schools--particularly the specific practices of consistently higher performing schools. To provide an outside compass for those seeking to improve, members at the National Center for…

While the basic tenets of the RtI model are well-established in the literature, few studies have been conducted to describe its implementation in rural schools. We conducted a qualitative study in three rural schools that had been designated as pilot sites by our state department of education. A cross-case analysis of the data collected through…

Offering a primer on action research methodologies and examples of practice, "Students in Transition: Research and Practice in Career Development" responds to a dual challenge facing career development educators--designing cutting-edge career development interventions and demonstrating their effectiveness. Overviews of quantitative and qualitative…

This document contains the Phase III report from the "What Works in Oklahoma Schools" study. As opposed to describing the findings from the study that was conducted, it provides a tool-kit that can be used by Oklahoma principals and teachers to determine the best courses of action for their schools and classrooms. The tools provided in…

This volume is a report of a workshop held in 2003 to address best practices and remaining challenges with respect to national laboratory-university collaborations. The following are appended: (1) Committee Member Biographies; (2) Workshop Agenda; (3) Workshop Participants; (4) Glossary of Acronyms; and (5) Major Benefits and Challenges. [This…

There is often no simple or single way to interpret assessment results or to make instructional decisions based on results. Thus, This research found that classroom-based evaluation calls for a great deal of judgment, which can be enhanced if the logic of evaluation is understood. This consists of comparisons between observed or actual states of…

The Increasing Course Rigor Pilot Project, a joint initiative of the National Governors Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices and ACT, Inc., is one component of Phase Two of the NGA Center for Best Practices Honor States Grant Program. The project, which began in winter 2006 and concluded in summer 2007, was designed to improve the quality…

Hispanic-Serving Institutions have the opportunity to be trendsetters in higher education. As Latino representation in higher education continues to increase across all states and institution types, Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)--public or private nonprofit degree-granting colleges with enrollments of 25 percent or more Hispanic…

Stimulating innovative and growth-oriented entrepreneurship is a key economic and societal challenge to which universities and colleges have much to contribute. This book examines the role that higher education institutions are currently playing through teaching entrepreneurship and transferring knowledge and innovation to enterprises and…

This newsletter includes vignettes about schools that are effectively integrating academic and career/technical (CT) studies to help more students find meaning in their learning and to motivate students to make great effort to achieve. This is part of a series of newsletters describing best practices for implementing the "High Schools That Work"…

This paper explores the difficulties of finding an appropriate theoretical framework for a doctoral dissertation examining revenue-generating language programs at post-secondary institutions. It briefly examines the history of language programs in higher education in the developed English-speaking world and the current situation of many…

Through their conversations with IDA practitioners across the country, the authors have identified 14 strategies for successfully partnering with postsecondary institutions. These are: (1) Identify the right savers; (2) Match education to the needs of the region or state; (3) Invite educational partners to join your advisory board; (4) Identify…

Charged by the U.S. Department of Education, The George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence in Education (GW-CEEE) developed a Guide for state education agencies (SEAs) to use to improve state assessment policies for accommodating English language learners (ELLs). As a foundation for the Guide, GW-CEEE designed two studies, the…

The rapidly increasing English Language Learner (ELL) population across the United States offers valuable possibilities for next-generation ELL policy for assessment, accountability, and best practices. There is now tremendous opportunity to create policies taking into account the needs of ELL students from the outset rather than as an…