This final report culminates the evaluation and technical assistance provided for the U.S. Department of Education's Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) Program and its projects since 2005. As part of this support, Abt Associates looked across the portfolio of projects funded by the MSP program to draw lessons on best practices. This…

"Getting Practical-Improving practical work in science" is a government-funded programme intended to improve the effectiveness and affective value of practical work in school science in England. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme in terms of achieving its aims, ten primary and twenty secondary schools have been…

The study dealt with a research environment in which the treatment effect is heterogeneous, and in which individuals use their assessments of the treatment effect to decide whether or not to enroll in an intervention program. In this article, a new methodology is proposed for examining the validity of the specified research environment in a given…

ZERO TO THREE's 2009 parent survey, "Parenting Infants and Toddlers Today," revealed that 25% of all parents surveyed had experienced child care-related hardships as a result of the recent economic downturn. The result is a significant number of children who are experiencing changes in their child care arrangements. Transitions into, and out of,…

There is a growing need for teacher development centres to help instructors of higher education become better teachers. This paper describes a multi-year study designed to explore how these centres support effective and sustainable teaching development with the aim of providing a quality teaching and learning experience. Key interview findings…

Successfully integrating educational technology--both hardware and digital content--into a K-8 school presents an immense challenge that is complicated by a loss of available funding. This article presents a seven-step-process guide--drawn from resources focused on affordability, accessibility, security, training, and educational…

Little empirical data exist addressing potential iatrogenic effects of placing youth in juvenile justice settings. We took advantage of a natural experiment in one state where juvenile offenders are evaluated in either residential settings characterized by high-density contact with delinquent youth or community settings with naturally varying…

The system of care approach as a strategy for serving children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED) is by any measure a success with one exception: there is controversy regarding the scientific evidence documenting that the services provided through systems of care improve the symptomatic and functional outcomes of the youth…

The establishment of normal colleges and universities is an important component of building a modern country, which possesses different value ethos with the universities. The emergence of the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris and the local normal schools has set a new model for teacher education around the world and promoted values and knowledge…

The introduction of outcomes-based vocational education in schools can have significant impact on the management and delivery of education and training. These impacts are not limited to classroom practice, and extend to the fields of policy and system coordination. This article reports on the results of a major trial of outcomes-oriented…

The aim of the present study was to develop and provide a preliminary evaluation of a social-skills-based early intervention program specifically designed to assist extremely inhibited preschoolers. Participants were a sample of n = 522 extremely inhibited preschool-aged children, who were randomly assigned to either the "Social Skills…

This paper examines the redesign of evaluation components for a teacher professional development project funded by the National Science Foundation. It focuses on aligning evaluation instrumentation and strategies with program goals, research goals and program evaluation best practices. The study identifies weaknesses in the original (year 1)…

National Heritage Areas (NHAs) are an alternative and increasingly popular form of protected area management in the United States. NHAs seek to integrate environmental objectives with community and economic objectives at regional or landscape scales. NHA designations have increased rapidly in the last 20 years, generating a substantial need for…

This article explores the role of teacher research as part of a robust program of professional development. Teacher research offers teachers at every stage of development a recursive and reflective means of bridging the gap between current practice and potential professional growth. The purpose of this dual level inquiry was to probe the concept…

Making sense of occupational data isn't always easy. But the task is less daunting when the data are well organized. For Federal occupational statistics, the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system establishes that organization. And a recent revision to the SOC means that the data will be current, in addition to being well organized. The…