Background: Recruiting schools into a matched-pair randomized control trial (MP-RCT) to evaluate the efficacy of a school-level prevention program presents challenges for researchers. We considered which of 2 procedures would be most effective for recruiting schools into the study and assigning them to conditions. In 1 procedure (recruit and…

Much has been made of the advantages of active support and person-centred planning, both of which have gradually been evolving and changing over the last 25-30 years. The latter is now mandated in the UK as part of the "Valuing People" strategy on disability (Department of Health UK, 2001), and is also central to the follow-up policy…

A review of donors' most recent policies highlights that the term "partnership" is firmly embedded in the lexicon of international development. Most donors now only fund INGO programmes if they are partnering LNGOs. This article considers key questions in relation to such programmes: What is meant by an education partnership? Are there…

Despite findings indicating the importance of non-parental adults in the lives of youth, there is little research on these relationships, including those that occur in the context of youth mentoring. Compounding this problem is a positive slant taken towards youth mentoring in the media, often unsubstantiated by empirical evidence. This article…

In this article, the author investigates college students' volunteer teaching in Western China. A series of investigations were conducted in Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang. The results showed that teaching by volunteer college students played a positive role in the development of local education…

An important goal of education in developing countries is to implement and improve early childhood education. A pre-post intervention-control design was used to compare a piloted-revised versus a regular preschool program offered by an organization in rural Bangladesh. After 7 months in operation, the quality of the piloted-revised program was…

Throughout American education, black boys and men, on the whole, have struggled for years. They graduate from high school and attend and complete college at disproportionately low rates. The overall college performance of black men is so poor that some college officials and advocates for black students are reluctant to even talk about the problem,…

Trisha Waters presents the theoretical basis for Therapeutic Storywriting Groups, an outline of how they work in practice and a summary of the research report commissioned by SERSEN to evaluate their impact on pupils' learning. The article finishes with a short case study of a nine-year-old boy who is on the special educational needs register for…

In the last 20 years the health promoting schools movement has gained momentum internationally. Without strong national leadership and direction its development in New Zealand has been ad hoc and sporadic. However, as the evidence supporting the role of health promoting schools in contributing to students' health and academic outcomes becomes more…

This response to Slavin's article (2008) explores the issues of transparency, representation, and warranting of claims in Slavin's descriptions of the work of others and his suggestions for program evaluation syntheses. Through contrastive analyses between Slavin's representations of the program evaluation synthesis efforts of five organizations…

There is widespread agreement that many of California's high schools are doing a poor job of preparing their students for college and careers. The James Irvine Foundation is sponsoring a major initiative to develop "Multiple Pathways"--now called the Linked Learning approach--as a strategy for improving the performance of California high…

Ongoing, strategic family-school partnering (FSP) is an essential component of every educational community. FSP is a multi-dimensional process in which schools, families, and communities engage in shared actions to ensure a child's academic, social, and emotional success. With this text, the authors intend to offer a practical guide that…

Research on student achievement indicates the U.S. K-12 education system is not adequately preparing American students to compete in the 21st century global economy in the areas of science and mathematics. Congress has asked the scientific entities of the federal government to help increase K-12 science learning by creating standards-based…

In December 2007, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave MDRC a grant to conduct reconnaissance on promising strategies to reengage disconnected young people and improve their long-term outcomes. The primary objective of the grant was to identify key leverage points for future investment by government and foundations. MDRC consulted with…

During the 2009-2010 school year, Marzano Research Laboratory (MRL) was commissioned by Promethean Ltd. to conduct a second year evaluation study of the effects of Promethean ActivClassroom on student academic achievement. This executive summary highlights the key findings. [For "A Second Year Evaluation Study of Promethean ActivClassroom. Final…