In November 1998, the Attorneys General of 46 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories signed an agreement with the five largest tobacco manufacturers, known as the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA). The MSA arose out of a number of separate state lawsuits against tobacco manufacturers seeking reimbursement for their Medicaid and…

Accelerated middle schools are self-contained academic programs designed to help middle school students who are behind grade level catch up with their age peers. If these students begin high school with other students their age, the hope is that they will be more likely to stay in school and graduate. The programs serve students who are one to two…

The GREAT (Gifted Readers Enhance Academic Talent) Reading Project is a quasi-experimental, between-group study that evaluated a 13-week before-school student tutoring/mentoring reading and literacy program. The study examined the effects of the intervention on reading achievement for each group involved, including high-ability gifted fifth grade…

Universities today need to become quicker on their toes. They must continually scan the environment and seize emerging opportunities--and institutional advancement must lead this effort. An unfortunate number of institutional advancement operations are ill equipped for the task at hand. Many suffer from high staff turnover and overly hierarchical…

This article explores the practitioner's relationships with colleagues, on teams and with professionals from other disciplines and systems. While there has been much analysis and discussion about relationships between practitioners and clients, there has been relatively little attention paid to the professional relationships that are at the center…

The topic of virtual reference has been a popular one in the past year, and this column highlights a range of those articles. Included are overviews of the topic, articles addressing specific technological solutions and concerns, and pieces that explore the intricacies of delivering and assessing a "traditional" service through a…

Marquette University, established in 1881, is a private Catholic, Jesuit institution located in the heart of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The university has a student population of more than 11,000 and more than 2,000 faculty and staff. In its effort to continually improve crime prevention and emergency preparedness Marquette's Department of Public…

Many colleges offer a summer bridge program and even more offer learning communities for first-year students. Few, however, link these initiatives. This article will offer brief descriptions of IUPUI's successful bridge, learning community, and themed learning community (TLC) initiatives; examine the links between them; and share assessment data,…

Response-to-Intervention (RtI), a framework for improving academic and behavioral outcomes for all students, can be viewed as a current example of an educational change initiative. Given the difficulties that some schools may be experiencing when implementing RtI effectively, it is important to examine prior educational change conceptualizations…

This study reexamined published research on school counseling in Alabama to consider the ongoing issues with role ambiguity in the field. In addition, baseline data were collected to determine and to report the status of school counseling (i.e., in regard to counseling versus noncounseling activities and duties) after the implementation of the…

In August and September 2005, two violent hurricanes--Katrina and Rita--hit Louisiana. Hundreds of thousands of residents were relocated to temporary living communities, where most of the economically poor remain today. This state's largest trailer community, "Renaissance Village," was erected almost overnight in a cow pasture in Baker,…

Rising middle level students face many new situations when they enter middle school. Stress is not uncommon for new students in any grade, but it is most acute during middle level years when students are dealing with the rapidly changing physical characteristics and emotions associated with early adolescence. The community of adults at a middle…

Objective: To assess the cost-effectiveness of two alternate forms of Family Connections (FC), a child neglect prevention program, in relation to changes in risk and protective factors and improvements in child safety and behavioral outcomes. Methods: In the original FC study, a sample of 154 families (473 children) in a poor, urban neighborhood,…

Walking today through Somerville, Massachusetts' Winter-Hill Community School during school hours differs markedly compared with just a few years ago. Gone are the greasy potato chips and chocolate-chip cookies from the a la carte offerings in the cafeteria. Missing are the late morning fundraisers when children would fill up on cupcakes and other…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between perceived employee training effectiveness and job satisfaction, motivation and commitment. Design/methodology/approach: The study examined the responses of 134 employees and lower managers, of five large Greek organizations, after they had completed a training program.…