Home education support groups and associations are increasingly becoming hubs for home learning communities to share resources and knowledge. This literature review examined (a) motivations for joining homeschool groups; (b) values and beliefs that led to the formation of homeschool groups; and (c) how the culture of homeschool groups aids in…

The Chicago International Charter School (CICS) Irving Park's middle school is one of 130 schools nationwide piloting the Summit Learning Program (SLP), developed--and offered entirely free--by Summit Public Schools, a high-performing charter network based in California. Summit's eight schools, two of them in Washington State, are known for an…

One factor that may facilitate a successful reunification of children in foster care with their parents--or failing that, provide an alternate route to permanency through adoption or guardianship--is children's connections with extended family. However, because foster care frequently disrupts social connections, practitioners may need to take…

This document was produced by the authors based on their research for the report, "Family Finding Evaluations: A Summary of Recent Findings. Publication #2015-01," and is an added resource for further information. The report reviews the results from 13 evaluations of Family Finding. The Family Finding model provides child welfare…

As the University of California continues to face unprecedented challenges--from state disinvestment, to attempts by the legislature to wrest control of the university, to disruption brought on by new technology, to concerns, valid or otherwise, about the value of college--university leaders must return to fundamental questions about the purposes…

"Collaboration for Student Transfer: A Nationwide Degree Qualifications Profile Experiment" highlights key lessons learned from AAC&U's Quality Collaboratives project. It focuses on learning outcomes assessment and faculty leadership in the context of increased rates of student mobility and transfer. The project sought to build the…

This article provides leaders and educational developers of Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTL) with innovative and practical strategies on how to increase their centers' capacity and impact by focusing on quality, efficiency, and cost. This "good, fast, cheap" model represents a promising way that CTL can continue to grow, scale,…

Although competency-based education (CBE) has existed since the early 1970s adult-focused degree programs, interest in CBE has spiked in recent years due to the increased attention on higher education affordability and accountability. This article reviews the extant literature on CBE to address the following questions: (a) What are the definitions…

This report constructs a model public agenda to address the mounting challenges facing California higher education. It is intended to inspire broad discussion potentially leading to an official public agenda for California higher education. The report describes some of the structural barriers that are preventing more dramatic progress in meeting…

When Rocketship Education, a pioneering, rapidly expanding charter school network, looked at its results, it could have rested on its laurels. With seven schools in California together ranking as the top public school system for low-income elementary students, Rocketship had proof that its blended-learning model--combining online learning with…

As resources for health promotion become more constricted, it is increasingly important to collaborate across sectors, including the private sector. Although many excellent models for cross-sector collaboration have shown promise in the health field, collective impact (CI), an emerging model for creating larger scale change, has yet to receive…

Universities develop strategic planning documents, and as part of that planning process, logic models are developed for specific programs within the university. This article examines the long-standing pecan program at New Mexico State University and the deficiencies and successes in the evolution of its logic model. The university's agricultural…

This report presents the results of a thorough study conducted by American Institutes for Research (AIR) to investigate the cost of providing an "adequate" education to California students attending public elementary, middle, and high schools. The study addresses the following question: "What is the cost of providing all California…

California community colleges have been inconsistent in their efforts to meet the program review and planning accreditation standards established by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). To assist colleges in their effort to meet the accreditation standards and to improve educational quality, the ACCJC developed the…

The goal of this research study has been to develop, implement, and evaluate a school reform design experiment at a continuation high school with low-income, low-performing underrepresented minority students. The complexity sciences served as a theoretical framework for this design experiment. Treating an innovative college preparatory program as…