The Robert Bowne Foundation (RBF), which published "Afterschool Matters" from 2003 to 2008 and continues to fund the journal and related projects, is closing in December. "Afterschool Matters" sat down with Lena Townsend, executive director, to talk about RBF's legacy and continuing influence on literacy work in afterschool…

Since 2003, the Oral History Project Team has conducted interviews with individuals who have made particularly noteworthy contributions to the theory and practice of evaluation. In 2013, Mel Mark, Valerie Caracelli, and Miles McNall sat with Thomas Cook in Washington, D.C., during the American Evaluation Association (AEA) annual conference. The…

The Common Core State Standards have been adopted by 46 states and the District of Columbia. They enjoy a huge following of well-wishers and supporters who are optimistic that the standards will boost achievement in U.S. schools. Setting aside the cheerleading and fond hopes, what are the real chances of success? The most reasonable prediction is…

Responding to David Stoesz's invited article criticizing the Children's Bureau and the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI), the author's inaccurate assertions are challenged, and new information is provided about the significant work underway to support the child welfare workforce. The Children's Bureau has made historic investments…

Any organization with a comprehensive training program has a leadership development curriculum. These programs include everything from conventional classroom learning with guest speakers to high-tech simulations and lavish retreats. There also may be mentorship thrown in, as well as multiple job rotations. Despite the well-rounded curricula, many…

Educators frequently claim that the projects in which they are involved are democratic. However, considering the multiple and often conflicting notions of democracy and democratic education, are there any shared understandings of what either of those notions means? Does the claim that a project is democratic carry with it any shared assumptions,…

Joseph S. Wholey is Professor Emeritus in the University of Southern California's (USC) School of Public Policy, Planning, and Development. He received his BA from Catholic University, Phi Beta Kappa and his MA in mathematics and PhD in philosophy from Harvard University. His work focuses on the use of strategic planning, performance measurement,…

Those people involved in the professional development school (PDS) effort have arrived at a time in their brief history when PDS partnerships can break the status quo and become contemporary laboratories of innovation for ushering in change and a new era of PK-12 education integrated with teacher education. In this chapter, the author appreciates…

Over the past 7 years, the Oral History Project Team has conducted interviews with individuals who have made signal contributions to evaluation theory and practice, tracing their professional development and contextualizing their work within the social and political climates of the time. By capturing the professional evolution of those who have…

The papers in this dialogue help develop evaluation as a field (both in South Asia and other regions). What comes through in all of the papers is both humility of where evaluation is as a field and imagination and ambition of where evaluators could be in the near future. Reading the papers in this forum makes them enthusiastic about being…

Sam Hillyard's (2010) recent article has the value of highlighting the issue of theory development in interactionism, ethnography, and the sociology of education. It also reminds of a fruitful, and unique, research programme in educational research that stretched from the early 1960s into the 1990s. However, in the author's view Hillyard's…

Sowcik and Allen's paper, "Getting Down to Business: A Look at Leadership Education in Business Schools," identifies a number of compelling issues in improving leadership education in business schools and provides a thorough overview of how these efforts could benefit from the considerations present in the National Leadership Educators…

The Response to Intervention initiative is in danger of failing and being thrown on the ash heaps of countless education reform initiatives, but not because it is poorly structured, rather on account of poor implementation. Among the implementation mistakes are seven that can be watched for and avoided. (Contains 3 tables.)

Peer education on a college campus may be an ideal nexus for two imperatives facing higher education over the next decade: (1) an increasingly needy student population; and (2) a decreasing level of support for program growth. Despite its long history as a method of instruction, both in and out of the classroom, the benefits of peer education are…

Eleanor Chelimsky is an independent consultant for evaluation policy and practice and currently serves on the American Evaluation Association's (AEA) Evaluation Policy Task Force. This article talks about the professional development of Eleanor Chelimsky. This article presents an edited transcript of an interview wherein Eleanor highlights why she…