A year-long collaborative action research project used networked technologies to connect researchers at a university-based online professional development program and a group of practitioner researchers based in a range of schools and educational agencies in several countries. They studied the process and effects of online professional development…

Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) researchers visited 38 public high schools around the United States in 2007 and 2008 with the goal of validating and operationalizing a definition of college readiness. Schools in the sample were selected because they were demonstrating success at enabling more students from underrepresented groups to…

Three case studies of interorganizational arrangements between public school districts and a college/university are used to illustrate how a state higher education agency (the Massachusetts Board of Regents of Higher Education) promoted voluntary, lateral relationships to strengthen local school educational programs. A within-case analysis…

The Western Massachusetts Five College/Public School Partnership was organized to strengthen communication and share resources among the schools in western Massachusetts and the members of a higher education consortium called Five Colleges, Inc. (comprising Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts…

This study examined the experiences of six schools that used the process of data-based inquiry and decision making (DBDM) and the effects of this process on their schoolwide practices. The six schools, all in Massachusetts, were studied by the Center for Collaborative Education, an organization that promotes whole school change through…

This paper describes the implementation of an innovative integrated approach to the delivery of services for disadvantaged youth in Massachusetts, and examines the fiscal, political, and organizational factors that led to its subsequent demise. Massachusetts was one of the first states to envision and implement a statewide system of coordinated…

The authors' experiences with electronic bulletin boards are recounted. Begun in 1986, the Physics Forum bulletin board for Massachusetts high school physics teachers spent its first few years as a resource of limited use only. In 1989, however, the National Science Foundation awarded the Five Colleges/Western Massachusetts Partnership a grant…

Parents and professionals in rural Massachusetts collaborated on a project designed to integrate children with behaviors associated with autism and pervasive developmental disorders into a community elementary school. This paper describes implementation of program features for 11 autistic children. Features of the program include family and…

The Tech Prep West Project, established in 1991, brought together three Massachusetts community colleges, seven secondary vocational schools, and one comprehensive high school to develop an alternative college preparation pathway for students, leading from the junior year of high school to an associate degree and employment in a specific career…

This comprehensive report of the pre-White House Massachusetts Governor's Conference on Libraries and Information Services includes background and planning information, a summary of events and speeches at the conference, and the resolutions resulting from the conference. Participants were predominantly lay people with some representatives of the…

The Office of Educational Research and Improvement funded nine projects exploring whether partnerships could help improve teacher education and induction. It created consortia of state education agencies, state agencies of higher education, teacher education colleges, and local school districts to collaborate on improving teacher education and…

The purpose of the American Association for the Advancement of Agricultural Teaching, as stated in its constitution, is "to promote the teaching of agriculture and to devise ways and means for increasing the efficiency of such instruction in elementary and secondary schools and in colleges and universities." The time is opportune perhaps…

Factors promoting or detracting from the effectiveness of collaborative projects between colleges and schools were investigated. Of concern were three projects undertaken collaboratively between a four-year state college in Massachusetts and the local public schools during a 2-year period. The In-service Project provided opportunities for teachers…