A mixed methods convergent evaluation informed the redesign of an innovative public school that uses an accelerated model to serve grades 7-9 students who have been retained in grade level and are at risk for dropping out of school. After over 25 years in operation, a shift of practices/policies away from grade retention and toward social…

Collaboration is tough even in ideal circumstances. How do you begin to effect change when nearly half of the families in a district speak a language other than English in the home, but traditional education models rarely emphasize the strengths of cultural or linguistic diversity? Or when nearly all students live in low-income families and face…

Eight school districts in Rhode Island formed the East Bay Professional Learning Community to launch a joint effort to develop a culture of assessment literacy through ongoing professional learning focused on team-specific action plans tightly aligned to school, district, and state initiatives. To accomplish this, the districts pooled their…

What happens when teams from 57 cities building afterschool systems gather to discuss two key system responsibilities--improving afterschool programs and using data for informed decision-making? Lots of rich discussion. This report covers a national afterschool conference held in February 2013. It details what mayors, program providers, system…

From June 1973 to June 1975 the development and implementation of a Model K-14 career education program was attempted in the North Kingstown Schools in Rhode Island. Project objectives included the development of career and self-awareness, provisions for exploratory and work experiences, provisions for job placement at graduation, and provisions…

In an era of prolific funding for varied small-school models, there is a growing emphasis on schools that alter the landscape of educational design. Some of these models attempt to redesign schools to place students at the center of learning and provide powerful examples of very different ways of thinking about teaching and learning (some examples…

The evaluation report addresses a two-year effort of an originally planned three-year project designed to plan, pilot test, and implement a K-14 career education program into the North Kingstown, Rhode Island public schools. During the two years of the project, administrative and community support diminished until funding for the third and final…

This guide provides educators with information about developing partnerships with businesses. It begins with a rationale for forging education-business relationships and highlights benefits to all parties--educators, businesses, and students. The Rhode Island Tech Prep Associate Degree Program is cited as an example of how to create win-win…

This program guide for educators outlines how the tech prep program has evolved in Rhode Island, the type of students most likely to benefit from the program, and how the program works. It begins with tech prep success stories, tech prep associate degree activity timeline, and director of Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) Tech Prep…

This student handbook begins with an introduction to and rationale for the Rhode Island Tech Prep Associate Degree Program. Tech prep student success stories are followed by two sections that discuss why the student needs a tech prep program and what the Rhode Island Tech Prep Associate Degree Program is. Benefits that tech prep students enjoy are…

The Rhode Island Tech Prep Associate Degree Program is a statewide partnership between the Community College of Rhode Island, 70 percent of the high schools in the state, and the business community. It targets students enrolled in unfocused general education programs in high schools and involves them in an applied course of study in mathematics,…

This implementation guide contains information based on experiences that occurred during the development and implementation of the Rhode Island Tech Prep Model. It is intended to assist educators in addressing challenges and obstacles faced by the program early in the planning process. It begins with a rationale for tech prep. Rhode Island…