The article illustrates how the South Africa-Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development (SANPAD), a doctoral research preparation programme for candidates on the African continent, evolved from an aid programme to an exemplary model of innovation, namely SANTRUST, an ownership-driven partnership within the framework of…

Geographical, economic, social and cultural barriers to accessing services in rural areas are widely reported. Less widely discussed are dilemmas posed by individual and community reluctance to address sensitive health issues. This article, focusing on the highly sensitive area of mental health, and employing a participatory action approach,…

Faced with rising demand for information about early childhood programs, states need to find tools and strategies to monitor the progress of and to identify high-quality early childhood programs. In response, REL Mid-Atlantic convened a regional workgroup for state personnel who work with the systems containing early childhood data. The workgroup…

Despite the national proliferation of technical assistance as a driver for school reform and as a model for embedded and sustained professional development, very little is known about the organizational structures and processes needed to support technical assistance. The purpose of this paper is to describe a structured needs assessment process…

In recent years, a large number of schools around the country have implemented schoolwide positive behavior support (SWPBS; Sugai & Horner, 2006). Because of the increasing use of this model of support, research examining the factors associated with implementation is needed. The purpose of this investigation was to document and contextualize…

Although many researchers and policy analysts (e.g., Harris, Glazerman et al., 2011; 2010) consider value-added to be the state of the art in school and teacher productivity measurement, only a minority of Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) Round 1 and 2 grantees used value-added as a measure of school or teacher performance. Fourteen of the 34 grantees…

Response to Intervention (RTI) is an instructional framework through which schools can provide early intervention for students experiencing academic and behavioral difficulties. It is also promoted as an alternative to the IQ-discrepancy model for identifying students with learning disabilities. Most states have developed, or are developing,…

Problems relating to cooperative efforts between universities and government are considered, and an approach used in the Kellogg Public Service Research Program at the University of California, Davis, is described. This program facilitates collaborative research on policy issues and also information dissemination between the university and public…

Check & Connect was created in a five year period from 1990 to 1995. The original manual, entitled "Keeping Kids in School: Using Check & Connect for Dropout Prevention" and written by David Evelo, Mary Sinclair, Christine Hurley, Sandra Christenson, and Martha Thurlow, was published in 1996 (ED398701). This newly revised Check…

Drawing upon the perspective of the policy sciences and a cross-disciplinary background, the author presents an integrated model of information-producing research activities that feed into various parts of the decision-making process. This model incorporates evaluation, needs assessments, policy analysis, training and technical assistance, and…

A product of the Kansas Planning and Community Development (CD) Division within the Kansas Department of Economic Division, the Kansas CD Assistance Pilot Project was created to meet the more technical needs of small and principally rural communities (up to 20,000 in population). Funded from July 1, 1974 through October 31, 1975, the Project…

Activities undertaken by the Center for Vocational, Technical, and Adult Education (CVTAE) in Wisconsin for 1978-79 continued efforts in five major areas: needs assessment, professional development, evaluation, research, and dissemination of research and activities. Needs assessment activities (1) developed a model process for a displaced…

Concerns regarding the regulation of family day home care led to a National Conference on Family Day Homes, the proceedings of which appear in this document. Co-sponsored by Texas and the Association for Regulatory Administration, the conference was intended to enable the exchange of ideas and information, identify research issues, and develop…

The dissemination of technical information to the third world has been the backbone of first world development efforts in the past decade. This paper examines traditional dissemination-utilization technology transfer models, discusses the meanings and manifestations of development, and points to problems caused by the one-way flow of information…

Development and use of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) and its instruments in the Netherlands, Flanders (Belgium), and the United Kingdom are reviewed, with emphasis on the validity of the developmental theory behind it. The CBAM appears to make it possible to offer schools assistance in dealing with change. (SLD)