In 2019, the Texas legislature passed a historic education finance bill that included an initiative to add up to 30 days to the school-year calendar. One way districts can do this is to offer a voluntary summer learning program. In 2020, the American Institutes for Research, with support from The Wallace Foundation, launched the six-year Texas…

The present study utilized Stuffle beam's (2017) Context, Input, Process, and Product(CIPP) model of program evaluation, to evaluate the All Pro Dad program. The purpose of the evaluation was to determine whether All Pro Dad met the goal of the North Texas public-school district which was to increase involvement of fathers and father figures. The…

Learning centers and academic support programs are often idealized entities campuses look to for student success, retention, and engagement. By untethering our thinking about program boundaries, identities, and alliances and radically reforming, we can generate interest, passion, and opportunities across campus. The force of redistributing…

While game-based assessment offers new potential for understanding the processes students use to solve problems, it also presents new challenges in uncovering which player actions provide evidence that contributes to understanding about students' knowledge, skill, and attributes that we are interested in assessing. A development process that…

Increasingly, criminal justice practitioners have been called on to help solve breaches in cyber security. However, while the demand for criminal justice participation in cyber investigations increases daily, most universities are lagging in their educational and training opportunities for students entering the criminal justice fields. This…

In the 21st century economic landscape, many argue the importance of a college degree, as entry into many occupations now requires advanced credentials. Pursuing a college degree costs time and money, often presenting barriers to those pursuing the dream. Prior learning assessment (PLA) offers a solution to spend less time and money earning a…

Developmental Education is the gateway to higher education for the thousands of students who desire to attend college but lack the prerequisite academic skills to be successful. In recent years, DE has been cast into unfavorable light by national policy organizations composed of wealthy entrepreneurs and philanthropists, and the result has. been a…

The problem that was addressed in this qualitative case study was that student retention and graduation rates at community colleges have been affected by the lack of support provided to students during their academic careers. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain an understanding of how administrators perceived they were acting in…

Teachers' problem-based learning knowledge, abilities, and attitudes are important factors in successful K--12 PBL implementations. This article describes the development and use of a free, online module entitled "Design a Problem-Based Learning Experience." The module production, aligned with theories of andragogy, was a partnership…

Students who struggle to read on grade level by the end of third grade are less likely to make academic progress and graduate before the age of 19. The district leaders in a suburban district in Texas were interested in determining the root cause of stagnant reading standardized test scores. After determining the root cause, a lack of a…

Using research focused on best practices, focus group information, and data analytics, the Title V: Focus on Student Success (FOSS) Grant created a model for the development, implementation, and evaluation of a summer bridge program. Results included increased academic performance indicators in first-year Hispanic college students. Validation for…

Summer bridge programs support post-secondary success by providing intensive, short-term academic and social resources while introducing college expectations and the cultural contexts of the institution. They typically are offered in the summer between high school graduation and the first term of college and vary in content, program size and…

"The Mentoring Toolkit 2.0: Resources for Developing Programs for Incarcerated Youth" provides information, program descriptions, and links to important resources that can assist juvenile correctional facilities and other organizations to design effective mentoring programs for neglected and delinquent youth, particularly those who are…

Due to age-related factors and illnesses, older adults may become vulnerable to elder investment fraud and financial exploitation (EIFFE). The authors describe the development and preliminary evaluation of an educational program to raise awareness and assist clinicians in identifying older adults at risk. Participants (n = 127) gave high ratings…

The English Language and Literacy Acquisition--Validation (ELLA-V) study was a five-year evaluation of a program that provided professional development, coaching, and curricula that targeted English-as-a-second-language (ESL) instruction for teachers of K-3 English learners (ELs). ELLA-V was implemented in 10 school districts in Texas in the…