This article shares the results from a quasi-experimental mixed-methods study of a promising transition-focused professional development approach. The 12-week team-based intervention resulted in positive outcomes among intervention group participants' knowledge and capacities. The intervention group exhibited statistically significant changes in…

High-quality career and technical education (CTE) and work-based learning opportunities can support students along a pathway to credential attainment, employment and upward economic mobility through intentional skill development and experiential learning. CTE concentration in high school can increase graduation rates while helping students build…

To reach first-generation Extension families and combat barriers faced by Native American youths, North Dakota State University Extension has been involved in the national mentoring program 4-H Youth and Families with Promise (YFP). In the program's fourth year, we conducted ripple effect mapping to explore changes in the schools and communities…

The National Math + Science Initiative (NMSI) is a nonprofit organization committed to improving educational outcomes that traces its roots back to the early 1990s. NMSI's College Readiness Program (CRP) is a long-standing program with the goal of promoting STEM education in high schools to improve students' preparation for college. The three-year…

The purpose of this study was to describe how states in the REL Central Region (Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming) evaluate teacher preparation programs and planned changes for evaluation. Publicly available documents were reviewed and interviews were conducted with state education agency representatives…

Dwindling public funding as well as greater competition for grant dollars create a challenge for Extension. For Extension to remain a financially viable organization, educators have to be able to produce substantive, measurable program outcomes and impacts. Evaluative data can inform program development and delivery, and helps administrators…

Universities across the nation have been called upon to provide evidence of student learning through direct means of assessment. Value-added assessment, which aims to document the development of student learning from the beginning of the university experience to the end, has been called "accountability's new frontier" by the American…

The Great-Plains IDEA Gerontology Program is a graduate program developed and implemented by the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (Great Plains IDEA). The Great Plains IDEA (Alliance) originated as a consortium of Colleges of Human Sciences ranging across the central United States. This Alliance's accomplishments have included…

Faculty development programs in Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota, which were funded by the Bush Foundation, are described. Activities include advising, curriculum development and course review, department reviews, grants, humanistic studies, internships and interdisciplinary teaching, journals, leave supplements, master teachers,…

Focusing on program development and evaluation, this document presents the summative evaluation of the community development component of the Mountain-Plains Career Education Model IV, a residential, family-based education program developed to improve the economic potential and lifestyle of selected student families in a six-state area. The report…

First-year evaluation of the Career Education Plus (CE+) project at Minot High School (North Dakota) was conducted. CE+ is an alternative educational program that provides career education learning opportunities for students in grades 9 and 10. Generalized project objectives were as follows: to provide for competencies in basic skills; to enhance…

Intended for researchers, scholars, and policy makers who are interested in family-oriented education programs for disadvantaged groups, this monograph examines the Mountain-Plains Career Education Model IV, a residential, family-based education program developed to improve the economic potential and lifestyle of selected student families in a…

Reported here is the external summative evaluation of the Mountain-Plains program, a residential, family-based education program developed to improve the economic potential and lifestyle of selected student families in a six-state region. (For the internal summative evaluation see CE 014 682-684.) To determine the program's success in…

This document is the first of two volumes describing the activities of the Tri-State Parenting Collaborative (TSPC) Project, conducted in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota during the period from 1977 through 1982. The TSPC linked state education agencies, universities, local schools, community groups, and an education development center in…

SUGGESTIONS ARE MADE FOR EVALUATION AND FOR MORE EFFECTIVE USE OF THE FACILITIES OF THE LOCAL SCHOOL IN PROVIDING BETTER THAN AVERAGE STUDENTS WITH CHALLENGING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES. THE TERM GIFTED DESCRIBES THE STUDENT WHO IS SUPERIOR IN EITHER INTELLECT, TALENT, SKILLFULNESS, OR LEADERSHIP ABILITY. EACH OF THE TYPES OF GIFTEDNESS HAS…