This report evaluates the impact of intensive student support services provided by Communities in Schools of Kalamazoo (CISK) to elementary students of Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS). These intensive services typically follow a case-management format and include activities related to academic assistance, basic needs, enrichment/motivation, and…

Educational researchers regularly collect survey data from educators, but struggle to encourage survey completion in this busy population, particularly when surveys are web-based. In this study we experimentally investigated the usefulness of follow-up phone calls and increased monetary incentives to non-respondents as strategies to boost response…

Purpose: The fine-tuning of linguistic prosody in later childhood is poorly understood, and its neurological processing is even less well studied. In particular, it is unknown if grammatical processing of prosody is left- or rightlateralized in childhood versus adulthood and how phonological working memory might modulate such lateralization.…

Principals' efforts to support the implementation of interventions involve coordination among multiple actors in their social networks. However, less is known about how distinct features of these social networks are associated with principals' perceptions of the social validity of interventions. In this paper, we used Neal and Neal (Implement Sci…

We propose transaction cost economics theory as a tool for exploring when school administrators rely on information from two types of sources: internal sources like their own colleagues, and external sources like researchers and government agencies. The theory's application is illustrated in a comparative case study of two public school districts…

Measuring the use of research evidence (URE) by schools has become a central focus of education researchers. However, it has proven challenging due to low response rates, social desirability bias, and costly or time-consuming data collection methods. To overcome these challenges and meet the needs of research focused on URE, this paper introduces…

Despite growing interest in data visualization and graphically aided reporting, the evaluation literature could benefit from additional guidance on systematically integrating visual communication design and marketing into comprehensive communication strategies to improve data dissemination. This article describes the role of targeted communication…

In 2003, when it came to contracting out for common public school services, only outsourcing food provision could be considered a rather common occurrence in Michigan. There was good reason for this: school districts are prohibited from making a profit from their cafeteria, but any deficits created in providing food for students must be covered by…

Purpose: We apply diffusion of innovations theory to examine two key research questions designed to inform efforts to improve the research--practice gap in education: (1) Are there distinct types of educators that differ in their prioritization of the compatibility, observability, complexity, relative advantage, and trialability of research? and…

Qualitative data offer advantages to evaluators, including rich information about stakeholders' perspectives and experiences. However, qualitative data analysis is labor-intensive and slow, conflicting with evaluators' needs to provide punctual feedback to their clients. In this method note, we contribute to the literature on rapid evaluation and…

Regular physical activity is associated with improvements in overall health. Although resident involvement in neighborhood social activities is positively associated with physical activity, neighborhood design features, including residential density, have varied associations with physical activity. Using data from a multiethnic sample of 696…

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the "Walk Your Heart to Health" ("WYHH") intervention, one component of the multilevel Community Approaches to Cardiovascular Health: Pathways to Heart Health (CATCH:PATH) intervention designed to promote physical activity and reduce cardiovascular risk…

Problems have arisen with the Michigan Public Employment Relations Act, which allows collective bargaining for public employees, because the act does not extend the right to strike and has no provision for a final resolution of a bargaining impasse in the event that voluntary settlement is not achieved. Neither voluntary negotiation nor…