Improving the education of looked after children : a guide for local authorities and service providers

This guide for practice is based on the key findings of research of Scottish Government-funded pilot projects in 18 Scottish local authorities carried out by the University of Strathclyde between 2006 and 2008. The guide focuses on four aspects of practice: raising the profile of looked after children; monitoring educational outcomes; advice on setting up a project with the aim of raising the educational attainment and achievement of looked after children; focusing on achievement and aspiration

ICOPER Project - Deliverable 4.3 ISURE: Recommendations for extending effective reuse, embodied in the ICOPER CD&R

The purpose of this document is to capture the ideas and recommendations, within and beyond the ICOPER community, concerning the reuse of learning content, including appropriate methodologies as well as established strategies for remixing and repurposing reusable resources. The overall remit of this work focuses on describing the key issues that are related to extending effective reuse embodied in such materials. The objective of this investigation, is to support the reuse of learning content whilst considering how it could be originally created and then adapted with that ‘reuse’ in mind. In these circumstances a survey on effective reuse best practices can often provide an insight into the main challenges and benefits involved in the process of creating, remixing and repurposing what we are now designating as Reusable Learning Content (RLC). Several key issues are analysed in this report: Recommendations for extending effective reuse, building upon those described in the previous related deliverables 4.1 Content Development Methodologies and 4.2 Quality Control and Web 2.0 technologies. The findings of this current survey, however, provide further recommendations and strategies for using and developing this reusable learning content. In the spirit of ‘reuse’, this work also aims to serve as a foundation for the many different stakeholders and users within, and beyond, the ICOPER community who are interested in reusing learning resources. This report analyses a variety of information. Evidence has been gathered from a qualitative survey that has focused on the technical and pedagogical recommendations suggested by a Special Interest Group (SIG) on the most innovative practices with respect to new media content authors (for content authoring or modification) and course designers (for unit creation). This extended community includes a wider collection of OER specialists. This collected evidence, in the form of video and audio interviews, has also been represented as multimedia assets potentially helpful for learning and useful as learning content in the New Media Space (See section 4 for further details). Section 2 of this report introduces the concept of reusable learning content and reusability. Section 3 discusses an application created by the ICOPER community to enhance the opportunities for developing reusable content. Section 4 of this report provides an overview of the methodology used for the qualitative survey. Section 5 presents a summary of thematic findings. Section 6 highlights a list of recommendations for effective reuse of educational content, which were derived from thematic analysis described in Appendix A. Finally, section 7 summarises the key outcomes of this work

Kansas: Baseline Report - State Level Field Network Study of the Implementation of the Affordable Care Act

This report is part of a series of 21 state and regional studies examining the rollout of the ACA. The national network ---- with 36 states and 61 researchers ---- is led by the Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York, the Brookings Institution, and the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania.The Kansas report highlights the diverse approaches to implementation taken by elected officials including Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger, Governor Sam Brownback, and the Kansas Legislature. The political landscape changed this year when Commissioner Praeger decided not to seek re-election. Her replacement, Commissioner-Elect Ken Selzer, has expressed opposition to the ACA

An evaluation of the Sycamore Tree programme: based on an analysis of Crime Pics II data

Sheffield Hallam University, in conjunction with Manchester Metropolitan University, were commissioned to undertake an evaluation of the Sycamore Tree programme by Prison Fellowship England and Wales, who have been delivering the programme across a wide range of prisons throughout England and Wales over a number of years. This current evaluation builds on a previous report published by Sheffield Hallam University in 2005 which undertook a similar analysis and identified a positive impact on prisoners who had successfully completed the programme

Developing a Performance Assessment System From the Ground Up: Lessons Learned From Three Linked Learning Pathways

This document is designed to offer practitioners -- teachers, principals, and central office administrators -- models, tools, and examples from the Linked Learning field for developing a performance assessment system. This document describes the challenges and successes practitioners encountered when developing and implementing authentic performance-based assessment practices and systems in Linked Learning pathways as well as the conditions that enabled this work. It is the product of a 1-year study of three grade-level teams, located in three different Linked Learning pathways across California. These teams participated in a 2-year performance assessment demonstration project led by ConnectEd and Envision

SUPPORT Tools for evidence-informed health Policymaking (STP) 10: Taking equity into consideration when assessing the findings of a systematic review

This article is part of a series written for people responsible for making decisions about health policies and programmes and for those who support these decision makers