Rural schools have repeatedly been subjected to standardizing state and federal education policies that seek to minimize variance in instructional systems and increase the number of college- and career-ready graduates. The Race to the Top policy agenda combined standards-based and accountability-based reforms to meet these objectives and once…

We investigate 10th-grade Latinx and African American high school students' engagement in a reform-oriented curriculum designed to foster their critical social analysis of urban schooling. Students' designs of "ideal schools" based on their studies of their neighborhoods largely reproduced existing inequitable structures and practices of…

As the adoption and execution of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have steadily increased, the debate community is presented with an opportunity to be more forward thinking and sustainable through the translation to curriculum planning and next-generation assessment as a movement towards Performance-Based Assessments. This paper focuses on…

This study of a County in New York State gathered information about the means for teaching the intermediate science curriculum in middle schools. The study collected 43 surveys and conducted ten follow-up interviews with administrators responsible for curriculum. Data included the division of content among grade level, starting grade level,…

The Wallace Foundation is funding a multiyear demonstration project to determine whether voluntary, district summer learning programs can stem summer learning loss for low-income students. Six districts--Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Duval County (Florida), Pittsburgh, and Rochester, New York--were selected for the demonstration project and…

For the nearly 39 million U.S. adults who do not have a high school diploma, the General Educational Development (GED) programs and exam have served as the main avenue for improving individuals' skills and helping them earn a high school credential. However, few students who start these programs ever get this credential, and even fewer advance to…

Quality improvement (QI) initiatives are critical in the care of older adults who are more vulnerable to substandard care. QI education meets aspects of core Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education competencies and prepares learners for the rising focus on performance measurement in health care. The authors developed, implemented, and…

New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg and school's Chancellor Joel Klein made the creation of new schools an essential part of their Children First reform policy. In September 2002, 13 high schools opened replacing the lowest performing large high schools throughout the City. As of 2010, more than 400 new district and charter schools are in…

This article represents an example of how supervision of instruction can be an integral part of a coherent plan for district-wide reform. The author argues that instructional changes can be most effective if introduced in a system that has first put in place the personnel and structures needed to support them. The article highlights the role of…

Middle school, which is generally thought of as sixth to eighth grades, is not easy for anybody. It is a rough time to be a student, and a tough age to teach. Teachers are expected to ease the transition of students from elementary to middle school. However, if you are an elementary teacher, you may not know what kids will be facing in middle…

Native American students find sources of strength in their families, communities, and culture. This article reviews the experiences of 26 Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) college graduates who lived in residence halls while enrolled in college. These students obtained college educations while remaining culturally centered by going home often, some said…

The purpose of this research is to illustrate how Fordham University, the Jesuit University of New York, repositioned its Executive MBA Program and reinvented its brand, over a ten year period. More specifically, this research will analyze the current state of the Executive MBA market and will discuss the best practices and frameworks implemented…

Described are characteristics of the school improvement planning and implementation efforts made in the 47 New York State schools that were identified as low-performing in 1985. This report identifies the aspects of the school improvement process which were completed, and offers recommendations concerning appropriate actions for all schools. Data…

The documents enclosed in this report provide a comprehensive and systematic review of the progress made in developing a network organization capable of supporting nanoscience education for the public on a national scale. There is a logic to the studies that were done and to the reports that are included in this notebook. The following are the…

English as a second language (ESL) programs in community colleges are as diverse in the models they follow as the students they serve. This volume provides a detailed look at how faculty and administrators are tailoring their ESL programs to best serve the needs of their students and the missions of their institutions. The authors of the thirteen…