Virginia Gordon contributed considerable and comprehensive work in the field of academic advising, including writings on topics ranging from the history of academic advising to her groundbreaking research on the undecided student population. Her model for training and developing new academic advisors stood out as exemplary. This article focuses on…

Due to the shortage in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce, it is imperative to inspire K12 students to pursue STEM disciplines. Materials and advanced manufacturing (M&AM), an important industry for the U.S. economy, requires a STEM knowledgeable workforce. To address the shortage while increasing awareness…

Something unprecedented is happening in Ohio. The state's economy and workforce needs are surging in what can be described as a growing COVID-endemic economy. As local, national, and global economies begin to rebound, it would be remiss not to ask whether preK-12 student success, as supported by excellent, innovative teaching and learning, is…

Background/Context: Instructional policy aims to shift the nature of teaching and learning. Decades of policy studies have highlighted the challenges inherent in these aims and the conditions necessary to support such change, including a robust infrastructure to support teacher learning. Further, teachers themselves must perceive and experience…

Background/Context: Instructional policy aims to shift the nature of teaching and learning. Decades of policy studies have highlighted the challenges inherent in these aims and the conditions necessary to support such change, including a robust infrastructure to support teacher learning. Further, teachers themselves must perceive and experience…

Background/Context: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) requires that all students with disabilities (SWD) receive a free, appropriate public education designed to meet their unique needs to prepare them for post-school education and employment (American Psychological Association, 2018). In the past two decades, momentum…

Background/Context: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) requires that all students with disabilities (SWD) receive a free, appropriate public education designed to meet their unique needs to prepare them for post-school education and employment (American Psychological Association, 2018). In the past two decades, momentum…

The research partnership among university faculty, information technology graduate students, and science content experts from school districts developed the Web-based two-dimensional and three-dimensional virtual reality science games. The games were implemented to engage middle school students in learning, retaining, and applying newly acquired…

Requiring teachers to complete a performance-based assessment in the form of a teacher performance assessment is becoming a common way for initial teacher licensure or advancing a license. While some traditionally- and alternatively-licensed teachers from all content areas may have to complete some type of performance-based assessment for initial…

The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), examines through four lines of study to determine how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's…

Background: Inclusive STEM (traditionally known to stand for "Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math") high schools are emerging across the country as a mechanism for improving STEM education and getting more and diverse students into STEM majors and careers. However, there is no consensus on what these schools are or should be,…

Using state-representative teacher surveys in three states--Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky--we examine teachers' implementation of college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards. What do teachers report about the specificity, authority, consistency, power, and stability of their standards environment? How does their policy environment predict…

Using state-representative teacher surveys in three states--Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky--we examine teachers' implementation of college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards. What do teachers report about the specificity, authority, consistency, power, and stability of their standards environment? How does their policy environment predict…

For decades, classroom instruction was dominated by lectures, textbooks and note-taking. And for decades, students have often been bored and unengaged. They took notes and did what they had to do to memorize lessons just long enough to pass an exam. But short-term memorization does not help much in preparing students for college, advanced training…

This newsletter of best practices in implementing the High Schools That Work (HSTW), Making Middle Grades Work (MMGW) and Technology Centers That Work (TCTW) school improvement models is based on presentations at the 27th Annual HSTW Staff Development Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the summer of 2013. The newsletter is divided up into…