This historical study chronicles the creation, development, and termination of the Midwestern Conference on School Vocal and Instrumental Music, hosted by the University of Michigan between 1946 and 2005. Beginning as a band music reading session led by William Revelli in 1936, the conference developed into a premier professional workshop by the…

This profile presents New Jersey City University's Writing Assessment Program from its creation in 2002 to its elimination in 2017. The program arose as an attempt to raise the writing skills of the diverse, first generation teacher certification candidates in the College of Education. Despite political missteps, the program gained greater…

The corruption of the social work enterprise is not simply episodic but systemic and long-standing including education, research, governance, and practice. Reform is unlikely since the constituency within the field and outside of it that wishes to change the situation is small and ineffective. The corruption of social work reflects the unfortunate…

Alberta Education has been engaged in reviews and reforms of special education, and attempting to describe and move toward more inclusive ways of supporting students with disabilities since 2008. These efforts have, at times, resulted in more progressive and inclusive education policies and, at times, seemed somewhat halting. The obstacle to…

In order to meet the South Dakota Board of Regents requirements for an upper level writing course with global perspective for all graduates, the administration at the University of South Dakota established an interdisciplinary course to be taken by all majors. Two faculty members from different disciplines were assigned to teach each section with…

Saint Joseph's University, a small comprehensive university, implemented a one-credit capstone project for the mathematics major beginning in 2002. After expansion to three credits in 2007, the capstone, although successful, had unintended consequences. In 2010, for both programmatic and practical reasons, the department decided to remove the…

Three big-city districts--Chicago, Milwaukee, and New York--have terminated federal grants aimed at promoting performance-based compensation plans and professional development for teachers and principals. Overall, the 2010 Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grants to the three districts would have provided an $88 million payout over five years--nearly 7…

Bradford College, located 35 miles north of Boston in Haverhill, Massachusetts, was exactly the type of institution in greatest jeopardy of closing. It was too small, with an enrollment that never exceeded five hundred students. Such institutions tend to have high attrition rates because they have limited numbers of courses, majors, facilities,…

In spring 1999, the Open University (OU) of the United Kingdom created the U.S. Open University (USOU) to coincide with the explosive growth of online education in the United States. The institution's first chancellor, Richard S. Jarvis (previously chancellor of the University and Community College System of Nevada), began hiring U.S. staff and…