This report describes common and unique approaches that Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Midwest Region states have adopted in developing and implementing their quality rating and improvement systems (QRISs). A QRIS is a method for assessing, improving, and communicating the quality of early childhood education and care providers. The study…

Given recent increased attention to teacher evaluation, it is imperative to understand the expertise teachers need to educate students with severe disabilities. In this grounded theory study, the authors interviewed nine special education faculty who specialize in severe disabilities about the job-related skills and qualities exhibited by expert…

Teacher educators have an obligation to prepare preservice teachers with the skills and dispositions necessary to promote a socially just world. Yet the results of this study uncovered that the majority of elementary preservice teachers in a national sample (N = 846) have a simplistic perception of good citizenship consistent with what Westheimer…

Many layers of education governance press upon U.S. schools, so we separated state actors into those internal to and those external to the system. In the process, we unpacked the traditional state-local dichotomy. Using interview data (n = 45) from six case-study states, we analyzed local leaders', state-internal actors', and state-external…

The purpose of this qualitative case study is two-fold: (a) describe the implementation of a stop-motion animation video activity to support students' understanding of cell processes, and (b) present research findings about students' beliefs and use of iPads to support their creation of stop-motion videos in an introductory biology course. Data…

Through the use of narrative enquiry, this paper tells the story of how a kindergarten teacher in an all-girls' school incorporates family and community members' involvement to the construction of the congruent Third Space present in the classroom, and the ways the girls respond to this involvement, thereby providing a successful model for other…

This handbook documents the comprehensive evaluation and training system that is being used with Indiana's adult basic education programs. It consists of a set of instruments to assess the effectiveness of ABE programs and a series of workshops to train program providers to carry out the evaluation. Two introductory sections contain a guide to the…