Beginning in 2002, The Chicago Community Trust embarked on an ambitious grant- making strategy to improve education outcomes primarily in the city of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois. Known as The Education Initiative, this effort focused on three priority grant areas: literacy, professional development, and alternative models of schools. In…

This study involved a one-time survey of first-year undergraduate students at a Canadian University to determine their expectations when beginning a writing intensive course (i.e., the so-called "W" course, which is required of all first-year undergraduates at the University of Manitoba.) In this study, we focused on the University's…

This manual was written to provide technical information regarding the 2002 Series GED (General Educational Development) Tests. Throughout this manual, documentation is provided regarding the development of the GED Tests, data collection activities, as well as reliability and validity evidence. The purpose of this manual is to provide evidence…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the actual implementation of Response to Intervention (RtI) was related to school psychologists' knowledge, district opportunities for RtI training within the school district, and school psychologists' attitudes toward RtI. The implementation and use of RtI was predicted to be dependent upon those…

Teacher turnover in urban schools is occurring at a breakneck pace; thus, it is important for us to understand the characteristics of teachers who stay and succeed in these settings. In order to address this need, this study examines the preparation and induction experiences of teachers who completed a Transition to Teaching- a funded urban…

This study of advanced readers in Reading First (RF) classrooms was part of a larger evaluation of one state's RF implementation. The study's purposes were to (a) assess the longitudinal growth of advanced primary readers as compared with their non-advanced-reading peers over a 3-year timeframe and (b) determine the degree to which RF classrooms…

Though research into academic library director leadership has established leadership skills and qualities required for success, little research has been done to establish where in their career library directors were most likely to acquire those skills and qualities. This research project surveyed academic library directors at Carnegie-designated…

Today's institutions of higher education are facing an increased number of significant challenges taking place in the political, economic, social and technological environment. Accordingly, the issues of performance, accountability, and marketing strategies have become ever more important. It has been suggested that universities that are more…

The Student Response to Faculty Instruction (SRFI) is an instrument designed to measure the student perspective on courses in higher education. The SRFI was derived from decades of empirical studies of student evaluations of teaching. This article describes the development of the SRFI and its psychometric attributes demonstrated in two pilot study…

In this research, we investigated the suitability of implementing "e-rater"® automated essay scoring in a high-stakes large-scale English language testing program. We examined the effectiveness of generic scoring and 2 variants of prompt-based scoring approaches. Effectiveness was evaluated on a number of dimensions, including agreement…

One of the major goals in the education and training of individuals with special needs is to prepare them for independence. However, in the Malaysian context, parents who have special adolescents are in doubt as to what would be the future of their children soon after they have finished the vocational training. This case study explores the…

A collaborative and knowledge sharing virtual activity on "Second Life" using a learner-centred teaching methodology was initiated between Temasek Polytechnic and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK PolyU) in the October 2011 semester. This paper highlights the author's experience in designing and implementing this e-learning…

This study assesses the influence of a two-year language program evaluation on program directors and faculty career development. The study makes use of mixed-paradigms (positivism and qualitative interpretive), mixed-strategies (survey research and qualitative evaluation), one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a post-hoc test of multiple…

This qualitative case study extends the literature on urban district instructional policymaking by analyzing the ways in which normative and political pressures shaped district leaders' instructional policy decisions. Drawing on concepts from the politics of education, it shows how teachers and principals repeatedly nullified policies that aimed…

The field of special education, and specifically the area of intellectual disabilities, has undergone dramatic changes in terminology, evaluation practices, service delivery models, expectations for learning, career development, and independent living opportunities. "Guidelines: Intellectual Disabilities in Educational Settings" is…