In this paper, I use the case study of mothering teens at an alternative school along U.S./Mexico border in Texas to explain how teacher practices and school structure are both equally important in creating a transformative educational experience for students who were disengaged from schooling. Through Bourdieuian theory (Bourdieu, 1990), this…

Public education's distinctive and primary challenge is to ensure all children, across all communities, have access to the skills and knowledge required for their full participation in democratically regulated social, cultural, and vocational life. This is an aspiration increasingly difficult to realize under present-day conditions of austerity in…

Video-based supplemental instruction (VSI) is a non-traditional course delivery system designed to improve developmental students' academic performance in difficult courses that typically have high failure and withdrawal rates. This paper describes the VSI model and examines data from VSI applications. (Contains 12 figures.)

This paper describes one instructor's experiences in teaching an introductory psychology course in a traditional college (Rhode Island College) setting and in the College's nontraditional Urban Educational Center. The students at the Center, which offered tuition-free enrollment classes in high school equivalency preparation, adult basic…

Proponents of school reform have argued that charter schools can provide adequate market pressure to improve the performance of traditional public schools. While the number of charter schools and their student enrollment have burgeoned, relatively little attention has been paid to their effects on student achievement. This paper focuses on student…

Outlined are the components of Project ADVANCE, a behavior modification program for severely emotionally disturbed children (14 to 20 years old); reported are results of a questionnaire sent to parents of children enrolled in Project ADVANCE; and summarized are data on the academic achievement of Project ADVANCE participants. Among the program…

This paper reports on the commitments to school of two groups of high school juniors and seniors: self-affiliated students who were responsible for the choice of the school they attended and compelled students who were forced by their parents to attend their school when they actively desired to attend another school. A sample of 19 compelled…

This report presents findings of an analytical study on student achievement in charter schools and the effect of state accountability regimes on charter-school performance. Data for the study were gathered from a literature review and test scores from 1999 to 2001 of both charter schools and regular public schools. The data were collected from…

This paper presents a proposal for a modified school choice program that may serve as a public policy compromise to the current politicized and entrenched choice or no-choice positions. The Three Year-Three Step Performance Guarantee involves both choice and vouchers. The use of vouchers, however, is not directed at reforming schools, but at…

The variables selected to explore some of the determinants of students' decisions to take or not to take mathematics include measures of one's expectancy for success in mathematics, measures of the incentive value of taking the courses, and measures of selected mediating variables. Seventh and ninth graders of both sexes were tested. Two…

Academic rigor is a topic that resides at the very core of the traditional conception of the academy. At the dawn of this new millennium, the popularity of new pedagogical beliefs and instructional strategies, such as constructivism and problem-based learning, and delivery methods, such as online distance education, make it clear that it is time…

The purpose of this study is to investigate facilitation in an online learning environment. The types of facilitation are examined using distance course students as subjects. Students' characteristics such as prior experience in distance courses, demographic attributes such as age, gender, and grades are incorporated as variables to explore their…

The myths, politics, and realities of public school choice in Canada are explored. With the crisis of confidence in the public education system that has been documented in recent years, parents are seeking to ensure academic success for their children through choice of schools, under the theory that there is no universal best school model. Public…

This two-year study involving five colleges and universities compared the academic achievement, as measured by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Major Field Achievement Test (MFAT) in Business of students in traditional undergraduate programs and those in non-traditional accelerated adult degree programs. The study also compared the subjects'…

Since the publication of "A Nation at Risk," curriculum leaders have been under increased pressure to make more prudent, informed decisions about allocating district resources that will directly or indirectly lead to increased student achievement. The decision-making process should include a thorough investigation of the best and most…