The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) administration identified the need for adequate and proactive advising programs to foster student success. This paper presents a review of "best practices" in advising to determine commonalities, provides a comparison with current VCCS advising practices, and offers recommendations that…

Immigrant and refugee youth who enter the United States during their secondary school years face a daunting set of challenges. In addition to learning a new language and adjusting to U.S. classroom norms, they must quickly fill gaps in their subject-matter knowledge and pass the courses required to graduate high school before aging out of the…

The primary task of the educational leader is to assure high quality learning environments for all students. Research (Gordon, 2004; Sparks, 2007) supports the proposition that effective professional development contributes to instructional improvement by building educator capacity. Much of the research on professional development focuses in…

Innovation may best be considered as reinvention rather than invention. This observation is supported by a gradually accelerating change in "how" professional learning and development (PLD) for education practitioners and leaders is being offered, designed, facilitated, and evaluated. The reinvention of PLD includes shifts towards…

Grantmakers for Education's Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking identify "innovation" and "constant learning" as a core proposition for achieving results in education philanthropy. To illustrate this principle, "Learning by Doing" examines the Noyce Foundation's efforts to apply new information to its…

Reflection is frequently cited in the literature as integral to the type of learning in which professionals engage. However, throughout the literature the concept of reflection has been ill-defined and shown to be difficult to operationalize in studies. Beginning with a comprehensive review of the literature, this study sought to develop a…

Professional development that improves teaching and student learning meets research-based standards to ensure high-quality educator learning experiences. Since the quality of professional learning affects its results, many states, districts, and schools want to measure the effectiveness of their professional development to make targeted…

This reprint of an article on how one rural school district was able to use effectively a variety of acceleration strategies in different elementary schools is preceded by a commentary that stresses that the form of programming is less crucial than the training and attitude of the participating teachers. (Contains 3 references.) (CR)

The purpose of the federally funded Title I program is to help disadvantaged students meet the same high academic standards expected of all children. The most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This education bill was enacted on January 8, 2002 and has established…

Schools that students experience as safe and supportive will be more successful at promoting student achievement and developing qualities such as good character and citizenship. However, this commonsensible priority is sometimes slighted when other issues demand a school's attention. This guide identifies four core elements necessary to create and…

This study describes a school-university collaboration involving a number of professional development schools in Israel and examines the efficacy of such collaborations. A government agency requested that a university researcher plan and implement collaborative programs. The program determined to include a heterogeneous group of schools, selected…

This report describes the creation of New Horizons, an ArtsConnection comprehensive model for talent identification and development in the arts. New Horizons focuses on how schools can identify and appreciate artistic talents, how teachers can help students use their artistic abilities to improve their school performance, and how economically…

In response to the need of military leaders to be better prepared to plan, support, and conduct joint (multi-service and multi-national) operations, Congress enacted the Goldwater- Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. Positive steps were taken to implement provisions in the Act that address the education, assignment, and…