This article examines comparative survey results for 16 principal preparation programs located in the Midwestern state of Missouri across a four-year time period from 2008 to 2012. The authors are founding members of a statewide Higher Education Evaluation Committee (HEEC), which has been meeting on a monthly basis since 2005, comprised of faculty…

This study advanced the research by Michael, Schwartz, and Balraj (2001) and McGoey (2005), which examined how trustees and other internal key stakeholders (respectively) from institutions of higher education in the state of Ohio perceived indicators of presidential effectiveness. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the perceived…

The purpose of this policy analysis was to examine the Missouri Public School Retirement System (PSRS). The team investigated the under-funding of PSRS, relating to sustainability and the feasibility of the system's use of one lever, contribution rate, to stabilize the retirement system, and to meet actuary needs and governmental requirements. The…

The Community College Pathways initiative consists of two pathways, Statway® and Quantway®, that accelerate post-secondary students' progress through their developmental mathematics sequence and a college-level course for credit. Launched in 2011, the Pathways have been remarkably successful, helping thousands of students achieve success in…

This article explores Kettle Moraine High School's experience of participating in the PISA-based test, known in the U.S. as the OECD Test for Schools. The high school is located on the western edge of Milwaukee. Starting with a trial run in 2012 that involved more than 100 U.S. schools, the OECD Test for Schools has been offered to individual…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) farm real estate value index is currently constructed with a modified Laspeyres weighted average formula, with the acreage weights changed approximately every 10 years. An analysis of acreage weights from 1974, 1978, and 1982 census data revealed, however, that substantial changes in real estate values…

In this paper a comparison is made between the structure and operations of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council and the Ako Aotearoa National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence of New Zealand. Both of these organisations were established in the mid 2000s and were created at a time when higher education institutions in both countries…

The educational reform movement has caused parents, students, businesspersons, and legislators to question the relevance of vocational education. Charges that vocational education has become obsolete have compelled vocational educators to work on improving its image in three areas--function, quality, and style. The vocational education programs in…

The reasons that students in the United Kingdom fail to complete General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQ) courses were examined through a study that involved four key elements: questionnaire survey of 3,391 students enrolled in GNVQ courses in further education colleges and schools; questionnaire survey of 782 centers providing GNVQs;…

The evolution of technical education in Argentina has not been so much a process of vocationalization of academic education as a process of secondarization of vocational education. Argentine technical schools are the product of a process of convergence among terminal trade schools, vocational schools, and industrial technological schools that has…

A study examined the relationship between students' vocational and nonvocational experiences while in high school and their decision to drop out. The study was based on data from the sophomore cohort of the High School and Beyond database (a longitudinal, nationally representative sample of approximately 27,000 students who were sophomores in 1980…

Nationwide, close to 40 million adults lack a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED) credential. About a quarter of high school freshmen do not graduate in four years, and while many high school dropouts eventually do attend GED preparation classes, too few ever pass the GED exam or go on to college. Students with only a…

Examined interventions and strategies used by Chapter 1 Program Improvement (PI) schools to improve academic program and Chapter 1 services. Site visits to 15 California elementary and middle schools show that schools engaged in change have common elements: strong leadership, quality core curriculum, school autonomy, district support, and parent…

A study compared the organizational form and functional activities of the U.S. Cooperative Extension Service with agricultural extension activities in Sri Lanka and recommended ways of improving such programs in developing countries. Distinctive differences were found in the organizational set-up, subject-matter coverage, approach to clients,…

A study examined ways of increasing the number of successful transfers by students between community- and institution-based literacy programs in Manitoba. A literature review was conducted, and 18 adult literacy programs or related offices throughout Manitoba were visited. During the visits, classroom settings and curriculum materials were…