The terms "cooperative" and "collaborative" are sometimes used interchangeably in reference to group learning activities in classrooms and in online settings. However, they can be viewed as differing in terms of characteristics such as pre-structure, task structure, and content structure (Strijbos & Martens, 2001; Panitz,…

Charter schools are a relatively new, but fast-growing, phenomenon in American public education. As such, they merit the attention of all parties interested in the education of the nation's youth. The present report comprises two separate analyses. The first is a "combined analysis" in which hierarchical linear models (HLMs) were…

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a study of comparisons. Subjects, 15-year-old students from 32 participating countries, were compared in their abilities to "use literacy knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges," as assessed on a two-hour, paper-and-pencil test. Students also responded to a…

Distance learning is quickly becoming an accepted and even necessary part of college and university programs. As more colleges and universities join the growing ranks of institutions offering distance learning, educators and administrators are struggling with the issue of how to assess student success in this new and largely untested environment.…

The Effective Early Learning Programme in the United Kingdom (UK) has included the voice of children as an integral part of their evaluation and improvement process. This study interviewed approximately 945 children from 23 different geographical areas of the UK about their views of certain aspects of their early learning settings. Children were…

Accelerated Reader is a computer program designed by Advantage Learning Systems to assess students' reading comprehension levels and keep detailed and accurate reports of such findings. This research studied the Accelerated Reader program with a second grade class over a 6-week time frame. One class of 20 students read books picked from the…

This report compares and contrasts the evaluation methods and findings of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Council for Basic Education (CBE), and the Fordham Foundation reviews of state English language arts and mathematics content standards. It states that the reviews found that state content standards vary greatly in how they are…

This book is a collection of works that explore the implications of a national U.S. curriculum through the study of Japanese education. It consists of 10 chapters: (1) "The Development of the Course of Study and the Structure of Educational Reform in Japan" (Hiroshi Azuma); (2) "Setting National Standards: Educational Reform, Social…

This book provides guidelines for evaluating a variety of database types, including abstracting and indexing, directory, full-text, and page-image databases available in online and/or CD-ROM formats. The book discusses the purpose and techniques of comparing and evaluating the most important characteristics of textual databases, such as their…

This report presents the results of a 1999 survey of 336 elementary schools in Ohio. It examines progressive and traditional practices in public, Catholic, and independent schools and offers an overview of the different kinds of schools. Rather than asking principals to characterize their schools as progressive or traditional, principals were…

This report presents results from a planned comprehensive evaluation of the implementation of Different Ways of Knowing (DWoK) for the Middle Grades in "Cohort I" schools. Cohort I consists of 15 schools in California, Kentucky, New York, and Texas that began implementation of DWoK for the Middle Grades in 2001-02, and thus have completed their…

Annually, in accordance with Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 51 of the 1965 General Legislative Session, the California State University and the University of California submit to the California Postsecondary Education Commission information on faculty salaries for their respective institutions and for a set of comparison colleges and…

Discusses on the basis of Ph.D. qualifying examination results, advantages of a discrete scoring system under which continuously graded answers are classified as either correct'' or incorrect'' with the cutoff placed at a bias level.'' Indicates that the discrete method is characterized by increased selectivity about the marginal students. (CC)

The results of this study lend support to emphasizing a university controlled experience for nondegree students in vocational industrial and technical education student teaching. (Author)

The reasons for a child's failure to learn in school are complex and stem from various sources--broken homes, parental indifference, and irresponsible parental behavior. (CK)