The 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act defined dance as an art form, designated the arts as core academic subjects, and called for highly qualified instructors in every classroom. These developments provided new opportunities for dance faculty in higher education preparing their students for life after college.…

A new graduate chemistry course was introduced in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Alabama. The new course, CH584-Literature and Communication in Graduate Chemistry, replaced a second year graduate student literature seminar requirement. Course topics included chemical information resources, critical analysis, scientific writing,…

Specialized secondary schools in the United States focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) are becoming commonplace in the United States. Such schools are generally referred to by U.S. teachers as Academies. In a purposeful effort to provide a resource to educators building new STEM Academies, this study provides both a…

Social Entrepreneurship (SE) programs have been expanding over the past decade. The emergence of this new discipline can be attributed to two overlapping factors. Students (particularly business students) have expressed an increased desire to blend values, ethics and social causes into their own vocations. At the same time, the nonprofit and…

Higher education accrediting bodies are increasing the emphasis on assessing student learning outcomes as opposed to teaching methodology. The purpose of this article is to describe the process used by Troy University's Master of Public Administration program to change their assessment approach from a course learning objective perspective to a…

Face-to-face instruction has been held as the gold standard of a quality academic program. But using information technology to redesign traditional courses can actually improve the quality of teaching, cut costs, and improve access and success. A strong redesign often involves active learning opportunities; individualized, on-demand assistance; a…

Research by Achieve, ACT, and others suggests that for high school graduates to be prepared for success in a wide range of postsecondary settings, they need to take four years of challenging mathematics--covering Advanced Algebra; Geometry; and data, probability, and statistics content--and four years of rigorous English aligned with college- and…

Reading is an essential skill in education and the current technologically-driven workforce, yet it is a skill that is not mastered by all. Secondary students in a school district in central Alabama have demonstrated a low mastery rate on the reading portion of a standardized test. This quantitative research study used a non-experimental…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the course design decisions and pedagogical practices of American literature teachers at three rural community colleges of varying size in North Alabama. Fink's (2003) Integrated Course Design (ICD) model provided a framework for this study, and the researcher attempted to determine if and to…

The purpose of this paper is to describe Auburn University's story of developing an innovative field-based master's level principal preparation program. Our goal was to align the program's curriculum and internship experiences with state and other accrediting agency standards, current leadership preparation research, and local educational agency…

"Higher Education Exchange" publishes case studies, analyses, news, and ideas about efforts within higher education to develop more democratic societies. Contributors to this issue of the "Higher Education Exchange" examine whether institutions of higher learning are doing anything to increase the capacity of citizens to shape…

This paper provides information about Alabama High School Graduation Exam, 3rd Edition, a comprehensive standards-based exam. The purpose of the exam is to: (1) Provide schools with student academic diagnostic information; (2) Determine prospective high school graduates' mastery of the state curriculum; (3) Increase alignment of local curriculum…

This article provides new information about how compacting can be effective with first grade high ability students in a rural Alabama school district. Curriculum compacting was designed to eliminate already-mastered content and to provide students with enrichment activities in the time saved. The study, which replicated some aspects of the…

A state/federal-funded project for the development of a coordinated curriculum development and management plan was carried out in Alabama in 1977-79 and was titled VO-ED COMP (Vocational Education Curriculum Operation--Management Plan). The proposed model consisted of twelve steps: (1) identification of needs, (2) instructional material priority…

One aspect of the State/Federally funded project VO-ED COMP (Vocational Education Curriculum Operation-Management Plan carried out in Alabama during 1978) was the determination of priorities for curricular development and management functions in Alabama's vocational technical education programs. A needs assessment study was made at the 1978…