Within this study, we investigated the association between 10th-grade students' mathematics performance and their feelings of instructional misalignment between their current mathematics knowledge and educator support. Data from the 2002 Education Longitudinal Study, which included a national sample of 750 public and private high schools in the…

Despite many reform initiatives, including the federally funded initiative titled the Smaller Learning Communities' (SLC) Model, many students are still underexposed to comprehensive guidance programs. The purpose of this mixed method project study was to examine which components in a comprehensive guidance program for the learning academies at a…

The process of effective teaching--teaching that directly leads to student learning of standards-based content--is tenuous at best and easily disrupted by contextual and behavioral factors. In this commentary, I discuss the role of student support and mediation in teacher effectiveness and curricular reform. The most vocal students in physical…

Opportunity to learn reflects the quality of resources, school conditions, and curriculum necessary to enable students to achieve. It has long been recognized that such opportunities differ significantly for low-income students compared to their middle-income peers and contribute powerfully to education inequities across our country. This article…

The transition into college remains one of the most formative and complex phases in an individual's life. Institutions of higher learning have responded to the challenges facing first-year students in myriad ways, most often by offering summer orientation programs, dynamic living-learning environments, tailored academic and psychological support…

Following the release of the Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP) in 2011, many institutions of various types tried out different ways to use the DQP. Although over 680 institutions have used the DQP to date, until now the impact of the DQP on institutions and students has not been documented in a systematic manner. To determine the effects of DQP…

For generations, schools have aimed to introduce students to a broad range of topics through curriculum that ensure that they will at least have some acquaintance with most areas of human knowledge by the time they graduate. Yet such broad knowledge can't help but be somewhat superficial--and, as Kieran Egan argues, it omits a crucial aspect of…

In this article, the authors discuss how they redesigned an educational psychology course for preservice teachers using insights from the burgeoning, interdisciplinary field of the Learning Sciences. Research on the situated nature of learning and the value of out-of-school contexts for supporting children s development informed their decisions to…

How might a tertiary English teacher use Garth Boomer's ideas on "teaching against the grain" to challenge the rules and assumptions that dominate the Academic Language and Learning (ALL) industry in the university sector today? How might such a teacher use Boomer's ideas to enact "emancipatory pedagogies" (or something like…

Over the past twenty years, economic conditions, deteriorating public support, governmental and societal demands for accountability, and greater numbers of students from historically underrepresented groups have increased pressures on colleges and universities to provide a meaningful education to students while meeting ever increasing expectations…

Researchers have found that middle school students undergo developmental changes that require unique educational structures and support. As a result, experts have suggested a number of specific strategies for organizing middle schools in order to best meet students' needs. This Information Capsule summarizes middle school redesign initiatives that…

This article is a retrospective description of the decisions, strategies, and context of program changes made at the USC Rossier School of Education, related specifically to the education doctorate. The primary purpose is to highlight the change process from the perspective of the academic dean. Drawing on work in systems change and strategic…

This article provides a summary account of the book, "A Mission to the Heart of Young People: Catholic Curriculum", published in Australia in 2012. To preserve the true mission and religious integrity of Catholic schools in the face of secularism and "national economic requirements", it is argued that Catholic schools must…

This article describes the development, implementation, and results of an extensive assessment of students and student learning outcomes in an interdisciplinary, integrative learning community. This assessment project took a comprehensive view of student learning by examining specific data and direct and indirect measures of academic growth for…

An overwhelming majority of college students feel that diversity is important. Students want to explore diversity and need to be guided in ways that help them negotiate what often feels like a social and emotional minefield. While many staff and faculty share a belief that diversity education does not require specific training beyond either a…