Recent evidence suggests that constraints can facilitate creative thinking rather than hinder it. This research tested how individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) affect the creativity of ideas generated under conditions of low and high constraint. Participants generated short sentences with either low or high constraints placed on…

The purpose of this mixed method study was to examine the relationships between teachers' academic department, years of experience, tenure status, and their knowledge of chronically absent students and the existing programs and interventions to support absent students in their schools. The study utilized a district of five junior-senior high…

A qualitative study was conducted to understand how building-level and world language department leaders characterize and respond to underperforming world language teachers, and how such leaders work together as a team to address this problem. Ten such leaders from Long Island, New York were interviewed as matched pairs and their responses were…

In 2011, the Association of American Universities (AAU) embarked on an ambitious effort to improve the instructional quality and effectiveness of undergraduate introductory Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses. The primary focus was on sustainable implementation of evidence-based methods of instruction in courses that…

Data regarding the type of instructional scheduling utilized along with the use of teaming and common planning at the middle school level has not been collected nor reported on the New York State School Report Card, and therefore it is not known whether and how middle schools are implementing these three school supports. Consequently, the purpose…

Between 1950 and 1980 surveys of academic sociologists revealed a major shift in the relative ratings of the top six Sociology departments. Wisconsin rose from a distant sixth to being rated first or second. Harvard and Columbia dropped from first and second the rankings to as low as sixth seventh. Underlying these trajectories were a variety of…

The authors analyze twenty in-depth interviews with faculty members about how they perceive information literacy (IL) to examine two key factors: how disciplinary background influences conceptions of IL among faculty members in academic departments and how the instructors' perception of information literacy differs from that of professionals in…

This collection of essays, "Literary Study, Measurement, and the Sublime: Disciplinary Assessment," edited by Donna Heiland and Laura J. Rosenthal, represents an important new venture in the Foundation's communication program. The book is the product of many authors, including the editors, both of whom have written essays for it. But it…

The present paper determines whether community college transfer students have higher baccalaureate rates when they enroll in four-year colleges and departments that have larger shares of transfer students. Transfers attending non-technical campuses with larger shares of transfers have higher eight-year baccalaureate rates, but within-campus…

In this article, the author shares his experience being the "chair" of the Department of Latin American and Puerto Rican Studies at Lehman College of the City University of New York. He also shares how this department proved to be an "ordinary" department at an "ordinary" liberal arts college. However, to conclude…

The chairman and faculty from four departments in each of eight public 2-year colleges in New York State were surveyed to determine: (1) the status of the department in the organizational structure; (2) the relative influence of the chairman and his colleagues in the department; and (3) the relationship between degree of faculty influence and both…

Good teachers were shying away from accepting 4th-grade positions because of the growing accountability pressures that were being unfairly brought to bear on that grade level. Highly publicized reports of the state's new battery of standardized assessments were scaring off applicants. To address the personnel needs while more fairly sharing the…

Included herein is the conference proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference on the Teaching of Psychology: Ideas and Innovations, sponsored by the Psychology Department of the State University of New York at Farmingdale. The conference theme for 2013 was: The Science of Learning. The Conference featured a keynote address by Victor Benassi, Ph.D.…

This report presents seven tables showing the college and university degrees conferred in New York State between July 1, 1990 and June 30, 1991. The tables are as follows: (1) Degrees Conferred in Institutions of Higher education by Level of Degree and Institutional Classification, New York State, 1990-91; (2) Degrees Conferred by Institution,…

The article is about the early phase of implementation of a New York state testing policy in two academic departments in an urban, comprehensive high school. It describes and analyzes a high school?s failure to construct a coherent internal accountability system when encountering an external high-stakes testing policy. Drawing on interviews with…