This study examined the impact of a service-learning program on college students in an inclusive camp environment. Participants in the study completed a pre-post questionnaire to determine the impact of service-learning on the students' self concept, personal growth, and understanding of diversity as it relates to working with children with…

Rhode Island's proficiency-based high school diploma system requires high school graduates to demonstrate proficiency in standard-based content and applied learning skills through at least two performance assessment measures (RIDE, 2003). To meet these requirements, 12 of Rhode Island's 39 school districts are using ePortfolios as one of their…

This article describes an initiative to evaluate the impact of educational psychologists' (EPs') casework. Previous studies have often focussed on evaluating processes or reducing outcomes to measurable units. The authors argue that qualitative research methods can be used to illuminate EP effectiveness. They describe a real world and…

The use of standardized tests for outcome assessment has grown dramatically in recent years. Two driving factors have been the No Child Left Behind legislation, and the increase in outcome assessment measures by accrediting agencies such as AACSB, the international accrediting body for business schools. Despite the growth in usage, little effort…

Public school districts in the Mississippi (MS) Delta are under severe pressure to make rapid and adaptable changes in response to the federal legislation No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the MS Plan for Student Achievement: Assessment, Accreditation, and Accountability. These reform Acts require higher student performance standards and new…

Educators in the Chula Vista Elementary School District determined what kind of instruction students needed through a "response to intervention" (RTI) process, which provides extra help to struggling students with an aim of reducing the number of referrals to special education. As RTI catches on throughout the country, the district is on…

The purpose this article is to describe an institutional initiative created to support faculty engaged in blended course redesign. This Inquiry Through Blended Learning (ITBL) program adapted Garrison, Anderson, and Archer's (2000) Community of Inquiry framework in order to provide faculty participants with a guided inquiry process for discussing…

The purpose of this article is to describe the process and development of English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards and assessment in Ohio and to discuss issues related to alignment. The article addresses the importance of alignment among standards, instruction, and assessment, as well as the effect of alignment on students' academic…

A significant body of research exists on the development of early literacy skills and their relationship to the development of literacy as a whole. Phonological awareness, orthographic processing, rapid automatized naming, phonological memory, and receptive vocabulary have all been shown to be predictive of early reading outcome measures. What is…

A central part of education reform today is the wide-ranging and unprecedented effort to either revamp existing teacher evaluation systems or develop and implement entirely new systems. High-quality teacher evaluation systems are seen as one lever for improving the teacher workforce and hence the outcomes of students, including high school…

Wake County Public School System's (WCPSS) 102 elementary schools have implemented standards-based grading. This grading practice is aligned with North Carolina's Student Accountability Standards and the WCPSS Promotion/Intervention policy. Standards-based report cards were designed to reflect student mastery of state standards and provide an…

The Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) conducted a crosswalk between the Deeper Learning Skills (DLS) and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The purpose of the crosswalk was to understand the ways in which strategies for deeper learning relate to the CCSS. This comparison was not solely or simply an alignment study, although some…

This pilot study within an online teacher-education course required pre-service teachers to develop self-videotaped microteaching lessons which were posted in a private YouTube. Analysis of the students' YouTube lessons, course postings, and peer interactions found that students learned the technology requirements quickly, were able to develop…

Community collaboration for improving career guidance is an attempt to obtain cooperation from local agencies, organizations, and volunteering individuals to provide assistance to citizens whose career needs are not being addressed. This monograph is designed to motivate and provide initial orientation for community leaders who want to develop…

As a means to integrate children with learning disabilities into the regular class structure of the school, a plan has been developed which would provide for specialized services in a flexible organizational pattern. A revised system of state reimbursement to the local school systems is designed to maintain children with mild handicaps in the…