This article draws on historical and philosophical lenses and interviews with students to question some fundamental tenets underlying the practice of freshman learning communities (FLCs): that they develop community and improve students' learning experiences. The article brings to the discourse of FLCs some critical questions regarding their value…

Aim: To assess the prevalence and relationship to later employment of potential barriers to work for substance-abusing women on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) enrolled in a multiservice welfare-to-work program. Design: A field study with repeated measures and intent-to-treat sampling. Intervention: The CASAWORKS for Families (CWF)…

This article reports findings from an assessment of the effectiveness of privately administered "structured on-site training" (SOST) programs funded by the California Employment Training Panel. It reports on the characteristics of SOST programs that increased trainees' competitiveness in the internal and external labor markets. In…

A year-long collaborative action research project used networked technologies to connect researchers at a university-based online professional development program and a group of practitioner researchers based in a range of schools and educational agencies in several countries. They studied the process and effects of online professional development…

This study involved fourteen semistructured interviews with teaching staff at a Brazilian university. These interviews were aimed at unveiling possible transformations caused by distance education in classroom teaching and in medical assistance practices. The discourses collected were analyzed using qualitative methods and divided into groups with…

A qualitative case study design was used to investigate the extent that special education program serves the student or serves the organization. If special education serves the student, then a researcher should be able to identify resulting agency and emancipation among the students. However, if special education is serving the organization, then…

The focus of the Local Authorities Research Consortium's (LARC's) first year was to identify the early impact of integrated children's services and the features that promote or hinder success in improving outcomes for children and young people. The research operated in varied localities within the 14 participating Local Authorities (LAs), with one…

The lay-led, community-based Supporting Parents Programme (SPP) aims to assist parents caring for children with long-term or life-limiting conditions through support and cognitive behavioral techniques. The value of the SPP from the perspectives of parent participants and tutors was examined in focus groups and telephone interviews. Data were…

The main purpose of the present study was to develop and evaluate a WebQuest instruction on Nutrition using WebQuest template, known as NutriQuest. NutriQuest was developed to improve Form 2 students' understanding of fundamental nutrition concepts and its application in daily life, to improve critical and creative thinking skills and to enhance…

Affective variables can help understand differences in student performance. This paper presents student expectations as an affective variable that has so far received little research attention. Students have expectations from educational providers, the fulfilment of which can create a positive learning environment leading to better performance.…

In this qualitative study, over the period of one year, we assessed the appropriateness of a mainstream early childhood education intervention, the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) programme, in five on-reserve First Nations communities, by focusing on the experiences of the Aboriginal women who delivered the programme.…

Alternative curricula at Key Stage 4 have been implemented to help young people who may be disaffected from school to re-engage with learning. Skill Force is one example of an alternative curriculum. Skill Force is a Ministry of Defence (MoD) sponsored youth initiative which offers 14- to 16-year-old students a key skills based vocational…

The aim of the study was to assess the Training and Support Programme (TSP) among parents of children with ataxia. Twenty-seven parents and their children completed the TSP. Data were collected by home record sheets and observation sheets completed by parents and therapists, respectively, and telephone interviews with 10 parents. Benefits reported…

Purpose: The purpose of the current study is to examine the utility of Six Sigma interventions as a performance measure and explore its applicability for making the training design and delivery operationally efficient and strategically effective. Design/methodology/approach: This is a single revelatory case study. Data were collected from multiple…

This paper describes a project aimed at helping children and their families achieve their potential. It is based in an area of high social disadvantage. The authors explain how parenting classes held at a community college (a comprehensive school with provision for adult education), have led to the development of a suite of courses leading to…