The Core Knowledge curriculum is a K-8 curriculum focused on building students General Knowledge about the world they live in that is hypothesized to increase reading comprehension and Reading/English-LA achievement. This study utilizes an experimental design to evaluate the long term effects of attending Charter schools teaching the Core…

Possession of prior knowledge has been shown to critically influence students' learning in major courses. Yet the topic remains unexplored in the realm of general education in higher education. The study aims at investigating whether students lacking relevant high school knowledge background could benefit in the two courses, one inclined to…

Despite efforts of both administration and faculty, the intent and the execution of new curricular initiatives are not always in alignment. To understand how the declaration of a campus-wide general education initiative was being implemented, this article combines analyses of syllabi and courses from across disciplines. In an initial review, the…

In 2005 the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) launched a national initiative that championed the importance of a twenty-first century liberal education. What was unique about this initiative was the underlying assumption that educating for personal and social responsibility was "core" for an educated citizenry and should be…

The WICHE Interstate Passport Initiative, launched in October 2011, is a pilot project that addresses interstate student transfer. When students transfer from one postsecondary institution to another--both within and out of state--they may be required to repeat courses, which can add to the time and cost of completing their education. Although…

Potential students hoping to gauge the quality of courses at Portland State University might be forgiven for feeling confused. On the one hand, the University Studies program, which uses interdisciplinary seminars during the first two years to develop students' core skills, has been widely praised and emulated. The Council for Higher Education…

In 2011, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed into law the South Carolina Higher Education Efficiency and Administrative Policies Act, maintaining the transparency and accountability that lead to increased academic quality and affordability at colleges and universities. It is in this context that ACTA (American Council of Trustees and…

Making self-authorship a goal of an interdisciplinary multisemester general education program shows great promise for meeting desired undergraduate learning outcomes for citizen-learners. (Contains 1 table.)

While assessment of student learning outcomes has become standard operating procedure on virtually every campus, the driving forces for pursuing assessment remain primarily external. For that to change, campuses must evolve toward a culture of assessment based on the shared values and expectations that arise out of a community. The first step in…

Analyzes the graduation requirements of 40 community colleges to determine whether their general education requirements match their curricular offerings. Suggests that, in general, colleges do match general education requirements and curricular offerings and that their success assists in student transfer between two- and four-year colleges. (MAB)

A new approach to general education at Bowling Green State University based on "essential skills and functional understandings" is discussed. The model includes skills in: problem solving and critical thinking; reading and writing; computation and mathematics; listening and speaking; and decision-making and values-conflict resolution.…

The idea of general education has ebbed and flowed for generations. Recent calls for general education, appearing both in the professional and popular literature, demand an integrative curriculum that brings people toward common understandings. The content of what is taught matters less than that a continual effort be made to enhance social…

In November 1995, Missouri's St. Louis Community College established a task force to reevaluate the role of the general education (GE) curriculum and recommend an appropriate curriculum design. This final report summarizes the efforts and results of the task force. Following lists of task force and subcommittee members, an introduction reviews…

As part of an effort to evaluate college effectiveness and ensure student academic achievement, St. Vincent's College, a small two-year health science college in Bridgeport, Connecticut, formed a task force to develop general education outcomes across the curriculum. The college's general education core curriculum consists of 25 credits, including…

The process being used by the University of Montevallo (Alabama) to evaluate the outcomes of its general education program is presented. Emphasis is on the triangulation procedure used to evaluate the validity of the outcome measure selected--the College Outcomes Measures Project (COMP) Test of the American College Testing Program (1984). The…