After more than 50 years of research on drop-out from Vocational Education and Training (VET), databases provide vast amounts of drop-out studies from around the globe that entail hundreds of potential drop-out factors. However, many scholars tend to explore the topic without detailed and theoretically grounded foundation. Several diverging…

Dusan M. Savicevic has been a towering figure working, researching and publishing in andragogy for more than a half-century. Dusan's prism of world-wide experience has been connected very vitally with helping establish it as a science, self-directed learning, work, and has inspired others to develop their own andragogical perspective, including,…

This month's Safety Spotlight focuses on holding students accountable for their safety actions in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) labs and makerspaces. Most teachers should understand the importance of a proper safety program. In this article, the author describes his work permit system for safety. The work permit system…

This paper reports findings of a recent conceptual literature review of teacher performance management systems as implemented by the Teacher Service Commission in Kenya. It was undertaken by reviewing several TSC circulars, documents used in teacher management, HR literature and the TSC Act. It reflects the perspectives of the authors and TSC…

This is the third paper on the topic of outcomes-based funding written by Dennis Jones for Complete College America. The first paper, "Performance Funding: From Idea to Action" (ED535356), proposed a set of design and implementation principles to help states develop and implement their own outcomes-based funding models. The second paper,…

In 2017 Georgia instituted a flexibility policy through which school districts enter into performance contracts with the state that grant districts waivers from state rules and allow schools and districts greater autonomy. In exchange, schools and districts must meet academic performance targets. The performance contracts are intended to…

According to accreditation and professional bodies, evaluation and grading are a high priority in counselor education. Specifications grading, an evaluative tool, can be used to increase grading rigor. This article describes the components of specifications grading and applies the framework of specifications grading to a counseling theories course.

This article addresses what schools that seek to promote social mobility as opposed to status maintenance among their students really ask of them. Focusing on several prominent charter school organizations, the article details the social and behavioral expectations of the schools and understands them through an application of Goffman's work on…

This article describes a group of dedicated educators who, in the midst of a constant barrage of attacks, dramatically changed the conversation. It is the story of a union that recognized that, in order to bring about the transformation necessary for the betterment of the entire community, its members needed to transform the way in which it…

This disguised case features a marketing major, Susan Lafleur, who presented Professor Higgins, the Department Chair, with a dilemma. She needed a petition signed to enroll in a capstone course while simultaneously taking a prerequisite course. She received an employment offer from a prestigious overseas corporation, which required a baccalaureate…

Cyber-physical systems are a genre of networked real-time systems that monitor and control the physical world. Examples include unmanned aerial vehicles and industrial robotics. The experts who develop these complex systems are retiring much faster than universities are graduating engineering majors. As a result, it is important for undergraduates…

Using Tomlinson's (2004) framework, the post-secondary classroom can be transformed into a community of learners where different avenues are provided for effectively acquiring content, processing ideas, and developing products. This article explores how instructors can differentiate instruction in teacher-education methods courses by…

The California school that parents want to turn into a charter now has two organizations seeking to make the change. At the end of a process that drew just four applicants, two relatively small California organizations are each making a case that they be allowed to help lead one of the most publicized school turnaround efforts in the nation's…

In 2011, state legislators in Arkansas passed Act 1203, effectively enacting performance-based funding models for all state-run institutions of higher education. Over a period of five years beginning in 2013-14, 25 percent of every institution's base funding will be allocated according to performance. Under the direction of the Arkansas Department…

The author reports on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's plan to look closely at whether the food-service-management companies running many school cafeterias are passing along all the discounts and rebates they receive from their suppliers to the districts that hire them. The plan to probe companies will begin in August, said Alison Decker, a…