Although a growing number of individuals are enrolling in college in response to the increasing payoff to higher education, more than a third of them never finish. College completion rates are especially disappointing for low-income students, in many cases because they tend to enter college underprepared academically but also because they have…

The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) regularly tracks state developments, proposals, and legislation as they affect public higher education governance and trusteeship. This paper provides an early read on what state, university system, and institutional leaders see as important for the immediate future of public…

This Eurydice report contains more than 30 detailed structural indicators, up-to-date figures, definitions, country notes and a short analysis of recent key policy developments and reforms in five areas: early childhood education and care, achievement in basic skills, early leaving from education and training, higher education and graduate…

In state needs assessment meetings held in late June 2008, the leadership of two Central Region state departments of education, South Dakota and Missouri, asked Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Central to determine how the states in the region evaluate their supplemental educational service (SES) providers. Specifically, these SEA staff…

Like many adult ESL instructors, the author has felt firsthand the challenges of creating community in short-term courses. Through his experience, he has noticed that in order to successfully build community in short-term ESL courses, teachers need to lay a foundation for social contracts and social covenants from the first day of the course and…

The charter school concept was first introduced in 1991 when the Minnesota Legislature passed the nation's first charter school law. As of this writing in 2009, 40 states and the District of Columbia have charter school legislation. While the specific characteristics and nuances of these laws vary from state to state, almost every state law…

School principals sift through a milieu of data, perceptions, and circumstances to determine which teachers are worthy of contract renewal. This paper provides a review of the research on the role that teacher dispositions play in principals' decision-making regarding contract renewals, as well as a theoretical perspective on the implications for…

The Scottish Chartered Teacher Scheme was designed to recognise and reward teachers who attained high standards of practice. The scheme emerged in 2001 as part of an agreement between government, local employing authorities and teacher organisations. Policies such as the chartered teacher scheme aim to benefit students in two main ways: by…

The debate over linking teacher pay to student test scores that ignited on Capitol Hill recently underscores the growing momentum--and continued controversy--behind tying what teachers earn to what students learn. Both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers came out swinging against language in a draft bill for…

As a follow-up to the release of its "Guide to Financing EnergySmart Schools", the U.S. Department of Energy's EnergySmart Schools program hosted the National Financing Roundtable on February 5, 2009. This event was held prior to the seventh Annual High Performance Schools Symposium, hosted by the Council of Educational Facility Planners…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze those US campuses that became signatories of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) during the charter membership period of December 2006 through September 15, 2007. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on literature in organizational change,…

Instructors at community colleges around Virginia have been assessing student learning informally and formally since their opening, but recently, with renewed emphasis on accountability and documentation, a group of faculty and administrators were brought together to study the assessment process and develop procedures to ensure that…

This paper investigates the links between the "contributing student pedagogy" and other forms of peer-mediated learning models, e.g. "open-ended group projects" and "communities of practice." We find that a fundamental concern in each of these models is the attribution of "value"; specifically, recognition…

In this article, the authors discuss how learning contracts can motivate students. "A learning contract is simply a written agreement between teacher and learner in which the learner undertakes to complete mutually agreed upon tasks in a specified amount of time on his or her own initiative" (Greenwood, 2003, p.1). Contracts are designed to…

According to Section 2141(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), local education agencies (LEAs) that fail to meet annual measurable objectives and make adequate yearly progress (AYP) for three consecutive years must enter into an agreement with the state education agency…