Liberal arts colleges promise undergraduates a holistic education that builds life-long skills such as critical thinking, written and oral communication, and quantitative and information literacy by encouraging students to engage in courses across the curriculum. Yet too often, we do not offer students enough support in developing coherent…

This paper discusses the ways in which teacher educators can effectively engage prospective teachers (PTs) in lesson study during mathematics methods courses. Evidence from this work suggests that engagement in lesson study provides PTs with opportunities to strengthen their knowledge about mathematics, students, and pedagogy. More specifically,…

As the number of multilingual students increases at small campuses in rural areas that lack multilingual composition programming, there is a need to explore pedagogical and institutional strategies that help to pool limited or emerging resources to promote language justice for multilingual students. This narrative case study looks at two small…

Amid the growth of charter schools, autonomous schools, and private management organizations, an increasing number of urban districts are moving toward a portfolio management model (PMM). In a PMM, the district central office oversees schools that operate under a variety of governance models. The expansion of PMMs raises questions about local…

This paper presents an instructional strategy for engaging students with the critical exploration of values in introductory geoscience courses. It is argued that the consideration of values (i.e., abstract expressions of desirable qualities such as cooperation, security, curiosity, and honesty) is an integral part of scientific practice and…

Writing reflections is recommended for enhancing retention and transfer of learned material. The benefits of student reflections have been well documented, but the methods for collecting and assessing reflections can be difficult. This study presents the development and analysis of a new, straightforward rubric for assessing depth of student…

This study reports the results on the needs of an emerging population of Career-Technical Education (CTE) teachers in Ohio. The purposes of the study were to determine the needs of the teachers and the effectiveness of the teacher education program they completed to add the CTE license. Twenty six academic teachers added a CTE license through a…

Teacher evaluations are often designed to serve two purposes: to measure teacher competence and to foster professional development and growth. A teacher evaluation system should give teachers useful feedback on classroom needs, the opportunity to learn new teaching techniques, and counsel from principals and other teachers on how to make changes…

This study presents the results of the examination of the use of technology to enhance the capstone portfolio process for teacher candidates completing a master's degree at a small regional campus in Northwest Ohio, United States. Students at this institution complete a fifth year program that results in a master's degree and a recommendation for…

Using Astin's I-E-O model, relationships among the input (I) variables of gender, high school percentile rank, Tech Prep participation, and high school course-taking; environmental (E) variables of academic, career and technical education (CTE), and total dual credit and articulated credit; and output (O) variables of college readiness and total…

Electronic portfolios (eportfolios) represent an assessment measure with strong potential to provide feedback about student performance to improve curricula and pedagogy, to determine individual students' mastery of learning and support feedback for improvement, and to actively involve students in the assessment process. This study examined the…

A recent employer survey sponsored by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills found that the skills new job entrants most need for success in the workplace--oral and written communication, time management, critical thinking, problem solving, personal accountability, and the ability to work effectively with others--are the areas in which recent…

This evaluation determined the workability of the Northeast Ohio Principals Academy Pilot Entry Year Program, noting the differential effects of its major components in developing portfolios and as a contributing factor to school improvement. The program provides leadership and support to beginning principals, provides collaborative learning…

The model competency-based education assessments for mathematics have been developed in cooperation with the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics (OCTM) task force for implementing National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards for Grades 1 through 8. Three types of assessment for each grade are presented. The first type of model…

In this article the authors address several important areas that combine to illuminate the portfolio as performance, index, and design. They provide an in-depth look at the conceptual foundation and selected functional implications of portfolios. Accordingly, the foundations laid here may serve as a basis for further development and application to…