In the report entitled "Educating School Leaders," Arthur Levine (2005) criticizes leadership preparation programs as "inadequate to appalling," citing, among other issues, the proliferation of off campus programming, the weakening of standards, and an unwillingness to engage in any measure of "systematic…

The use of rigorous assessment in an Information Literacy program can be used to persuade reluctant faculty and administrators to buy into a program. A "culture of assessment" also assures quality control for internal and external audiences. Information Literacy at Wartburg College is unique in that it is a required component of five…

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…

In the past decade in the United States, pre-kindergarten programs for four year olds have expanded rapidly as a potentially powerful intervention intended to promote school readiness for children at-risk for future school failure. This paper describes in detail multi-dimensional profiles of observed quality across 692 classrooms in 11 states…

Given the abundance of open education initiatives that aim to make educational assets freely available online, the time seems ripe to explore the potential of open education to transform the economics and ecology of education. Despite the diversity of tools and resources already available--from well-packaged course materials to simple games, for…

Context: Founded in 1971 with state funding to increase the number of primary care physicians in rural Minnesota, the Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP) has graduated 1,175 students. Third-year medical students are assigned to primary care physicians in rural communities for 9 months where they experience the realities of rural practice with…

Infant mortality is a complex issue linked to societal problems such as teen pregnancy, poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, and violence. This report chronicles the accomplishments of the Southern Regional Project on Infant Mortality in seeking solutions, sharing strategies, and building coalitions to reduce infant mortality in the south. Phase 1…

This project proposal describes a pilot project, "Regional Course Sharing Through Technology," at Chadron State College, Nebraska, which utilizes telecommunications to enable small, rural schools to share teaching staff among several schools. Away from the highly populated urban areas of Nebraska, most school districts are widely…

Presenting nine case studies describing new assessment efforts, this book is designed to foster communication and dialogue about the products and the processes of development. Comprehensive introductory and concluding chapters examine the background of and future challenges facing authentic assessment. Intermediate chapters discusses authentic…

The Indiana University Student Literacy Corps was developed through an existing reading practicum course offered by the school of education through the Reading Practicum center; (2) tutors met or exceeded the time requirements of performing voluntary, uncompensated service each week of the academic term; (3) the corps provided a tutoring service…

The Communication and Theatre Arts Department at Heidelberg College (a private liberal arts college in northwestern Ohio) developed a departmental assessment plan. The department faculty began by working to establish "exit criteria" during an all-day meeting. Unlike other disciplines, communication has no standardized tests and…

This compendium provides an overview of evaluation reports on specially funded programs that operated in the Detroit Public Schools during the 1990-91 school year. The programs are those funded by either the Detroit Board of Education, Chapter 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Improvement Amendments, Article 3 of the State Aid Act, Gifted and…

This report presents amendments to H.R. 4250, a bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 1995 through 1998 to carry out the Head Start Act, the Community Services Block Grant Act, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act, and the newly enacted Family Resource and Support Act. The text of the amendments themselves, as well as the complete…