In response to strikingly low completion rates in public 2-year colleges, including for students who are well-prepared academically, most community colleges across the country offer student success courses as one approach to improving outcomes for students. Some colleges have begun to revise these courses in response to research indicating that…

Results of a 3-year randomized clinical trial of Second Step: Student Success Through Prevention (SS-SSTP) Middle School Program on reducing bullying, physical aggression, and peer victimization among students with disabilities are presented. Teachers implemented 41 lessons of a sixth- to eighth-grade curriculum that focused on social-emotional…

Despite the potential of differentiated curricula to enhance learning, limited research exists that documents their impact on Grade 3 students of all ability levels. To determine if there was a difference in achievement between students involved in 16 weeks of predifferentiated, enriched mathematics curricula and students using their district's…

Literacy remains an area of concern in early secondary education in Scotland (ages 12-14), with recent research suggesting a continued decline in attainment levels. As literacy underpins learning, interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to teaching literacy are now being emphasized through the new Curriculum for Excellence that aims to…

A tobacco use prevention curriculum tailored for deaf/hard of hearing youth was tested using a quasi-experimental design. Two schools for the deaf received the curriculum; two served as noncurriculum controls. Surveys assessed changes in tobacco use, tobacco education exposure, and tobacco-related attitudes and knowledge among students in grades…

Over the past few decades, service-learning has surged in popularity. Although most programs are implemented in high school and college classrooms, service-learning has the potential for great impact in middle school. The present article evaluates a pilot service-learning program for fifth- and seventh-grade (N = 86) children in a large, urban,…

Zili Sloboda, Sc.D., and colleagues at the University of Akron, Ohio, designed and evaluated "Take Charge of Your Life", a substance abuse prevention curriculum for 7th- and 9th-grade students delivered by D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) police officers. They designed "Take Charge of Your Life" to impact students'…

The Kuder Career Planning System administrative database results for the past five years have shown a low interest in the manufacturing career cluster among Arkansas students. The low student interest and shortage of high-skilled labor in manufacturing prompted the Arkansas Department of Career Education to invest grant funds in a new…

This study was inspired by a history of student difficulties in calculus, and innovation in response to those difficulties. The goals of the study were fourfold. First, to design a mathlet for students to explore local linearity. Second, to redesign the curriculum of first semester calculus around the use of technology, an emphasis on…

Accessing Curriculum through Technology Tools (ACTTT), a model development project, was developed and tested by staff of the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood (the Center), a research and development unit within the College of Education and Human Services at Western Illinois University. The major goal of ACTTT was to develop,…

The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy of three different approaches to professional development in Earth science education: preparing teachers to "adopt" expert-"design" curricula; preparing teachers to use a principled approach to design curricula; and preparing teachers to use a principled approach to "adapt" curricula. The claims…

More than 1,600 middle school students, including an experimental group exposed to the Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS), were administered the Modified Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale. Results indicate that the students utilizing the traditional science curriculum possessed a significantly better understanding of the testable nature…

To determine the effectiveness of a model driver education curriculum in leading to safe vehicle operation among beginning drivers, the Safe Peformance Curriculum, based on instructional objectives derived from analysis of the driver's tasks, was developed and pilot tested. Students were randomly assigned to one of the following: a Pre-Driver…

An eighteen-month project was designed to integrate career education with the regular curriculum offerings at Alameda Junior High School in Pocatello, Idaho. Objectives were (1)to increase self-awareness and career awareness of each student, (2) to develop favorable attitudes about the world of work, (3) to assist in developing and practicing…

As everyone enters the 21st Century there is a great deal of discussion in business and education circles alike about the type of skills the youth will need to survive and thrive in this century. At the same time, there is little known today about the level of 21st Century skills students currently have. In part this is because, as a nation,…