This study extends the extant research demonstrating the educational benefits of diversity and examines how undergraduate students across disciplinary contexts acquire a set of pluralistic skills and dispositions necessary for today's diverse workforce and society. The sample consisted of 4697 students who participated in a longitudinal study in…

This paper is based on information researched and presented in a faculty development seminar for elementary teachers for use with students preparing for national testing to manage stress and increase attention focus. It reviews effects of stress on behavior, mood, and concentration; explains basics of breath work and meditation; provides…

Every summer more than 10 million children attend day or resident (sleep-over) camps sponsored by churches, not-for-profit youth agencies, and independent operators. This study explored the outcomes of a 1-week or longer camp experience from the perspective of parents. A national sample of almost 2,300 parents responded to pre-, post-, and…

This paper reports on a research study of the effectiveness of a series of music-appreciation activities for young children in Hong Kong. These activities were designed using world music and were presented as part of a local early childhood television program for community interest. One-hundred-and-sixty-eight local preschool children (mean age…

This paper reports on a small-scale research study evaluating the work of an emotional literacy project in the North West of England. The purpose of the evaluation was threefold: to assess the degree of success of the emotional literacy project in achieving its aims; to capture and disseminate learning of what works, with whom and in which…

Background: Anxiety disorders are often undetected and untreated in adolescents. This study evaluates the relative efficacy of a school-based, cognitive-behavioral intervention compared to an educational-supportive treatment for adolescents with social anxiety disorder. Methods: Thirty-six students (30 females), ages 14 to 16, were randomized to a…

Objective: At the University of California, Davis (UCD), the authors sought to develop an institutional network of reflective educational leaders. The authors wanted to enhance faculty understanding of medical education's complexity, and improve educators' effectiveness as regional/national leaders. Methods: The UCD Teaching Scholars Program is a…

The ECERS-R and ITERS-R are among two of the most widely used observational measures for describing the characteristics of early childhood education and care. This paper describes a professional development programme currently taking place in seven regions across England, designed to train local government staff in the application of the scales as…

In an effort to accommodate mandated standards-based assessment for measuring pre-service teacher quality, the Teacher Education Program at The University of Iowa has used for the last decade a web-based electronic portfolio system--ePortfolio[TM]--to help pre-service teachers document fulfillment of professional teaching standards throughout…

This survey research on National Writing Project (NWP) teachers and comparison teachers (N=35) in a southeastern state found that the NWP teachers wrote more than the comparison teachers did and that the participating teachers' writing was associated with students' achievement in writing. The pattern of the impact of writing life on achievement…

The evaluation of the Texas Rural Technology (R-Tech) Pilot sought to understand how districts implemented R-Tech grants, the effects of implementation on student and teacher outcomes, as well as the cost effectiveness and sustainability of R-Tech. The Texas legislature (80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2007) authorized the creation of…

This paper explores how and to what extent digital multimodal text production can play a role in project work. The focus is upon describing and understanding how teachers and learners view multimodal text production as part of a learning process. Group-based project work has been used extensively in Norwegian schools since the 1970s. One criticism…

Two schools in Michigan received ARRA SIG (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act School Improvement Grants) funds to enable them to implement their improvement efforts. This paper describes the outcomes of these two ARRA SIG recipient schools: (1) Phoenix Elementary-Middle School; and (2) Arthur Hill High School. The experiences of these…

Intended as a guidebook for middle level educators as they seek to institute educational experiences appropriate to the adolescents in their programs, this book discusses the issues and assets of middle school education in rural settings. Chapter 1 of the book is an introduction, discussing the concept of middle school as applied to small rural…

The Texas Centers for Professional Development and Technology (CPDT) study gathered evaluative data about the progress and contribution of the centers toward their goal of systematic change in teacher preparation and student learning during four years of funding (1992-93 through 1995-96). The 21 centers in the sample included 35 universities, 15…