In January 2021, Eric Loepp, a faculty member in the department of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Will Hinz, a member of the student government, administered a survey to students in order to answer big questions surrounding higher education during the fall 2020 semester. Like other institutions, theirs was working…

Since 1999, the authors have written numerous articles and books, given hundreds of presentations, served on national eLearning groups, and created new international online programs, all while paying careful attention to the trends, issues, and best practices in the effective use of technology tools and distance learning methods. In this article,…

Some schools make significant contributions to a child's growth and development with little to show on a standardized test, while other schools do little, with acceptable results on those same tests. This article describes how Lincoln Elementary School in Madison, Wisconsin, made creative use of resources to promote student achievement and meet…

This paper reports on a study of the current state of the art in teaching assessment. The major goal of the study was to examine a sample of assessment systems and then develop a specification for a state-of the art performance assessment system to be used for human capital management functions. The authors hope was that this specification would…

This study investigated the types of instructors who teach local history, factors affecting their instruction in the community's past, and instructional practices employed to educate students about a locality's history. It examined teachers' implementation of items from "The Making of Milwaukee" (MOM) project which included a book, DVD…

In this multi-method case study, the authors explore the success of school reform in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), whose school reform combines a portfolio strategy and a managed instruction approach. Portfolio strategy is a term used to describe an approach that decentralizes resources and decision-making to school sites--increasingly in…

This historic case study addressed the issue of the lack of citizen action toward environmentally responsible behavior. Although there have been studies regarding components of environmental responsible behavior [ERB], there has been little focus on historic models of exemplary figures of ERB. This study examined one of the first conservation…

In this study, the authors explore the implementation of a statewide class-size reduction program in nine high-poverty schools. Through qualitative methods, they examined how schools used class-size reduction to change staffing patterns and instructional programs. Requiring changes in space allocation, class-size reduction was accomplished through…

Finding examples of exemplary social studies teaching in elementary schools is often challenging due to teachers' responsibilities for teaching many different subjects, their preparation as subject-matter generalists, the sixty-year prevalence of teacher-centered social studies instruction, and the institutional pressure to "cover" the…

Parents comprise a key stakeholder group of public education that can exert significant influence over school policy, budget, and instructional decisions. Restricting this group's participation in school reform jeopardizes the success of any innovation, no matter how promising. This may be occurring with block scheduling. This research describes…

This document contains an outline of a workshop on instructional supervision for vocational, technical, and adult education supervisors in Wisconsin. Materials used in the workshop, along with preparation materials, are included. Extensive appendixes include a list of workshop participants, the agenda, handouts on instructional supervision, and…

A report is given of a 1-week intensive inservice conference for 97 Wisconsin vocational, technical, and adult education instructors, conducted to develop competencies stressing innovative individualized curriculum and instructional delivery. The program of educational experiences developed presentations on topics that stressed individualized…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) School-Based Coaching: A Revolution in Professional Development--or Just the Latest Fad? (Alexander Russo); (2) Fluency Tests Help Identify Struggling…