How does one become an effective superintendent of schools? There is no simple formula as the turnover rate reflects difficulty of the position. Some maintain that the job cannot be done well due to politics, financial constraints, and time demands. As a former superintendent, the author rejects this negative view. In this highly readable,…

Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, takes on teacher education in this essay published for the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation's white paper series "Fwd: Arresting Insights in Education." Walsh highlights a 2005 study, "Studying Teacher Education," a nearly 800-page report by a panel of the American Educational Research…

Several trends have come together to intensify interest in how public libraries might best support the interests and needs of youth in their communities. This study reports on findings from the Public Libraries as Partners in Youth Development (PLPYD) Initiative, a four-year, nine-site initiative funded by the Wallace Foundation to develop…

Invaluable for anyone looking to understand young children's thinking, this essential textbook helpfully combines introductions to theories about thinking with observations from real-life practice. The book explores underlying theories behind topics such as: (1) the relationship between nature and nurture; (2) models of cognitive development, with…

The focus of this research paper is on the role of teachers and the teaching strategies used in classrooms. The premise is that teachers are now realizing that they need to reach beyond traditional ways of teaching in order to assist their students in acquiring a deeper understanding of the topics being studied while developing critical thinking…

A study examined how the occupational structure of the Australian labor market evolved and how individuals fared in the process. It identified issues in defining skill and knowledge and followed Elias and McKnight (2001) in stating that sufficient evidence showed a very high correlation between job-required cognitive ability and ordinal skill…

These skill standards for the nursing cluster are intended to be a guide to workforce preparation program providers in defining content for their programs and to employers to establish the skills and standards necessary for job acquisition. An introduction provides the Illinois perspective; Illinois Occupational Skill Standards and Credentialing…

This report presents results from interviews with a sampling of experienced Equipped for the Future (EFF) users. Chapter I provides background and context for this initiative. Chapter II provides facts and figures from the field and presents questions posed and interviewees' views. The questions are as follows: (1) Why did you or your organization…

Middle and high school American history teachers in Lake County, Illinois, use an innovative model of professional development created through collaboration between higher education institutions and public school districts. Goals of McRAH (Model Collaboration: Rethinking American History) are to (1) raise student achievement and engagement by…

Universities and colleges accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education are facing the prospects of measuring dispositions related to teaching. Dispositions selected for teacher candidates at the University of West Alabama are characteristics desirable in N-12 candidates. This pilot study was designed to assess…

This book provides educators and education policy makers a picture of where the field of teaching adult English language learners is today in order to build a more effective delivery system for the future. It places adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) in the broader context of the U.S. education system (K-12 and adult education), then…

Highlighting the specific as well as common characteristics of different types of parents, this volume, the third of five volumes on parenting, deals specifically with parental status and the social conditions of parenting. The volume consists of 20 chapters as follows: (1) "Mothering" (Kathryn E. Barnard and JoAnne E. Solchany); (2)…

Concerned with practical aspects of meeting children's needs, this volume, the fifth of five on parenting, describes the nuts and bolts of parenting as well as the promotion of positive parenting practices. The volume consists of the following 19 chapters: (1) "The Ethics of Parenting" (Diana Baumrind and Ross A. Thompson; (2) "Parenting and…

Career development for the next wave of competent leaders and technically trained workers during e-globalization is one of the most difficult challenges advanced nations face. Career development programs that begin in elementary education and have e-paradigms as a logical choice as the preferred scenario are needed by e-commerce in all its…

A qualitative study provided a detailed description of classroom behavior by observing 20 adult literacy classes in 8 states and interviewing teachers of these classes. The methodology used was grounded theory, in which data were collected from a limited sample of cases (classes) and analyzed to find commonalities, themes, and categories that…