Community service-learning is a "high impact" teaching strategy that responds to contemporary challenges facing higher education. Some faculty, however, remain reluctant to use service-learning in their courses because they believe it does not fit into busy student schedules, given increases in the percentage of employed students and…

To remain competitive in an increasingly interdisciplinary world, graduate education must produce professionals who can understand both their scientific disciplines and the business environment in which they work. With the addition of applied learning components outside of the traditional scientific laboratory and training in business skills,…

With fewer than three years until the planned end-date of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), attention is rapidly turning to what will follow. The elaboration of the next global development agenda is a complex, multipronged process that is academic, political and practical, involving experts from a myriad of social and…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Let's Get Digital: First-Ever National Digital Learning Day Attracts Participation from Thirty-Nine States, 19,000…

Over the past 25 years, the total number of students in college has increased by about 50 percent. But the number of students graduating with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects has remained more or less constant. In 2009 the United States graduated 89,140 students in the visual and performing arts, more…

This paper examines a sampling of arguments for and against the Common Core State Standards from the period surrounding their adoption. While supporters of the standards have articulated common goals such as economic security, equity, and alignment, opposing voices have failed to coalesce around a unified set of principles or a common language. An…

This paper examines the quality of Hong Kong's sub-degree level education provided by the self-financing institutes in terms of its impact on the earnings of workers, based on Hong Kong's 2006 by-census data. Education is an investment in human capital that enhances the productivity of workers and increases their lifetime incomes; and a more…

Finding the best way for students to learn and achieve success is of utmost importance to the State of Illinois and the nation as a whole. College and career success is critical to the national and state economy. Career and technical education (CTE) has been central to this call for greater college completion, and the credentials that CTE provides…

The author reports on the academic job market that is showing signs of turning around after a multiyear slump. Job-outlook data released by professional associations in recent months show an uptick in the number of jobs available in several fields, including history, the humanities and foreign languages, sociology, geography, and political…

Institutions of higher education address the transition from after-college life in a variety of curricular approaches. Articulation agreements provide greater transferability of courses from one college to another, thereby easing the transition for students. Career courses, which are typically taught by career center staff, are a common offering…

When an employer sees on a resume that an applicant graduated at the top of his or her business school class, does that necessarily translate into guaranteed success behind the desk at the company? A business school background can't hurt, but most organizations know it is far from enough. With more individuals touting business school degrees on…

This paper argues that an emphasis on training-for-the-job approaches has distracted designers from thinking about the meaning of their profession and the grand purpose of practising instructional design. Drawing from literature in the fields of sociology and educational technology, this paper synthesises discourses on civic professionalism in…

The article examines organisational challenges in the Finnish vocational education and training (VET) to support students' lifelong learning pathways. Investigation of organizational challenges is done through the students' transitions either within one school level or from one school level to another or to working life. For supporting the…

The study examined the experience of communication in the workplace for mathematics graduates with a view to enriching university curriculum. I broaden the work of Burton and Morgan (2000), who investigated the discourse practices of academic mathematicians to examine the discourse used by new mathematics graduates in industry and their…

More than 120,000 visual and performing arts degrees are granted each year (Americans for the Arts, 2010) and stereotypes abound about what happens to these people. One common view is that few make a living doing art and are dissatisfied with their education and career opportunities. Findings from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP)…