Over the last generation, the instructional staffing system in American higher education has experienced a significant reduction in the proportion of jobs for full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty members and a dramatic growth in fixed-term full- and part-time instructional jobs without tenure. About 70 percent of the people teaching in…

To help inform policymakers and the public about the progress of education in the United States, Congress has mandated that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) produce an annual report, "The Condition of Education." This year's report presents 42 indicators on important topics and trends in U.S. education. These…

This article presents the historical pertinence of undergraduate education to developing a career ladder within the field of vocational rehabilitation. Support for the relevance is presented through the results of an investigation of baccalaureate-level competence and preparation as perceived by graduates of rehabilitation services programs. Job…

Contemporary undergraduates in the biological sciences have unprecedented access to scientific information. Although many of these students may be savvy technologists, studies from the field of library and information science consistently show that undergraduates often struggle to locate, evaluate, and use high-quality, reputable sources of…

A great deal of value is placed on student research within universities, exemplified by the prominent role of the dissertation or extended written work at the end of many programmes, and the more general benefits of embedding research-based learning into a curriculum in order to develop higher-order learning. This article reports on a…

In this study, we develop a model of science identity to make sense of the science experiences of 15 successful women of color over the course of their undergraduate and graduate studies in science and into science-related careers. In our view, science identity accounts both for how women make meaning of science experiences and how society…

Electronic portfolio technology can be used in different contexts to create classroom communities in which everyone, not just the teacher, cares about each student's learning. The authors describe how students in an urban middle school, undergraduate teacher preparation program, and graduate leadership program used an electronic bulletin board and…

This paper analyzes a proposal for integrating computer literacy into undergraduate level philosophy study at the National Taiwan University and suggests definitions and curriculum formats. The paper proposes a new definition of language and a multi-dimensional definition of computer literacy. These are then applied to the undergraduate education…

This study sought to evaluate the goals and functions of practical tests designed for students in the natural sciences at the Open University of the Netherlands (OuN). Twelve OuN faculty were asked to rate the importance of 8 general learning objectives, 64 specific learning objectives, and 38 end-terms for undergraduate practicals in the natural…

Graphs of objects in motion are frequently used in introductory high school or college physics courses since they offer a valuable alternative to verbal and algebraic descriptions by offering students another way of manipulating the developing concepts. If graphs are to be a valuable tool for students, then the level of the students' graphing…

This bulletin presents national data on college student exposure to senior faculty at institutions of higher education measured as the percentage of a student's classroom time spent with full or associate professors. Highlights of the data are: (1) at research, doctoral, and comprehensive institutions in both 1987 and 1992, the majority of upper…

This volume traces the history of the first hundred years of the Stern School of Business at New York University. Chapter 1 describes the school's original mission and founding. Chapter 2 describes how the school changed and developed as it responded to trends from 1900 to 1950. Chapter 3 explores the school's dramatic decline between 1955 and…

This report discusses the activities of the Education Commission of the States (ECS) to foster quality in higher education. Chapter 1 summarizes the ideas of Colorado Governor Roy Romer, 1994-95 ECS chairman, in regard to what state leaders should expect from higher education. Chapter 2 draws on conferences and focus groups ECS convened involving…

This volume documents the Ford Foundation's Mainstreaming Minority Women's Studies program to encourage curriculum transformation by concentrating on the issues, learning, research, and achievements of women of color in the United States. Part 1 is on faculty development and begins with two essays: "Shifting Models, Creating Visions: Process…

There has been concern over the validity of the Algebra Diagnostic Test (ADT) used to determine the actual level of student preparation for the first quarter of calculus as taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It has been hypothesized that performance-based questions, along with the more traditional multiple choice questions,…