Online discussion is a common tool to create learner-learner interaction. Whole class discussions can result in potentially hundreds of postings with students spending more time creating the illusion of participation as opposed to critical reflection and deeper learning. The purpose of this study was to determine quality of online discussion based…

This article considers the role of culture in establishing a program of educational reform in Lithuania, a former Soviet Bloc state. Specifically, through a comparative analysis of survey information from an international cross-section of individuals involved with educational reform programs in Lithuania at the local, regional, and national…

Given the potential long-term outcomes of poorly developed mathematical skills, there is a need to understand the emergence and development of these skills in the context of improving educational experiences and ensuring better outcomes for preschoolers. The purpose of this article is to describe preliminary reliability and validity evidence…

As a democratic country which aims at nurturing and sustaining its envied democracy, organisations in Botswana are expected and encouraged to build and maintain democratic structures and principles. In September 1993, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Botswana and the then British Overseas Development Agency (ODA) launched an ambitious…

As part of its ongoing process of formative evaluation, the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) conducted a survey of four cohorts of recent graduates. The data from this survey are being used in concert with findings from other lines of inquiry to assess and improve the program. The discussion in this paper is centered on several research…

Leadership style has always been a controversial topic in educational administration and management. Following the recommendation of the Education Commission to introduce school-based management (SBM) into Hong Kong schools in the early 1990s, discussions about the kind of leadership style that is appropriate for SBM schools have never ceased. The…

It has long been assumed that schools which were "effective" with respect to one set of outcomes (usually academic performance) were generally more "effective" in relation to others. This article reviews the last three decades of British evidence across a range of affective, social and other non-cognitive outcomes including:…

South African Academic Development (AD) emerged as a liberatory educational and social movement in the 1980s. AD (often called educational development) has burgeoned as an international phenomenon, but with a focus on quality rather than on liberation. South African AD now seems to be struggling to construct its post-apartheid identity, if one…

In the first U.S. Supreme Court case concerning affirmative action in higher education (Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 1978), the splintered court decided that racial diversity serves a compelling state interest, allowing public institutions to count race as one of many diversity factors for admission. Due to the illusive…

Education and training serve as critical elements of advancement of a nation's economy in transition. The restructuring of the power engineering industry in Russia has called for a fast implementation of new management system in electric power engineering and radical training of professional managers at different levels in organizations.…

Assistive Technology (AT) devices and services have been legally mandated for several years. However, the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Act Amendments P.L. 105-17 (IDEA1997), which states that every student with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) must be considered for AT, had enormous implications impacting approximately six…

The purpose of this study was to examine the learning outcomes of students who had recently completed a two-year community-based Native Teacher Education Program (NTEP). The participants were 22 graduates of an NTEP who responded to open-ended items in a questionnaire on what they had learned throughout the program. Four women also participated in…

As the search to increase the quality of individuals entering and remaining in the teaching profession, people are simultaneously faced with a teacher shortage, often leading to fast track certification and lateral entry programs circumventing teacher preparation. This article points out that the major predictor of teacher retention is job…

A group of low-performing schools received additional state funds to improve achievement as part of California's Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program (II/USP). A mixed-method evaluation was conducted to determine whether II/USP schools outperformed similar non-II/USP schools, how teachers and administrators understood resources…

This report provides an annual overview of data reported by South Carolina's public institutions of higher education as part of institutional effectiveness reporting and as part of the process of performance funding. Prior to the January 2000 edition, this document was entitled "Minding Our P's and Q's: Indications of Productivity and Quality…