This paper documents the importance of continued investment in basic education and argues that investments need to be carefully targeted to address the constraints that limit the coverage and quality of education if they are to provide expected benefits. Part I begins with a discussion of the returns to investment in education. Part II then…

With generous support from the Lilly Endowment, the Indiana Chamber has contracted with National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) to provide a policy framework and specific recommendations for improving the system of adult education and workforce training in Indiana--building on the important initiatives that have already…

This book, celebrating the Geriatric Social Work Initiative's 10th Anniversary, documents the effect that its educational programs have had on shaping gerontological social work education as a whole. Each chapter highlights various aspects of this John A. Hartford Foundation-funded initiative--its competency-based education, model for curricular…

The phenomenon of Catholic Studies cannot adequately be understood without a prior consideration of certain fundamental tensions that mark modern higher education as a whole. These broader tensions characterize Catholic universities in specific and important ways. At the University of St. Thomas, Catholic Studies has proven to be a remarkably…

This article reviews the significance of Jacques Ranciere's work for methodological debates in the social sciences, and education specifically. It explores the implications of constructing research as an aesthetic, rather than primarily a methodological, endeavour. What is at stake in this distinction is the means by which research intervenes in…

The AAHPER Youth Fitness Test, the first U.S. national fitness test, was published 50 years ago. The seminal work of Krause and Hirschland influenced the fitness world and continues to do so today. Important youth fitness test initiatives in the last half century are summarized. Key elements leading to continued interest in youth fitness testing…

In response to growing public and policy concern about conflicts of interest (COI) in university research, academic institutions in North America and Europe have introduced policies to manage COI. However, depending on their form and content, COI policies can be more or less helpful in the effective management of COI. In this paper, we examine and…

School choice is most often viewed through the lens of provision: most of the debate on the issue searches for desirable ways to offer vouchers, scholarships or other tools that provides choice as a way to achieve equality and/or freedom. This paper focuses on the consumer side of school choice, and utilises behavioural economics as well as…

Inclusion and detracking policies seek to remedy the pervasive inequality of educational opportunities in U.S. schools by building classrooms that are integrated across the lines of race/ethnicity, class, and disability and that offer all students access to a rich and challenging curriculum. In practice, however, teachers often struggle with the…

This article presents reflections arising from a study on adult learning professions in Poland. Changes in the socio-political and legal context created phenomena that have occurred in the adult education systems, mechanisms and approaches. The article focuses on the impact of those processes on a specific professional group--adult educators.…

This article argues that teaching as a situated, civic activity must be a core intellectual activity in the engaged metropolitan university. Situated writing provides the key pedagogy for the Chicago Civic Leadership Certificate Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, an engaged public research university. The role of writing, or…

An engaged metropolitan university can play a critical role in transforming its region by using its resources for the solution of problems and the improvement of the citizens' lives and livelihoods. California State University, Fresno has impacted its region through university-led collaborations and partnerships such as the Fresno Regional Jobs…

Our urban-located land grant institution has long been committed to engaged research, teaching, and service. This paper describes efforts to articulate and implement a strategic urban land grant vision that places urban/metropolitan engagement at the center of our institution's "urban age" future. We describe intentional and broad-based efforts in…

Two developments have contributed to the convergence of views about the benefits of real-life and inquiry-based pedagogies in mathematics learning. First, the mathematics teaching community is increasingly focused on the learning of mathematics that involves the transfer of prior knowledge to novel problem-solving situations, a key element in…

Based on the results of a generalizability study of measures of teacher knowledge for teaching mathematics developed at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing at the University of California, Los Angeles, this article provides evidence that teachers are better at drawing reasonable inferences about student…