"The Rural Institute Transition Projects E-News" is a quarterly newsletter produced by the Rural Institute Transition Projects. This issue contains: (1) Vocational Rehabilitation as a Partner in Transition: Bridging the Gap between School and Work (Barb Schiedermayer); (2) Questions and Answers About Vocational Rehabilitation; (3) Case Studies;…

What is service-learning and how can students and community benefit from it? With the pressure of covering all of the content, passing tests, meeting standards and making AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress), how is it realistically feasible to make learning more meaningful so that students are able to take it and utilize it in real life? There is no…

Concerns about how to build academic vocabulary and weave its instruction into curricula are common among classroom teachers. The column includes a review of the research and some practical suggestions for teachers.

This article examines the nature of cultural globalization and its effects as experienced and confronted in a teacher education program that is located in New Zealand's most ethnically diverse and fastest growing city. The students in the program bring a wide range of cultural, social, and experiential perspectives to their tertiary study, and are…

This paper describes the confirmatory factor analysis, validity, and reliability data collection stage of the development of a scale to measure mainstream teachers' self-efficacy beliefs for teaching ELL (English Language Learner) students. Data were collected from 708 K through 12 teachers and pre-service teachers with varying degrees of…

Technological innovation is driving fundamental changes in all aspects of our lives. This is especially true of digital content, as our use of e-books, downloadable music, streaming television and movies, and online social networks has exploded. However, the explosive growth in our use of digital content seems so far to have eluded many of the 50…

This anthology places art at the center of meaningful urban education reform. Providing a fresh perspective on urban education, the contributors describe a positive, asset-based community development model designed to tap into the teaching/learning potential already available in urban cities. Rather than focusing on a lack of resources, this…

Research has shown that there is a gap in educational achievement between socioeconomic and racial groups in the public education system in the United States. This paper identifies the link between resources and academic achievement. Through examining educational resources, from in-school factors, such as facilities and teacher quality, to…

Many educators agree that we already know how to foster student success, so what is keeping common sense from becoming common practice? The author provides step-by-step guidance for overcoming the barriers to adopting the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and achieving equity and excellence for all students. As an experienced teacher and…

The State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) report is produced annually by the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) to broaden understanding of the context and consequences of multiple decisions made every year in each of these areas. No single report can provide definitive answers to such broad and fundamental questions of public…

Early life experiences are critical to a child's development. Research has shown that, for a variety of reasons, children born into low-income families are at a disadvantage when compared to their higher-income peers. Fortunately, research has also shown a positive association between high quality child care and the academic and social-emotional…

In a comprehensive study of two-hundred fifty homeschooling families in urban, rural and suburban areas of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the researcher examined all aspects of the instruction, materials and curricula employed by the families in a ten-year longitudinal study from 1998 through 2008. The researcher conducted interviews and…

In response to the challenges created by the implementation of a new medical school curriculum at the University of Otago in 2008, we aimed to develop a blended learning course for teaching rheumatology within the existing musculoskeletal course. We developed a multimedia online learning resource structured to support class based problem-based…

New teachers are eager to begin their careers with the information learned from their teacher preparation programs. Too many times, the classroom library is a second thought to the establishment of classroom rules and the implementation of curriculum. Rather than an instructional tool for literacy and classroom community, the library can become a…

Malaysia was ranked 16th and 10th in mathematics based on the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 1999 and 2003, respectively while its neighbor, Singapore, used to be a part of Malaysia until 1965, was ranked first in both years. Hence, it is the aim of this study to investigate what makes Singaporean students better in mathematics…