The movement to strengthen the nation's workforce by redefining what all students need to learn has profound implications for the design of state assessment systems. The confluence of events--the change in the national and international climate, acknowledgment of long-standing inequities in education opportunity and achievement, and the…

While today's girls are learning that they can achieve at the highest educational and professional levels, they also receive strong cultural messages that portray girls and women according to limiting sexual stereotypes. The trend toward the sexualization of girls is increasing in contemporary culture and can negatively impact girls' academic,…

This study aims to be a contribution to a theoretical model that explains the effectiveness of the learning and decision-making processes by means of a feedback and mental models perspective. With appropriate mental models, managers should be able to improve their capacity to deal with dynamically complex contexts, in order to achieve long-term…

The dynamic systems perspective has been touted as an integrative metatheoretical framework for the study of stability and change in development. However, two dynamic systems camps exist with respect to the role higher-order form, once emergent, plays in the process of development. This paper evaluates these two camps in terms of the overarching…

This evaluation of progress in tackling the problems of access, quality, equity and completion of primary and secondary education examines the results of an alliance between the Coffee Growers Committee of Caldas (CGC) and the Department of Caldas, Colombia. The evaluation team employed a retrospective approach to understanding the social,…

With widespread adoption of computer-based distance education as a mission-critical component of the institution's educational program, the need for evaluation has emerged. In this research, we aim to expand on the systems approach by offering a model for evaluation based on socio-technical systems theory addressing a stated need in the literature…

This report provides short descriptions of systemic approaches for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding including: (1) 21st Century Classroom; (2) Comprehensive Professional Development; (3) Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems; (4) Formative Assessment; (5) Digital Content; (6) Virtual Learning; and (7) Learning Management Systems.

Total quality management based governance models tend to focus on incremental improvements within the boundaries of a single organization. This may limit the benefits of information technology because they are not complex enough to address business or performance problems that extend beyond the boundaries of a single organization. The research…

Identifying persistent media frames through a cognitive media analysis is an important step in the empirical measurement of public thinking about social issues. Based on a recent media analysis of racial disparities as they pertain to youth in major U.S. newspapers, this article explains three frames that were persistently evoked in media coverage…

This article attempts to replicate how Fritz Redl and David Wineman might have handled an "unmade bed" situation with the youngsters at Pioneer House, the treatment program in Detroit that was the subject of their classic work, "The Aggressive Child" (1957) which encompassed two books, "Children Who Hate" and…

The National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center was charged by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs from October 2001 through September 2006 to develop, implement, and evaluate an approach to technical assistance (TA) that would result in sustainable systems change in state early intervention and…

This article explores the impact of the sustainable development (SD) agenda on the occupational and professional needs of those who have undergone educational and training programmes in the environmental field either at the undergraduate or the postgraduate level or through relevant professional institutions' continuing professional development…

In 2007, the author examined existing academic libraries in the United States to determine best practices for the design, implementation and service of learning commons facilities. A primary objective of this study was to discover how to create a higher education learning environment that sustains scholarship, encourages collaboration and empowers…

The flexible environment of nonformal primary schools in a community context in Bangladesh facilitates the individual development of young people who would otherwise be excluded from the school system. This paper aims to explore the features of institutional and wider context which support this nonformal learning environment, as well as…

The integration of art and instruction at the secondary level has not been promoted as a school reform as much as it might be. One reason for the lack of attention paid to the integration of arts and academics may be that the relationship between leadership traits and this interdisciplinary approach has not been defined. The purpose of this study…