During 2003, Monash University Library conducted a comprehensive quality review as part of the university's program of reviews. A quality management group was established in September 2002 to drive the process. All staff were given the opportunity to contribute input to the initial self-review. Methods of collecting data, collating responses and…

Introduction: This article results from a qualitative study of 1) information behavior in community problem-solving framed as a distributed information use environment and 2) approaches used by a best-practice library to anticipate information needs associated with community problem solving. Method: Several approaches to data collection were…

Recently the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) conducted a nationwide survey on programs that exhibit best practice in addressing student behaviour issues (de Jong, 2004). Seven themes related to the characteristics of best practice were identified in this survey. Alternative education programs…

Historically, reform efforts to address poor student achievement have focused on a variety of issues other than teacher quality. Movements such as TQM (Total Quality Management), class size reduction (CSR), school leadership, parental involvement, and multicultural curriculum have not directly addressed the power or influence of the individual…

The issues of teacher empowerment and decentralized management have been a part of the educational reform agenda for decades. Recent legislation has required that leadership teams have teacher, support staff, and parent representation, and possibly student representation. Principals receive specific instructions from their Boards of Education as…

This article addresses the issues of how cultural historical theory of activity can help design democratic teacher education classrooms aimed at developmental learning and dialogical, humanitarian thinking of students and prospective teachers. On the basis of retrospective analysis, the author begins by summarizing activity-based approaches to…

The area of integration of technology in education is a continuous effort that revolves around looking for factors and practices that can be applied to encourage faculty to integrate technology into their areas of teaching. Web-based instruction (WBI) is one of the technologies affecting higher education, and historically Black colleges and…

To address a public relations problem faced by a large urban public school district in Texas, we conducted action research that resulted in an audited self-monitoring system for high-stakes testing environments. The system monitors violations of testing protocols while identifying and disseminating best practices to improve the education of…

This paper provides a critical evaluation of the model of professional development elucidated within the Career Entry Development Profile and induction arrangements for newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in England. In addition, it outlines the findings from a small-scale study of NQTs' professional development during their first year of teaching.…

Education drives the economy. Almost a decade into the 21st Century, America faces a choice: It can invest in the basic education and skills of its workforce and remain competitive in today's global economy, or it can continue to overlook glaring evidence of a national crisis and move further down the path to decline. In this report, the National…

This guide was developed by DAWN (Disability Advisors Working Network) in consultation with AHEAD (Association for Higher Education Access and Disability), Asperger Syndrome Association of Ireland, Brainwave, DeafHear, Dyslexia Association of Ireland and the National Council for the Blind. This is an introductory guide and should be used as a…

This article briefly reviews the research on word learning and vocabulary teaching, provides a rationale for building a rich vocabulary and identifies nine guidelines for sound vocabulary instruction. Problematic classroom practices are highlighted and a "best-practice" vocabulary teacher is described. The article also includes a…

Drawing on the authors' considerable knowledge of the research and of federal and state policymaking in middle and high reading and writing, the Alliance for Excellent Education has worked for the past 2 months, at no charge to the state, to review existing data, gather opinions, study literacy achievement trends, identify literacy programs and…

This book addresses crucial questions about how to create full access to the general education curriculum for children with disabilities. Based on years of research and innovation at CAST (The Center for Applied Special Technology), the book provides a helpful overview of the digital solutions that are at the forefront of efforts to create…

For over the last 20 years, educators have been trying to find the best practice in using technology for student learning. Some of the most widely used applications with computers have been student learning of programming, word processing, Web research, spreadsheets, games, and Web design. The difficulty with integrating many of these activities…