Blogs serve multiple purposes, resulting in several types of blogs that vary greatly in terms of quality and content. It is important to evaluate the quality of blogs, which requires appropriate evaluation criteria. Unfortunately, there are minimal studies on framework and the specific criteria and indicators for evaluating the quality of blogs.…

Where would we be without conversation? Throughout history, conversations have allowed us to see different perspectives, build ideas, and solve problems. Conversations, particularly those referred to in this book as academic conversations, push students to think and learn in lasting ways. Academic conversations are back-and-forth dialogues in…

While there is a vast body of research on visual representations, the results do not paint a clear picture of how to use inscriptions to support learning. Part of the difficulty stems from the need for research that investigates the use of inscriptions in classroom learning contexts. Toward this end, there is a small body of work that investigates…

Autism is the fastest growing disability ever. With the growth comes a lot of questions as to the etiologies and treatment of this condition, often putting parents, schools, and traditional medical personnel at odds with what treatments have efficacy. As the popularity of alternative treatments increase, so does the need for research. …

In contrast to standardised assessment, dynamic assessment (DA) simultaneously combines teaching and assessment activities. The key difference between standardised and dynamic approaches lies in the fact that, in the latter, an expert is allowed to provide assistance to a novice during the assessment process. Mediation, whether in the form of…

A profile of one state's principal preparation programs is presented in this article. The collaborative inquiry process used to develop a program narrative instrument and to capture data on characteristics of all 17 state-approved programs in the state of Indiana is provided. The statewide preparation program characteristics profiled in this…

According to Sergiovanni and Starratt (2007), the evaluation process plays a powerful role in developing and nurturing a teacher's instructional capacity, which, in turn, contributes to students' academic successes. School districts in South Carolina utilize the Assisting, Developing and Evaluating Professional Teaching (ADEPT) system. A component…

This article discusses the evaluation of programmatic interventions to enhance postsecondary STEM education for students with disabilities. SciTrain University, a federally funded project to provide instructor training on accessible teaching according to universal design principles, is presented here as a case study on evaluation for similar…

Although technology-mediated learning has its advantages, it does not come without operational tradeoffs. Thus, consideration of the effectiveness of new modes of teacher preparation in comparison to traditional, longstanding, research-proven methods is necessary. In this study, we evaluated one large southern urban university's implementation of…

This article aims to examine the predictive relationships of self-evaluation capacity and staff competency on the effect of strategic planning in aided secondary schools in Hong Kong. A quantitative questionnaire survey was compiled to collect data from principals of the participating schools. Confirmatory factor analysis and reliability tests…

We examined student-, classroom-, and school-level effects in predicting second-grade Spanish-speaking children's oral reading fluency in Spanish. Teachers in 67 randomly selected urban schools administered the Tejas LEE to 1,537 first- and second-grade students. Oral reading fluency was measured in the passages students read for comprehension.…

This article proposes an instructional design model for blended learning writing courses for English language learners (ELLs). It will do so by combining the main points of the cognitive load, activity, sociocultural, and transactional distance theories to present four tenets essential for optimal learning for ELLs: structure, environment,…

In this article we report findings from research through the Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE), a National Research and Development Center. In our study we examined the efficacy of a model of instruction for English learners, the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP)…

This study compares the content and sources of the pedagogical beliefs of 106 pre-service teachers in two teacher education programmes in China and the USA. Qualitative data were collected using an open-ended survey instrument to compare similarities and differences in the content and sources of participants' pedagogical beliefs. The findings…

The transition from kindergarten to primary school constitutes a significant point in children's development, entailing definitive effects on their personality and the formation of their behaviour, but also on their school performance. Innovative Educational Programmes constitute a nodal point for the development of cooperation among the…