Liberal arts universities are under mounting pressure to maintain their position of relevance in an increasingly technological and economically competitive world, while professional journalism is steadily losing ground to social media. This essay argues that a new partnership between journalism schools and the academic community would be…

Data literacy is recognized as a critically important skill in today's society, but thinking with and about data is often ignored in K-12 curricula. The Thinking With Data (TWD) project advocates that data literacy is a skill that should be addressed in an interdisciplinary manner. This article provides an overview of the TWD curriculum for middle…

For years California has been a leader in public education. In 1999, the state implemented some of the strongest content standards in the country through its main accountability metric, the Academic Performance Index (API). The state has also signed onto the Common Core State Standards, taking important steps to ensure its students are college-…

Less than 25 percent of college students who take any developmental education courses earn a credential within eight years. Over the past three years, the six states in the Developmental Education Initiative have developed and enacted unprecedented changes in policy and practice in an effort to reverse these dismal outcomes. "Ahead of the…

The Common Core of Data (CCD) nonfiscal surveys consist of data submitted annually to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) by state education agencies (SEAs) in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the four U.S. Island Areas (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin…

This article addresses an issue that has not been well explored in empirical research, namely whether local education agencies (districts) have an impact on student learning. We assumed that local district effects on learning would be largely indirect, mediated by how teachers work together in schools (in professional communities) and the quality…

This article presents several publications that can help educators hone their skills in using data effectively. These publications point out key measures of school quality, support professional development in data use, suggest action steps for building better data systems, and tackle data and equity issues. These publications include: (1) Good…

This survey-based study examined the information-seeking behaviour of traditional medical practitioners using Taylor's information use model. Respondents comprised all 160 traditional medical practitioners that treat sickle cell anaemia. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered, structured questionnaire. Frequency and percentage…

A popular taxonomy for categorizing outcomes of training is the four-level model formulated by Kirkpatrick (1959). The first level in the model consists of reactions to training. Kirkpatrick recognized only affective reactions, but more recent reformulations of the model posit other types of reactions, including utility and perceptions of…

Geographic information systems (GIS) are a major component of the geospatial sciences, which are also composed of geostatistical analysis, remote sensing, and global positional satellite systems. These systems can be integrated into GIS for georeferencing, pattern analysis, visualization, and understanding spatial concepts that transcend…

As one of only six states receiving a federal Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy grant, Pennsylvania has designed and implemented an innovative program that focuses on improved instruction and interventions to ensure every student is literate and graduates from high school ready for college and a career. This report describes Pennsylvania's…

Effective teaching has long been an issue of national concern, but in recent years focus on the effectiveness of programs to produce high-quality teachers has sharpened. Long-standing achievement gaps persist despite large-scale legislative changes at the federal and state levels, and American students continue to show poorer performance on…

Student feedback surveys are an important component of the continuous improvement cycle at the University of Newcastle. This article describes a recently adopted holistic approach to collecting, analysing, reporting and acting on student feedback on courses (units of study), programs (collection of courses leading to an award) and the student…

Information-rich environments are created to promote data use in schools for the purpose of self-evaluation and quality assurance. However, providing feedback does not guarantee that schools will actually put it to use. One of the main stumbling blocks relates to the interpretation and diagnosis of the information. This study examines the…

In a world where the Florida Department of Education is in the process of committing to providing all K-12 content digitally by 2015, and where online education is increasing exponentially, schools are changing and so must school libraries and school librarians. Clearly, these are interesting times for all aspects of education. A variety of…