Within a public health approach to improving parenting, the mass media offer a potentially more efficient and affordable format for directly reaching a large number of parents with evidence-based parenting information than do traditional approaches to parenting interventions that require delivery by a practitioner. Little is known, however, about…

A problem that is still unexplored in the field of socioscientific issues (SSI) and that was explored in this study is how different students decide upon a SSI they are discussing, how their justifications change during the instruction and how they use (or not) the evidence from the learning environment to support their justifications. For the…

This study reports on the steering of a self-access learning center in a Japanese university by its "middle management" committee over the first years of its operation. Middle management practice was informed by an ethnographic archive of various facets of center use, particularly concerning language policy and curriculum integration, issues about…

US school libraries are required to ensure that schoolchildren and school staff with disabilities have equal opportunity to use and benefit from library facilities and information services under federal law. However, evidence indicates teacher-librarians (TLs) often lack the training, knowledge and skills to provide programmes and services that…

The dominance of the human capital approach in vocational skills development has been increasingly questioned for being de-humanised and de-contextualised. Contrary to this trend, the discourse in health professional skills development has shown increasing enthusiasm for consolidating this existing paradigm. To debate whether professional skills…

The widespread use and availability of information and communication technologies (ICT) has greatly impacted how nations conceptualize innovation and the ways formal mass education can be used to advance socio-political and economic agendas. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have increasingly focused on the roles of science and…

Parents are a child's first educator. A child's family and home environment has a strong impact on his/her language and literacy development and educational achievement. This impact is stronger during the child's early years but continues throughout their school years. Many background variables affect the impact of the family and home environment…

Can mentoring and coaching really improve professional practice? How can research and inquiry improve mentoring and coaching practice? "Mentoring and Coaching in Schools" explores the ways in which mentoring and coaching can be used as a dynamic collaborative process for effective professional learning. It demonstrates how the use of practitioner…

I began this study with two assumptions. Assumption 1: Study quality matters. If the means by which researchers design, carry out, and report on their studies lack in rigor or transparency, theory and practice are likely to be misguided or at least decelerated. Assumption 2 is an implication of Assumption 1: Quality should be measured rather than…

Adolescent writing proficiency is widely considered to be in a state of crisis nationally, and new instructional approaches are needed to raise writing proficiency among all adolescents, with special attention to those students who struggle most (Graham & Perin, 2007). The affordances of digital communication media, such as online discussion…

"Effective Programs for Treating Autism Spectrum Disorder" is written for teachers, parents, and the many service providers who work with individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Part one reviews the characteristics of ASD, summarizes major theories and research findings regarding cause(s) of ASD, and discusses the most popular…

School district leaders are faced with numerous decisions in the administration of America's schools. One crucial decision that must be made is the selection of elementary reading or math curricular materials. The curricular materials purchased for classroom use are often influential in determining instructional practices and often guide the…

Despite alarming rates and negative consequences associated with urban teacher attrition, mentoring programs often fail to target the strongest predictors of attrition: effectiveness around classroom management and engaging learners Edution; and connectedness to colleagues. Using a mixed-method iterative development framework, we highlight the…

The view that children should have a say in and participate in the decision making of matters that affect them is now an accepted position when considering research and policy in the early years. This paper reviews the field of child participation in the Australian context to show that, despite growing evidence of support within policy and…

In an era of intense state and federal accountability for teaching and student learning, school principals face noteworthy challenges which typically work against recommending contract non-renewal for teachers. School principals confront tremendous pressure from state and federal accountability legislation to produce evidence of student learning…