Discusses Web-based instruction (WBI)and presents a decision making model based on a set of questions relating to the use of WBI. Topics include motivation for WBI; content and pedagogy, including instructional design; the target audience, including characteristics of successful online students; time factors; resources needed, including costs,…

Examines superintendent search and selection practices in New York State districts, using gatekeeping and career mobility theories. Findings illustrate how certain elements of school-board and headhunting practices, school-administration norms, and dominant ideological/sociocultural values facilitate nonminority males' access and limit others'…

Explores controversial questions related to libraries' decision-making on paper journals and electronic journals. Notes that the critical mass of scholarly publishing is still in print. Discusses benefits and drawbacks of electronic journals and paper journals. Presents comments on the pros and cons to binding paper periodicals gathered from an…

Analyzes the trend toward ranking colleges, and what it means to community colleges. States that the National Center for Public Policy published "Measuring Up 2000" as its first state-by-state report card on higher education, including community colleges. Reports that the study ranks the states according to six key elements: preparation,…

Describes the development of the Suffolk Cooperative Library System's live, online chat reference service, a pilot project for public libraries in Suffolk County (New York). Topics include chat software selection; a virtual reference collection; marketing; funding; staffing; evaluation; expanded hours of service; email; and extracting data from…

This study examined the opinions of more than 300 primary teachers. The first purpose of the study was to investigate the reported frequency with which teachers used various beginning reading materials (e.g., literature, basals, workbooks, predictable text, leveled text, decodable text, and vocabulary-controlled text). The second purpose of the…

Teacher implementation of the Accelerated Reader Program is as widespread as it is diverse in terms of classroom and campus application. This manuscript highlights the findings of an informal, pilot study that examined four categories regarding the Accelerated Reader Program. The categories include: (1) assessment; (2) aesthetics and text…

As universities and colleges have changed, so has the role of faculty. Greater accountability is expected for faculty time and effort. This paper considers faculty roles by the institution preparing new faculty, the institution hiring new faculty, and the new faculty member themselves. All institutions are seeking faculty who are triple threats:…

Purpose: Teacher hiring decisions have far-reaching consequences for a school, its students, and faculty. This article examines how new teachers in four states are hired and explores whether the process leads to good matches between these individuals and their schools. The authors conceive of hiring as a two-way process and examine the extent to…

Contemporary educational thought holds that one of the pivotal causes of inadequate student achievement is the inability of schools to staff classrooms with qualified teachers. The primary sources of the problem of underqualified teachers are, most assume, deficits in the quantity of prospective teachers recruited and in the quality of preparation…

This article examines the current phenomenon of blogging from an archival point of view. To better understand the nature of blogs, the author conducted an informal survey of bloggers at Princeton Theological Seminary. The results of this survey show that blogs represent a dynamic but ephemeral new form of electronic record and writing practice.…

This paper focuses on the results of a study examining the relationship among gender, leadership style and principal selection. A sample of 64 Arizona elementary teachers participated in the study. Key issues related to gender and leadership style were identified through a literature review, teacher ratings of four fictitious principals, coded…

The selection of resources for nursing is influenced by the type of nurse client and the institutional setting. Clients include students, professionals and educators. They may use academic and public libraries or resource centers in patient care settings such as hospitals. Nursing collections support four purposes: education, research, clinical…

This study analyzed the responses of K-8 human resource directors and principals to teacher education students' electronic portfolios used for hiring. From the focus groups several themes emerged. First, because the principals do not have much time to examine portfolios of any kind, the ideal electronic portfolio would include only a few clearly…

This article describes the history of the failed New York City Teacher Selection Project (TSP; 1947-1953), a collaborative effort to replace the city's teacher licensing tests, which emphasized subject matter knowledge with personality tests. The TSP was a partnership between the Board of Examiners and the Citizens Committee for Children, and its…