During the last few decades, a number of quality improvement methodologies have been used by organizations. This article provides a brief review of the quality improvement literature related to academia and a case study using Six Sigma methodology to analyze students' performance in a standardized examination. We found Six Sigma to be an effective…

The aim of the study is to deepen our understanding of factors which students experience as important in learning, in order to improve the quality of teaching and curriculum planning. A total of 132 veterinary students participated in the study by answering a questionnaire containing open-ended questions. Most of the comments on factors enhancing…

Recently, the Music Educators National Conference (MENC) general music forum was abuzz with comments about teacher hierarchy. Many general music teachers expressed dismay at not always receiving the respect they deserve from colleagues teaching ensembles at the secondary level. In this article, the author talks about the importance of…

A brief overview of the 2007 National Federation of the Blind-Jernigan Institute Youth Slam Chemistry Track, a course of study within a science camp that provided firsthand experimental experience to 200 students who are blind and low-vision, is given. For many of these students, this was their first hands-on experience with laboratory chemistry.…

In this study, science faculty and educators collaboratively developed a plan to evaluate an interdisciplinary science curriculum and its administration policy. The science faculty were engaged in determining criteria for evaluation and interpreting data. The collaborative evaluation stressed graduate attributes in the affective domain and…

Objective: Educational program evaluation and program improvement are processes that can be enhanced by involving multiple stakeholders and measurement tools. The purpose of this study was to compare faculty and resident physician perceptions of both teaching quality and resident competence for 13 core psychiatric skills and the six Accreditation…

Today with teacher cutbacks looming, and more integration units, general teachers might be required to teach the visual arts. Therefore, teachers need a clear definition of the discipline of art and personal exposure to aesthetic experiences. Many references are made to classic art education research. When lesson plan formats are generic it…

There has been a wealth of research conducted on the national epidemic of high school dropouts spanning several decades. It is estimated that the class of 2009 cost the nation $335 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetimes (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2009). The citizenry of the country suffers not only because of…

This important, timely, and thought-provoking reader is a collection of original chapters by authors from five different countries, each of whom explores a facet of transformative leadership. Transformative leadership is fundamentally a critical approach to leadership that goes well beyond the tenets of most current leadership theories to focus on…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of using renewable energy data, obtained from a comprehensive data acquisition system, on improving students' learning and developing their higher-order learning skills. This study used renewable energy data available through a data acquisition system installed and tested by the Green Research…

This paper reports on findings from a five-teacher, exploratory case study, critically observing their implementation of a technology-intensive, augmented reality (AR) mathematics curriculum unit, along with its paper-based control. The unit itself was intended to promote multiple proportional-reasoning strategies with urban, public, middle school…

Since the move towards inclusion in line with international trends and South Africa's attempts to address issues of marginalisation and discrimination amongst all learners, including those with special needs and disabilities, it has become evident on perusal of various research studies and reviews that there is an obsession with how far we have…

This action research examines experiences that students in a grade 10 EFL class had with redesigning a grammar-unit into a topic-based unit. Strategies were formulating significant learning goals and objectives, and implementing and reflecting on activities with three dimensions of Dee Fink's (2003) taxonomy of significant learning: the human…

This study examined the participation styles of nine parents while attending Individual Educational Program (IEP) meetings for their children. The nine parents consisted of three parents from a suburban school district, three parents from a rural school district, and three parents from an urban school district. Data collection through videotaping…

Since the American Revolution free public education has been a discussion of political debate. The purpose that such an institution should play in society is a debate fervently argued when the founding fathers wanted to build a republic based on meritocracy. The problem this study addresses is the undefined relationship between the goals of…