Institution wide comparisons of students who leave university before completing their degree and students who complete their studies, have identified "wrong course selection" and a lack of vocational focus as common reasons for non-completion. It is not fully understood, though, whether these trends are constant across different…

In Botswana, it is common to hear the lament that there is no culture of reading. We aim to contribute to the development of more specific understanding of a culture of reading by reporting on information gathered from teachers who attended workshops we offered titled "Teachers as Readers AND Readers as Teachers: Creating Young Readers and…

Minority groups should be accurately presented in educational materials for all school children, especially those with minority backgrounds. Materials should avoid giving the minority child a negative self-image. Life should be portrayed as it is, including harsh realities. Factual material must reflect authoritative, comprehensive, and current…

One of the hardest administrative duties for teacher-librarians seems to be collection development. One would think that the selection of books would be effortless, especially with the number of online bookstores offering used book discounts or free shipping for large orders. Deepening budget cuts and limited or untrained staff means collection…

Passages from three selected samples of textbooks are used to show what requirements are made of textbooks in the social sciences. Some hints are given to the teacher for converting reading suggestions into instructional material. Short texts from Karl Marx are also suggested. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Selection Research Incorporated (SRI) assisted in the selection of teachers for two school districts in Polk County, Iowa by analyzing audiotaped interviews with the top three or four candidates for each position and matching the candidates with previously prepared profiles of the school districts. Candidates were labeled highly recommended,…

This report is presented with the hope that an account of one group's experience will suggest some useful procedures and will encourage academic librarians to press for a voice in the selection of the administrator with whom they will work. (4 references) (Author/SJ)

This dissertation follows an oral language assessment tool from initial design and implementation to validity analysis. The specialized variables of this study are the population: international teaching assistants and the purpose: spoken assessment as a hiring prerequisite. However, the process can easily be applied to other populations and…

It is estimated that 50% of beginning teachers leave the profession within the first five years on the job (Murnane, Singer, Willett, Kemple, & Olsen, 1991; Colbert & Wolff, 1992; Ingersoll, 2003b; Schlechty & Vance, 1981). When teachers depart, they take with them their knowledge of instructional techniques, students' learning styles, and…

Leadership transitions provide opportunities for organizational growth and development. In the field of education, choosing an effective school principal is one of the most significant decisions that a superintendent or school board can make, as new leadership can propel a district forward in meeting its goals. Principals are responsible for…

Community colleges across the United States are experiencing an extraordinarily high demand for new instructors. Hiring exemplary instructors is at once an educational and an economic imperative, for the typical community college spends over $3 million on the career of one faculty member. Institutions must make sound, long-term decisions by…

This research documents and analyzes the nature and content of the knowledge that enables professors to foster learning for Black students. Specifically, it suggests that knowledge of the discourses of a students' community of origin, discourses often based on collective experience, are a valuable resource to professors in their efforts to promote…

This article reports on a study that explored the relationship between reading proficiency and cultural relevance of text for third-grade English Language Learners (ELLs). The author presents the Cultural Relevance Rubric that helps define and determine cultural relevance of texts. Participants used the rubric to rate the cultural relevance of two…

This paper examines the stratification of the curriculum according to parents' education, gender, ethnicity and school sector in England, focusing on year 10 subject choices. Using the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, we analyse both year 10 subject choices and the factors that may motivate these choices, such as liked and disliked…

Researchers have identified effective practices that allow schools to "beat the odds" and close the reading achievement gap. Although identifying these practices is important, researchers have paid little attention to the work it takes to implement them. Through interviews with teachers who work at schools identified as beating the odds, this…