The purpose of this study was to determine what types of texts would best support the at-home reading for a first grader who struggled with reading. Results of running records for 12 books of varying text types indicated he used visual cues, picture cues, and his schema as he attempted to read. Ten of 12 of the texts were hard for him to read.…

Mentoring has been widely recognized as an important aspect of the professional preparation of beginning teachers. How mentoring is viewed bears important implications for how mentoring is to be practiced and experienced. This study investigated the views of mentoring held by mentors, mentored in-service teachers and university teachers in a…

Nine preschool and school-age language assessment tools found to have acceptable levels of identification accuracy were evaluated to determine their overall levels of psychometric validity for use in diagnosing the presence/absence of language impairment. Eleven specific criteria based on those initially devised by McCauley and Swisher (1984) were…

The main goals of course evaluations are to obtain student feedback regarding courses and teaching for improvement purposes and to provide a defined and practical process to ensure that actions are taken to improve courses and teaching. Of the items on course evaluation forms, the one that receives the most attention and consequently the most…

The purpose of this study was to have a better understanding of what rural superintendents are looking for in new first-year teachers, and to provide that information to future teaching candidates and colleges of education that are preparing teachers for the 21st Century classroom. Over the past twenty years, superintendents have not changed in…

One of the most important things school systems can do to promote student achievement is to ensure that all students have effective teachers. Effective teachers may be particularly important for the most disadvantaged students. The U.S. Department of Education commissioned the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to create this report as a…

Minnesota's Intervention for College Attendance Program (ICAP) is a program of competitive grants awarded to postsecondary institutions, professional organizations and community-based organizations. Funded programs focus on increasing the access and success of groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education by strengthening their…

A national survey reveals increasing attempts to challenge or restrict the books available to students. Schools need to establish a book selection policy, a method for dealing with complaints, and better communication with the public. (Author/JM)

Directed at the novice selector of Latin American literature in Spanish, this article suggests a strategy and tools for collecting these titles. Sources consulted for selecting this literature; book dealers, vendors, and publishers with a strong literary focus, and useful World Wide Web sites are appended. (AEF)

In early 2008 the Board of Directors of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) convened a Task Force on Accreditation to work toward a unified approach to accreditation. The Task Force brought together AACTE representatives with the two major federally-recognized accrediting agencies in educator preparation--the…

One influential hypothesis for what makes teachers effective contends that the best teachers share a particular set of values about education, such as commitment, caring, or persistence. To translate affective beliefs, attitudes, and values into practicable teacher selection, many schools have turned to commercial teacher hiring instruments. This…

This paper examines innovations in strategic faculty hiring emphasizing interdisciplinarity at two major public research universities in the USA. The research investigated how and why the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison chose to pursue interdisciplinary faculty recruitment, how it was structured, and how it…

College trustees are hiring more leaders from outside the academy, and it is the self-made executives who generate the buzz. The reason, experts say, is that presidents with corporate experience know the vagaries of the marketplace, as well as the language of lawmakers, corporate executives, and donors. Too many college chiefs, says one source,…

This research has the nature of a descriptive case study aiming to clarify the opinions of primary education classroom teachers about the use of materials and tools in the lessons. It is a qualitative research benefiting from focus group interview method which is one of the efficient data collection techniques. "Semi-Structured Interview…

The selection of books to read to young children matters enormously in the role books play for enriching children's lives. This paper reviews the scientific evidence for the appropriate selection of books, and argues that care in selecting books targeted to children's developing skills will enhance the power and the pleasures of reading to young…