The current U.S. education agenda places unprecedented attention on improving the quality of its roughly fifteen hundred teacher preparation programs. The effort places considerable weight on measuring program effectiveness and includes a push to hold programs accountable for their graduates' effects on student performance. Concerns regarding the…

The components of quality educational planning for students with moderate and severe intellectual disability are well established, but schools and special educators may not always achieve a desirable standard. This article reports on the change in quality of documentation related to individual planning and programming over a span of 4 years in a…

Universities now regard student mobility programmes as a context for their students to acquire intercultural skills, cosmopolitan outlooks and potential labour market advantage. If executed thoughtfully, immersing students in unfamiliar cultural environments and different academic systems can make them aware of their own taken-for-granted…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" looks at three-year enrollment and attainment outcomes of students who persist through their first year. Additionally, first-year persisters (FYPs) were grouped based on the interaction of several student characteristics; analysis was conducted to…

This study documents the effects of an action research team, comprising parents, teachers, and school staff, from a predominately African-American elementary school, working together to design a program promoting high school completion for their young students. The study also examines the role that collaboration plays to bring together…

Based on the bestselling book "Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning", and its companion volume, "Data Wise in Action", this DVD and Facilitator's Guide offer insight into one of the most challenging steps in capturing data about school performance: observing and analyzing instructional…

Urban schools serving low-income minority children face a variety of challenges related to teacher quality, resources and school infrastructure. Programs such as the GK-12 Fellows Program, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), try to mitigate some of these issues by supporting partnerships between local school districts and institutions…

This document supplements the advice given in "How good is our school?" (HGIOS)--third edition and "The Child at the Centre"--second edition which set out comprehensive quality frameworks and provide helpful advice on the process of improvement through self-evaluation. In particular, this document provides advice on the…

Local school administrators, board members, and unions are in the best position to devise the compensation, evaluation, and professional development models that work for their communities. Many changes in personnel policy will be the subject of negotiations between school boards and local unions. But the state also has a vital role to play in…

With the state's latest preschool expansion initiative, New Jersey public schools have an opportunity to help reach thousands of additional young children who will ultimately reap the educational rewards of a high-quality preschool program. In those districts that do not already provide preschool, administrators will themselves become students as…

Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) often go above and beyond the call of duty to encourage engagement and provide support to traditionally underrepresented students. This issue of Lumina Foundation Focus magazine, titled "Pillars of progress," examines MSIs and their efforts to maximize student success. Following the President's Message, In…

This year's annual report of Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN) celebrates the continuing expansion of opportunities for high-quality education and career preparation available to Philadelphia youth. These opportunities--offered by an ever-growing set of partners and program providers--are present in neighborhoods and communities all across the…

The authors draw on some powerful practitioner research they have been associated with recently to envision ways in which a national curriculum might redress the inequities experienced by Australia's most disadvantaged young people.

The Bibliotherapy Education Project began as a teaching collaboration between faculty at Oregon State University's Libraries and School of Education. The project's evolution from 1999 to 2004 was previously described in this journal (McMillen 2005). The core of the project is a book evaluation tool, which builds counselor skill and knowledge in…

Research supports the effectiveness of matching instructional methods with student learning preferences (Dunn et al., 1995; Pascarella and Terenzini, 2005). Several challenges exist, however, for mathematics departments to design classroom learning experiences that allow students to learn mathematics and learn how to study math through their…