Through a mixed-methods study, teacher educators investigated recent graduates' perceptions of their preparation program. Beginning special education teachers completed surveys and indicated (a) their level of preparation and confidence associated with 25 core competencies, (b) the most beneficial components of their preparation program, (c)…

Accountability and performance incentive plans in education are compromised by goal distortion, gaming, and corruption. Education policy makers who design such plans have paid insufficient attention to similar experiences in other fields. This paper describes institutions in health care, job training and welfare administration, and in the private…

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a federal education law that was passed in 2001 with the laudable but challenging goal of closing the achievement gap between minority and white students and improving academic achievement among all students. To that end, NCLB has held states, school districts, and individual schools to impossibly high standards of…

Unaccompanied youth are young people who lack safe, stable housing and who are not in the care of a parent or guardian. They may have run away from home or been forced to leave by their parents. Unaccompanied youth live in a variety of temporary situations, including shelters, the homes of friends or relatives, cars, campgrounds, public parks,…

This study uses rich empirical data from Brazil to assess how a government program (PDE) that decentralizes school management decisions changes what goes on in schools and how these changes affect student outcomes. It appears that the PDE resulted in some improvements in management and learning materials, but little change in other areas including…

This report provides AISD staff with a guide to sustain project evaluation practices on ARRA IDEA projects after grant funding ends by enhancing staff capacity to include evaluation in planning, managing, and improving the projects and programs.

Recent critics of university-based educational leadership preparations programs have alleged that the programs are out of touch with the contemporary practices of PK-12 school leaders. These complaints about preparation programs have resulted in new and innovative ways to prepare leaders, including the federally funded United States Department of…

In the United States of America, all students and staff have a constitutional right to attend schools that are safe, secure, and successful. Despite this right, at many public schools, education leaders have failed to ensure the safety and high academic achievement of all students. The purpose of this research study is to expand knowledge about…

Most organizations focus on one-off training solutions to address a single workplace learning need at a single time rather than integrating learning and nonlearning interventions to help staff develop increasingly complex levels of expertise specific to their jobs. Curriculum is a long-term, integrated approach to training in which workers take…

The IDEIA 2004 presents opportunities for change in our methods for improving the process of Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) identification. While common approaches to improvement often focus on the assessment tools alone, consideration of stakeholder values and resource constraints are equally important to develop effective solutions that…

The report of the External Program Review Team on Teacher Education to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education featured 23 recommendations for Oklahoma to become a leader in teacher education. The recommendations were grouped into five categories of concerns: program rigor, faculty resources, technology, interrelationships/leadership, and…

This paper: (1) discusses why science and mathematics education are important; (2) outlines why a comprehensive improvement program is necessary; and (3) describes how North Carolina is attempting to improve science and mathematics education as related to teacher supply and quality, student enrollment and performance, curriculum and instructional…

The Faculty Grants for the Improvement of Undergraduate Instruction, Excellence in Teaching Awards, and Distinguished Teaching Professorships programs were implemented in 1972 by the State University of New York (SUNY) in an effort to recognize and reward teaching excellence. An evaluation of these programs was conducted as part of a national…

Trustees at three small, independent colleges were interviewed to determine how trustees could contribute to a college's revitalization. Based on these interviews, several ways in which trustees can help individually and collectively with a college's revitalization were identified. The three colleges were located in different states and regions…

Argues that educators must reform interscholastic sports programs at the middle school level for age appropriateness. Discusses several areas of concern, including physical injuries, psychological considerations, sports burnout, coaches, families, and liability. Proposes ten considerations for program design covering inclusiveness, risk…