Within the field of technology enhanced learning, adaptive educational systems offer an advanced form of learning environment that attempts to meet the needs of different students. Such systems capture and represent, for each student, various characteristics such as knowledge and traits in an individual learner model. Subsequently, using the…

Online assessments afford many advantages for teachers and students. Okolo (2006) stated, "As the power, sophistication, and availability of technology have increased in the classroom, online assessments have become a viable tool for providing the type of frequent and dynamic assessment information that educators need to guide instructional…

This guide is intended as a basic resource for preschool Spanish/English bilingual home training. It presents an overview of the bilingual project of which it is an outgrowth, and offers guidelines for setting up similar programs. The guidelines cover such topics as: (1) tutor selection, training, and evaluation; (2) recommended materials for…

This booklet contains detailed information about topics related to opportunities offered by "No Child Left Behind" ("NCLB"): (1) closing the achievement gap; (2) parental involvement; (3) school choice; and (4) tutoring and financial aid for college. The publication is designed as a working tool, including space for individual…

The Haiti Scholarship Program is a USAID-funded effort managed by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and implemented by local Haitian non-profit organization Le Fonds de Parrainage National (FPN) to provide scholarship support to more than 15,000 students in the five Haitian cities of Petit-Goave, Port-au-Prince, Saint-Marc, Gonaives, and…

This paper considers the influence of e-tuition using an asynchronous written conferencing package, "FirstClass," upon retention and success rates for Masters-level courses in a distance learning programme as compared with similar courses that were supported in a traditional manner using face-to-face tuition. The paper investigates the common…

With increasing attention focused on comprehension, there is a need for research regarding how to implement comprehension instruction for struggling readers and assess its effectiveness. This article describes reading instruction as it occurred over two years with one struggling reader in third and fourth grade. A comprehension checklist provided…

Practice and experience, whether simulated or on the job, are not enough to ensure effective learning. Learners must be able to make sense of those experiences to identify poor decisions and actions, missing knowledge, and weak skills that deserve attention. Using instructors to provide one-on-one instruction is effective but also expensive. This…

This paper reports the results of a pilot in-service teacher training program undertaken in China from 2001 to 2004. Upon completion, the in-service teachers were awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree (non-honor) specializing in English Language Education. Many interesting findings resulted from this pilot program. By integrating low- and…

The paper describes a classification system for adaptive methods developed in the area of adaptive educational hypermedia based on four dimensions: What components of the educational system are adapted? To what features of the user and the current context does the system adapt? Why does the system adapt? How does the system get the necessary…

Private tutoring is a widespread phenomenon in many developing countries, including Vietnam. Using the Vietnam Living Standards Surveys 1997-1998 and 1992-1993 for analysis, this paper finds evidence that private tutoring in Vietnam is a necessity in the household budget for both primary students and lower secondary students, and the trend to…

Experimental learning environments based on simulation usually require monitoring and adaptation to the actions the users carry out. Some systems provide this functionality, but they do so in a way which is static or cannot be applied to problem solving tasks. In response to this problem, we propose a method based on the use of intermediate…

Urban schools today face numerous challenges. Urban poverty; high mobility in and out of neighborhoods; schools with inadequate funding to cover the educational, social, and health needs of urban children and their families; and high teacher turnover are just a few of the vital issues that call for partnerships with communities, service agencies,…

This paper proposes a new bipartisan initiative to strengthen the effectiveness of U.S. social programs by focusing funds within each program on research-proven projects, practices, and strategies ("interventions"). The proposal seeks neither an increase nor decrease in overall program funding; rather, its central aim is to maximize the…

Closing the achievement gap between low- and high-achieving public school students is an important goal of public education. This article explores background information and research and discusses examples of best practices to close the achievement gap. Several plans have been proposed as ways to enhance the achievement of under-represented…