A recent study asked 178 secondary school principals at 100 schools to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies used with at-risk youth. The most effective strategies were afterschool programs, Chapter I programs, teacher aides, coping skills, and peer tutoring for middle schools; and individualized instruction, teacher aides, and summer school…

Discusses how teachers can become certified as distance learning specialists and how to improve skills needed to teach with telecommunications technologies. Highlights include programs in North Carolina; Utah State University's Distance Learning Endorsement Program; the University of Wisconsin's Distance Education Certificate Program; and the…

Describes 360-degree feedback that provides performance data from multiple points of reference. Topics include reasons for performance improvement; what needs improvement; how to improve; choosing a reliable 360-degree instrument; and applications of 360-degree feedback, including personal development, team development, change, and needs…

Suggests that performance consultants are at their best for the benefit of clients when they assume the role of facilitator, not solver of clients' performance problems. Describes the four requirements involved in facilitation: Facilitators, Exemplary Performers, a Model, and Resources. Illustrates how to implement and use the four features of…

This paper has shown how XML (extensible Markup Language) can be used to mark up content. Since XML documents, with meaningful tags, can be interpreted easily by humans as well as computers, they are ideal for the interchange of information. Because XML tags can be defined by an individual or organization, XML documents have proven useful in a…

Although arguments in scholarly journals claim that leadership is critical in initiating and sustaining school improvement, ambiguity surrounds the sources and role of leadership. In addition, little research documents how educators involved in school improvement perceive who leads, how, why, and for what purposes leadership is important. This…

Bad relationships between a college board and its faculty can lead to erosion of the board's authority, faculty votes of no confidence, and general institutional instability. However, institutions like Randolph-Macon College are finding ways to improve the lack of understanding and sympathy between faculty members and trustees.

The qualitative study reported here assessed the needs of agents related to new agent professional development to improve the current model. Agents who participated in new agent professional development within the last 5 years were selected to participate in focus groups to determine concerns and continued needs. Agents enjoyed networking and…

This paper describes a mentoring program designed to prepare novice instructors to teach a college geometry class using inquiry-based methods. The mentoring program was used in a medium-sized public university with approximately 12,000 undergraduate students and 1,500 graduate students. The authors worked together to implement a mentoring program…

Any examination that involves moderate to high stakes implications for examinees should be psychometrically sound and legally defensible. Currently, there are two broad and competing families of test theories that are used to score examination data. The majority of instructors outside the high-stakes testing arena rely on classical test theory…

This paper describes a mentoring program designed to prepare novice instructors to teach a college geometry class using inquiry-based methods. The mentoring program was used in a medium-sized public university with approximately 12,000 undergraduate students and 1,500 graduate students. The authors worked together to implement a mentoring program…

Many universities have instituted global education programs to prepare their students for the demands of living in a global society; yet, little information exists about the effectiveness of these programs from the participants' perspectives. At the local level, a liberal arts university has not undertaken an assessment of its global learning…

Purpose: The article aims to describe the problem- and project-based learning (PPBL) program and the institutional context at Arizona State University's School of Sustainability (SOS), with the goal of offering experience-based guidance for similar initiatives in sustainability programs around the world. Design/methodology/approach: This case…

This essay discusses SciELO, a scientific journal database operating in 14 countries. It covers over 1000 journals providing open access to full text and table sets of scientometrics data. In Brazil it is responsible for a collection of nearly 300 journals, selected along 15 years as the best Brazilian periodicals in natural and social sciences.…

The National Quality Framework (NQF) was introduced to improve the quality of Australia's early childhood education and care and outside school hours care services. One goal of the NQF was to reduce unnecessary compliance burden on children's education and care services through a jointly-governed system of regulation, replacing overlapping…