Model-eliciting activities (MEA), specially designed client-drive, open-ended problems, have been implemented in a first-year engineering course and in secondary schools. The educational goals and settings are different, but the design of an MEA enables it to be versatile. This paper will introduce the reader to the principles that guide MEA…

The Department of Mathematics at Iowa State University teaches a freshman-level Discrete Mathematics course with total enrollment of about 1,800 students per year. The traditional format includes large lectures, with about 150 students each, taught by faculty and temporary instructors in two class sessions per week and recitation sections, with…

The Whole-Faculty Study Group (WFSG) System is a student-centered, teacher-driven process for facilitating major staff development and schoolwide change. When applied properly, it has produced extraordinary results for thousands of educators and students in schools and school districts across the country. The Whole-Faculty Study Groups Fieldbook…

In 2002, the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF) published the author's "Ten Educational Trends Shaping School Planning and Design" [ED467701], which received considerable attention and has been downloaded from the NCEF website by thousands of users. Here is an update by the author, with the ten trends expanded to twelve. This…

In October 2003, the US Department of Education contracted with Abt Associates to design and conduct the Reading First Implementation Evaluation. This report focuses on the following questions: (1) How is the Reading First program implemented in districts and schools? and (2) How does reading instruction differ in Reading First schools and…

The purpose of this publication is to identify the essential components of appropriate programming mandated by Alberta Education for students with special education needs, to provide examples of effective practices, to establish a common understanding of the terminology associated with this specialized field, and to clarify the meaning of…

Technology education is a field of study which seeks to promote technological literacy for all students. Some recent research in the field has focused on integrating content and methodology from engineering design into technology education classes, particularly at the secondary level. This study contributes to the research base in technology…

This research study developed a value-added instructional improvement analysis model. North Carolina state testing results were used in regression and residual analyses of student achievement. This analysis allowed for identification of the "most effective" and "least effective" biology teachers in Wake County Public Schools…

Alum Rock Elementary Union School District had an interest in a middle school program being introduced by Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI) called "History Alive!" Supplementary materials from TCI were already in use in many of the classrooms and several of the district administrators were interested in whether the full middle school…

The 2006 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (CSC), a joint conference with the Illinois Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, celebrated languages of the world in the classroom and in the community. This volume of the CSC "Report" is the companion volume for the 2005 CSC "Report," "The…

The recently mandated, National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) electronic submission format poses a significant challenge to teacher educators charged with compiling a program report for the purpose of securing national recognition from NCATE. The program report guidelines stipulate that compilers may use a maximum of only…

This study examines whether two online courses offering educational support for junior faculty have a positive effect on their attitudes to learning and curriculum and teaching capacities (CTC). The data used in the analysis are from two 2005 online university training courses. The tasks the online courses assign to faculty, the resources they…

Current evidence indicates that the blended course delivery method can reduce costs, improve student academic performance, and improve instructor success in meeting course learning objectives when compared to face-to-face instruction. The present examination of best practices employed the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) (2000) quality…

This manuscript reports on the first year of a formative, external program evaluation of the Critical Fusion Initiative (CFI), which involved a higher education institution, a public high school, a corporation, and two nonprofit organizations. The initiative fused technology and education to address the issue of equity by assisting 16 high school…

Educational and legislative reforms occurring in the last half of the 20th century appear to have been initiated in response to the writings of John Dewey. The field of teacher education has responded to these reforms by adopting many new models of teacher preparation, technologies, and innovative best practices. Many of these changes were…