As traditional universities grapple with an onslaught of demand for distance education a recurring call to ensure quality in such offerings arises. The Quality Matters Program intends to guarantee such quality through a peer-centered process and offers a certification process to help assure quality in online and blended courses. This report is a…

The Australian government initiated a review of higher education in 2008. One of the outcomes of the review was the formation of a national regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), with responsibilities to: register all higher education providers, accredit the courses of the non self-accrediting providers, assure…

This research study compared the effects of the intrusive form of developmental academic advising (IDAA) and the influence of additional academic support services on the mean cumulative Grade Point Averages (GPAs) of 4 randomly assembled groups of academically at-risk college students during 2 separate semesters. Academically at-risk students are…

This article explores an urban partnership and service-learning project deliberately created to improve literacy and strengthen learning communities in an urban, Latino neighborhood of Chicago. The project aligns activities and objectives with resources and needs of university participants, a Latino community organization, and local public…

Communities of practice as organisations of learning have developed different forms as: task-based, practice-based or knowledge based communities (Barab et al., 2004). The paper presents a case study of a successful community of practice developed under the umbrella of Council of Europe Pestalozzi programme for teacher development. The programme…

This is the latest in a series of case studies highlighting best practices High Schools That Work (HSTW) network schools and districts are implementing to prepare students better for further studies and careers. Fort Mill High School is in Fort Mill, South Carolina, an outlying suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. Fort Mill links high quality…

The University of Wisconsin--La Crosse offers the first web-based medical dosimetry program in the nation. There is no data to research a program of this type. This research consisted of the evaluation of other distance education programs including health profession programs in addition to face-to-face medical dosimetry programs. There was need to…

A constant dilemma for teacher education in Australia and overseas is the difficulty of finding sufficient numbers of placements for preservice teachers to complete the professional experience/student teaching component of their course. Statements related to quantity of placements gain both public and professional attention while less attention is…

The effectiveness of instructional development evaluation programs is assessed. It is suggested that although it is a basic tenet in instructional development that teaching improvement is closely linked to effective evaluation, it is ironical that most instructional development programs have themselves been evaluated only superficially, if at all.…

This guide begins with background information useful to understanding Illinois' framework for implementation and evaluation of Programs of Study. It starts with a visual depiction of the relationships between activity at the federal, state and local levels that evolved to the creation of Illinois' Career Cluster Model. This Model, which is based…

This study assessed the attitudes of three groups that participated in Upward Bound, a newly instituted academic advisory program at Tomball High School in Texas. It also provided a baseline of data to measure students' academic performance. The three groups, 300 high school freshmen, 115 of their parents, and 33 full time faculty, responded to…

These hearing transcripts present testimony concerning the quality and availability of child care in the United States, focusing on ways to improve the quality of home-based child care. Much of the testimony addressed the need to provide increased educational and training opportunities for home-based child care providers and to better regulate and…

In response to recommendations in the Illinois Board of Higher Education's November 1994 Priorities, Quality, and Productivity report, the 52 community colleges in the state began preparing annual reports of outcomes related to specific college objectives for the year. This report provides executive summaries of the colleges' reports for fiscal…

The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program is designed to help the more than 1 million workers per year who lose their jobs because of permanent layoffs or plant closures, due in part because of imports. Studies show, however, that the TAA program fails to meet the seven goals of a successful reemployment assistance program: (1) TAA benefits…

Cultural competence is a set of behaviors, attitudes, and policies that enable a system, agency, or individual to function effectively in trans-cultural interactions. The term refers to a person or program's ability to honor and respect the cultural differences of individuals and families who are clients and staff. A culturally competent system…