Addresses the issue of how educators can begin to improve poorly performing urban middle level schools. Suggests poor infrastructures, school size, and the lack of qualified professionals as reasons why many school underperform. Contends that solutions need to come from those who control the resources, specifically politicians and government…

This article presents a progress report on urban school districts' efforts to execute the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act, a law they greeted with both hope and fear due to the sanctions it authorized against failing systems. To investigate their progress, the Council of the Great City Schools conducted a survey of its 60 member urban…

The author examines why educational leaders are voicing increasing support for attending to the moral, ethical, and civic development of college students and what can be done to enhance these efforts.

This chapter uses a case study to develop a set of contexts and conditions for improving the alignment of purposes of alumni survey research within and across higher education institutions. (Contains 2 tables.)

Accountability and reporting mechanisms go hand in hand with government programs that promote workforce development. This chapter describes current practice in the United States and suggests how institutional researchers can help improve the process of documenting outcomes. (Contains 1 table.)

In its effort to simplify the accreditation process, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education has limited the amount of documentation that a program can use to support its efforts for accreditation. With this "no frills" approach, the rubrics or scoring guides that accompany assessments provide critical information about the…

To improve technical communication education, educators and internship providers need to find ways to revise internship experiences so that educators, internship providers, and students/interns can use internship experiences in a way that benefits all three parties. This article uses a stakeholder education approach to propose two new kinds of…

Higher education is influenced significantly by regional and disciplinary accrediting organizations. Regional accrediting organizations accredit entire institutions, while disciplinary accreditors approve programs within those institutions. All accrediting organizations require institutions and programs to examine their educational effectiveness…

Extensive practice and research in program evaluation have led to this eight-step process that a professional developer can use to determine a program's effectiveness and strengthen the program as it evolves. An unbiased, systematic process of evaluation can help justify putting resources into professional learning and make it easier to determine…

The purposes of this paper are twofold. First, we argue that the rationalistic assumptions on which dominant conceptions of the coaching process rest are rather unrealistic. We therefore hold that they have relatively limited potential either for a theoretical understanding of coaching or for guiding practitioners. Second, we tentatively offer the…

This article describes strategies for redesigning the University of Missouri's Statewide Cooperative Ed.D. Cohort Program in educational leadership. Results had suggested a need to redesign aspects of the program in order to achieve higher levels of cognitive learning outcomes inclusive of transformational learning. To help meet this objective,…

Each year, the Community College Survey of Student Engagement ("CCSSE") presents the results of its annual survey. These results give community colleges objective and relevant data about students' experiences at their colleges so they can better understand how effectively they are engaging their students and identify areas for…

Many thousands of children in the UK are educated at home, and the subject of support for the home-education community is debated. The National Foundation for Educational Research conducted research to examine the views of home educators about the support they receive from local authorities, other home-educating families, schools and other…

Highlighting the need for a redefinition and redirection of social services for children and families, this report proposes a new model for social services that can enhance the development of children and the functioning of families. Two essential and interrelated components of the model described and discussed are: (1) supporting and expanding…

This product checklist can be used to determine whether a particular workplace literacy product (such as a series of instructional workbooks, curriculum guides, or computerized instructional systems), follows best practice and will meet the needs of a particular business firm and build the productive capacity of its employees. The checklist was…