In the field of rehabilitation services, substance abuse counseling requires unique skills. Post-baccalaureate academic certificate programs offer professionals an opportunity to retool or expand their skills and meet licensure needs in this evolving field. East Carolina University's online Substance Abuse Counseling Certificate Program was…

This article analyzes the organization of the fair trade flower industry, integration of Ecuadorian enterprises into these networks, and power of certification to address key environmental and social concerns on participating estates. Pursuing a social regulatory approach, I locate fair trade within the field of new institutions that establish and…

This paper examines the daily labor supply of a potentially important, but often overlooked, source of instruction in U.S. public schools: substitute teachers. I estimate a sequential binary-choice model of substitute teachers' job-offer acceptance decisions using data on job offers made by a randomized automated calling system. Importantly, this…

Renewable energy systems are beginning to appear everywhere. Solar modules are creating "blue roofs" that convert the energy from the sun into household electricity. Solar thermal systems on roofs can generate hot water. Wind turbines catch breezes to provide even more electricity. Recommendations for saving energy, specifying systems for…

This study examines the motivating factors that prompted post-baccalaureate students to change careers and to pursue an initial teaching license. Researchers collected survey data from 346 nontraditional teaching candidates who were part of either an initial licensure master's degree program or a statewide nontraditional licensure program.…

This commentary on the article titled "Examining the Internal Structure Evidence for the Performance Assessment for California Teachers: A Validation Study of the Elementary Literacy Teaching Event for Tier 1 Teacher Licensure" provides an overview of Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT), its relationship to edTPA and…

This is the second of a two-part article intended to offer teacher educators a cohesive overview of the sprawling and uneven field of research on teacher preparation by identifying, analyzing, and critiquing its major programs. The article discusses research on teacher preparation for the knowledge society and research on teacher preparation for…

As states move to implement the Common Core State Standards, key challenges remain. One is how to make sure a high school diploma acknowledges what students have achieved. Should states adopt a two tiered diploma, in which students who pass internationally aligned Common Core exams at a career- and college-ready level receive an…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the demographic profile of candidates seeking music teacher licensure in the United States and to understand whether performance on the Praxis II music teacher licensure tests varies systematically as a function of various demographic characteristics. Praxis II music test data and background questionnaire…

This article presents three lessons from research by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) on strategies community colleges can use to improve completion rates while maintaining broad access and keeping costs low for students and taxpayers. I also identify two sets of data pointing to the potential returns to students and society that could…

Of the copious research on the labor market returns to college, very little has adequately modeled the pathways of non-completers or compared their outcomes with those of award holders. In this paper, we present a novel method for linking non-completers with completers according to their program of study. This method allows us to calculate the…

This report is written for: (1) institutional leaders responsible for quality in online, open and flexible higher education; (2) faculty wanting to have an overview of the field; (3) newcomers that want to develop quality schemes; (4) policy makers in governments, agencies and organisations; and (5) major educational stakeholders in the…

This paper presents research undertaken with trainees, mentors and tutors who are associated with the new School Direct initiative in England. Introduced quickly in 2012, this was a new way of training teachers which is seen as school-led. That is, schools, not higher education institutions, are the leaders of this programme and in many cases…

Economic projections show that skills-based technological change across industries and occupations will support rising demand for postsecondary education and training. By 2025, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce projects that 68 percent of the jobs in Iowa will require some level of postsecondary education. A key…

"Advocates of bureaucratic and professional teacher accountability have been battling each other for decades in a war that has barely been acknowledged," write Arthur E. Wise and Michael D. Usdan. Teachers' organizations and others who favor advancing the teaching profession have promoted professional accountability mechanisms, such…