A charter school is a public educational entity that operates under a charter or contract negotiated between the organizers, who design and run the school, and an organization that holds the school accountable based on charter provisions. Most charter schools are elementary schools with smaller than average populations; many serve disadvantaged…

As technology developments seek to improve learning, researchers, developers, and educators seek to understand how technological properties impact performance. This paper delineates how a traditional science course is enhanced through the use of simulation projects directed by the students themselves as a means to increase their level of knowledge…

This policy brief discusses legislative efforts to create separate, alternative schools for students with behavior problems. The first section of the brief identifies the following three problems with placing disruptive students in alternative schools: (1) a focus on problem students may obscure or ignore real problems in the educational system;…

First Nations communities have particular needs to maintain cultural values as a central aspect of community. Elders, as the bearers of traditions and experience, are both the appropriate source and the appropriate vehicle for the maintenance and transmission of those values. On Vancouver Island, Malaspina University College delivers Child and…

A "connected classroom" model was used for an educational psychology class which relied heavily on both face-to-face and Web-based collaborative discussion. As part of the class, students were required to participate in collaborative discussion that consisted of a structured environment in which students addressed open-ended questions…

The universal education credit can ease the financial burdens placed on families seeking independent primary and secondary education for their children. This analysis explains how the universal education credit differs from other educational choice reforms, including vouchers and how it works with real families. The way in which state legislators…

The purpose of this study is to determine the number of counselor education programs that utilize distance learning, to identify the distance learning software delivery products used, and to identify features of software used. The researchers also attempt to identify faculty perceptions related to and experience with the importance of distance…

This paper argues that--with the increasing use of enhanced, computer-based instructional technologies in education--studies that examine differences between distance and traditional classroom instruction by comparing a distance course with a regular classroom section of the same course are no longer appropriate. The author proposes methods that…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were any statistically significant differences in the pretest and posttest examination scores between students in two undergraduate biology classes taught in two fundamentally different praxes at the University of Nevada, Reno. Biology 100, an introductory biology course for non-majors, was…

Preparing courses for flexible delivery and distance education is normally a time-consuming and expensive process. This paper describes the design and evaluation of a system that automatically captures and indexes audio and video streams of traditional university lectures without demanding any changes in the style or tools used by teachers. Using…

The Open University of Israel (OUI) is a distance education institution that offers over 250 computer-mediated courses through the Internet. All OUI students must pass an English reading comprehension exemption exam or take the University's English reading comprehension courses. Because reading instruction differs from content instruction,…

In contrast to traditional types of learning and teaching processes and learning media, such as printed material for Web and hypermedia learning resources, Web resources and Web-based activities are quite often unfortunately more or less separate parts of the planning process and curriculum documentation in an organization's traditional…

In 1996, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) began an initiative aimed at ending social promotion and raising achievement. The centerpiece of the initiative is a set of test-score cutoffs for third, sixth, and eighth graders, who must achieve a minimum score on standardized reading and mathematics tests to be promoted to the next grade. Students who…

This paper outlines an agenda for research on postsecondary vocational education that can be carried out with existing data. A particular interest is encouraging research that can provide insight into the effects of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act 1998 (the Act). The paper begins with a brief review of relevant sections…

This report presents a proposal to expand parental choice in Michigan education by amending the Michigan Constitution and establishing a Universal Tuition Tax Credit (UTTC). Section 1 reviews why parental choice is the most important systemic education reform and evaluates various ways to expand it. Section 2 examines Michigan's constitutional…