Schools are constantly engaged in implementing reform strategies to prepare students for post-secondary education leading to their career choices. Challenges here involve education initiatives addressing programs not strategically planned, educators not prepared for transition, and no follow-up support beyond initial implementation stages. This…

Students attending schools in the United States who have autism would benefit from increased parental involvement to enhance their learning. There is a lack of research regarding parental advocacy on behalf of students with autism. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences and perceptions of parents who have…

Current versions of electronic textbooks mimic the format and structure of printed textbooks; however, the electronic capabilities of these new versions of textbooks offer the potential of embedding interactive features of web-based learning within the context of a textbook. This dissertation research study was conducted to determine if student…

This book is based on the author's 20-plus years of consulting with school districts and other educational organizations in designing, piloting, and training educators in the use of teacher-performance evaluation systems. Its primary purpose is to help both teachers and their evaluators collect more comprehensive and accurate assessment data for…

Educators lack the data necessary to pinpoint concerns and successes in schools. A focus on collecting student achievement data in the past ten years has increased the amount of information school districts have, but these data are insufficient. Successful organizations use extensive data analysis to guide decisions, but few K-12 districts have…

President Barack Obama's address to the Joint Session of Congress set forth a postsecondary education agenda focused on access and success. In Illinois, as the high school graduating Class of 2002 moves further away from their days in Illinois public education and they begin to take their place in society, trends have begun to emerge as to their…

Chief academic officers (CAOs) of independent colleges and universities are the principal leaders and managers of the academic programs of the institutions they serve. The core functions of higher education--teaching students, conducting scholarly research, and service to the academic community--usually fall under their purview. Despite these…

What distinguishes successful schools from unsuccessful schools? This question has relevance for the practice of educational leadership as well as the preparation of leaders. Successful schools are led by principals who set the direction and influence student learning, and who change the instructional process by focusing deliberately on teaching…

Objective: To identify trajectories of behavioral adjustment from age 6 through 14 years for youth placed in early foster care, and to examine links between trajectories and early cognitive ability and social competence, caregiver stability, and frequency, timing, and type of maltreatment. Method: Participants were 279 youth from the Southwest…

This paper describes the findings of an exploratory cycle of a design-based research project and examines the learning effectiveness of collaborative activities that are supported by the GroupScribbles (GS) software technology in two Singapore primary science classrooms. The students had ten weeks of GS-based lessons in science, which were…

The concept of research-led education is gaining increasing attention in higher education. However, the concept may be interpreted in different ways, some more feasible within an undergraduate curriculum than others. The approach described in this paper aims to introduce students to ways of thinking and acting like a researcher through engaging in…

This paper presents a two part analysis of social justice programs (SJPs) at state universities in the United States of America (USA). Two main questions are addressed: firstly, in Part I, "What might it take to develop a social justice program at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)?" and secondly, in Part II, "Why do some universities have…

Correlational analyses are one of the most popular quantitative methods, yet also one of the mostly frequently misused methods in social and behavioral research, especially when analyzing ordinal data from Likert or other rating scales. Although several correlational analysis options have been developed for ordinal data, there seems to be a lack…

This article aims to describe how xenophobia is experienced by a small selection of immigrant participants in five inner city schools in Johannesburg. The May 2008 xenophobic violence prompted the investigation. Theoretically, the article is also concerned with ways to combat xenophobia in schools with a view to bringing about fundamental social…

Objective: This study describes recent trends and patterns in antipsychotic treatment of privately insured children aged 2 through 5 years. Method: A trend analysis is presented of antipsychotic medication use (1999-2001 versus 2007) stratified by patient characteristics. Data are analyzed from a large administrative database of privately insured…