This contribution deals with the adoption and interpretation of the monitorial system of education in Colombia between 1821 and 1844, a period during which this pedagogical method was almost mandatory for all the country's elementary schools. The analysis focuses on the differences between "local necessities" and "local semantic…

Background: This study examined persistence in high school among students with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) from the perspective of the adolescents themselves. Tinto's (1975, 1997) Student Integration Model (SIM) provided the theoretical framework for the research. This model consists of three factors: background characteristics,…

This study focuses on schoolteacher job satisfaction, dissatisfaction, morale, and facets of professional experience likely to lead to retention or exit from the profession within five years. It was undertaken in an English local education authority which has experienced difficulty in recruiting and retaining teachers. Forty facets of professional…

A few weeks before the fifth anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings on April 20, 1999, Principal Frank DeAngelis reflects on how his school has changed over the past five years. Much like the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, "Columbine" carries a chilling meaning that resonates across the…

Doctoral completion and times-to-completion are issues of growing concern in the university community. Research on student completion difficulties has focused on student characteristics and student-supervisor relations. This article addresses the administration of graduate programs--more specifically, graduate deans' knowledge of and attitudes…

Background: This study seeks to identify the cornerstones of personal bests (PBs) in the educational setting. Aims: The study proposes a multidimensional PB model in which students are most likely to attain PBs on tasks/goals that are (1) specific, (2) challenging, (3) competitively self-referenced, and (4) self-improvement based. Sample: The…

This Report Card is the first full assessment of the educational performance as a state, from birth through higher education. It compares performance to other states, looks at recent trends, and shows whether Illinois is meeting their obligations to all students or just a limited few. The scope of the report runs from birth through higher…

In this chapter, the authors examine developments in the teacher workforce and in the occupation of teaching across recent generations. They take their point of departure from the perspective of prevailing policy discourse on enduring problems of educational equity, asking not only how teaching has evolved in recent decades but more specifically…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "A Plan for Success": Alliance Joins Nine National Organizations Representing Communities of Color in Historic Campaign for…

This document looks at the academic reasons why states should take seriously the use of Web-based courses provided by state virtual schools to improve student access to quality teachers and quality courses. State virtual schools are not about technology, but rather about using today's technology to meet the tremendous academic needs of middle…

The United States no longer leads the world in college completion rates. Inequality in college access rates by income have barely narrowed over the last 25 to 30 years and inequality in college completion rates have narrowed even less. The groups in the population that are growing the most rapidly are those that have historically been…

The academically underprepared community college student may also be psychosocially underprepared for college, a condition contributing to the development of classroom-specific social phobia and to the high attrition rate at community colleges. The "Find Your Voice Program" uses individual and group cognitive-behavioral techniques to develop…

Research in goal theory has often relied on the general linear model, ignoring some central assumptions of the theoretical framework under investigation. The purpose of the two studies reported here was to illustrate how the Rasch model can supplement traditional statistical analyses when evaluating the effects of goal orientations on persistence.…

This digest examines the spread of mentoring in the United States, obstacles to realizing the potential of mentoring as a vehicle of reform, needed research, and selected issues of policy and practice. While the education community understands that mentors have a positive effect on teacher retention, the question of what mentors should do, what…

This report presents analyses of the retention, mobility, and attrition of the Texas teaching force in the 1992-93 school year by teacher characteristics and school conditions. The characteristics of teachers who stay in the teaching profession and those who leave are examined by gender, age, ethnicity, years of teaching experience, salary, degree…