In the process of choosing and designing professional learning, the needs of some students tend to get overlooked. Due to lack of federal legislation and requirements, gifted students are often forgotten by the educational system at large, and district professional development catalogs omit an ongoing understanding of this population. The needs of…

Researchers and practitioners are aware of the importance of the skills of the local workforce in attracting and developing businesses in a regional economy. There has been, however, relatively little applied research concerning the identification of labor skill gaps in rural areas. We seek to address this issue through a case study of the Upper…

The case study approach provides students with a better appreciation of how scientists solve problems and conduct themselves in the "real world". When applied to the undergraduate chemistry laboratory, this approach also challenges critical thinking skills and creativity in ways "cook book" experiments very often do not. This…

There is controversy regarding the relative merits of cognitive assessment for the identification of learning disabilities. Proponents of cognitive assessment have suggested that multitiered systems of support (MTSS) should be supplemented with routine, systematic assessment of cognitive processes following a determination of inadequate response…

Over the past decade, renewed societal demands on public research have been structured by various generic issues, while others are specific to the context of developing countries. In the first part of this article, after reviewing those issues, we examine how they reshape the analytical frameworks that structure the understanding of causal…

This article focuses on co-development technology transfer models. It offers an empirical analysis of a pioneer model applied in Italy: the proof-of-concept network (PoCN) applied by AREA Science Park in Trieste. Starting with a review of the literature, the authors identify the drivers that facilitate collaboration between the industrial and…

The difficulty in reading and writing, spelling mistakes and poor speech are considered as the main elements that characterize students with dyslexia. If one thinks that most of the things in a class are based on writing and reading, then the importance of such a learning difficulty is that it is recognized as soon as possible and with appropriate…

A wide variety of effect size indices have been proposed for quantifying the magnitude of treatment effects in single-case designs. Commonly used measures include parametric indices such as the standardized mean difference, as well as non-overlap measures such as the percentage of non-overlapping data, improvement rate difference, and non-overlap…

This paper serves as a practical guide to mediation design and analysis by evaluating the ability of mediation models to detect a significant mediation effect using limited data. The cross-sectional mediation model, which has been shown to be biased when the mediation is happening over time, is compared to longitudinal mediation models:…

Professional learning communities have been labeled as effective and capable of producing continuous school improvement. Despite the merits and popularity of professional learning communities, they have been shown to be an elusive concept to implement. The problem this study addressed was the inconsistent quality of professional learning…

This dissertation examines changes to the publicness of American research universities from the mid-20th to the early 21st century. The changes are discerned by analyzing salient higher education public policies, contemporary pressures affecting research universities, and a "Research University Publicness Dashboard," which contains…

Fullan (1998) stated, "Student achievement increases substantially in schools with collaborative work cultures that foster a professional learning community among teachers and others" (p. 8). Vandevoort, Amrein-Beardsley, and Berliner (2004) also found that the quality of the teacher in the classroom is the single most important factor…

Although rare when compared to other crimes or disasters that occur on college or university campuses, active shootings still affect educational institutions. These campus shootings are also heavily publicized in the media; therefore, everyone can see the damage these tragedies cause. However, while various strategies and plans exist to help in…

This is the introductory chapter of the volume, "Using Digital Resources to Enhance Language Learning: Case Studies in Italian." The volume includes papers presented at the Society for Italian Studies (SIS) Biennial Conference, held in Oxford, UK in 2015. SIS's stated aim is "to further the study of Italy, Italian language,…

Educational leaders often search for professional development opportunities that are within the context of the classroom where new research-based instructional practices can be observed and incorporated into the teachers' practices. Instructional coaching and co-teaching have been recognized as means for accomplishing this, while at the same time…