In April 2003, Lumina Foundation for Education published a comprehensive inventory of state-level student unit record (SUR) capacity--an inventory conducted in 2002 by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) and titled "Following the Mobile Student: Can We Develop the Capacity for a Comprehensive Database to…

Unlike conventional models of software development, the open source model is based on the collaborative efforts of users who are also co-developers of the software. Interest in open source software has grown exponentially in recent years. A "Google" search for the phrase open source in early 2005 returned 28.8 million webpage hits, while…

This paper examines the role of certification in alternative agri-food networks (AAFNs), which are "in the process" of building markets for their produce outside conventional supply chains. Drawing upon recent writing on "embeddedness", we argue that certification provides an important focus for exploring the relationship and…

Today's students find the traditional lecture-based teaching format less desirable and seem to prefer a more hands-on learning experience. Consequently, it has become necessary to redesign the introductory MIS course. This paper describes a new modular approach to delivering the introductory course. The primary focus is to provide students with…

Search engine optimization (SEO), the promoting of a Web site so it achieves optimal position with a search engine's rankings, is an important strategy for organizations and individuals in order to promote their brands online. Techniques for achieving SEO are relevant to students of marketing, computing, media arts, and other disciplines, and many…

In a time of diminishing resources and increased accountability, it is important for school leaders to make the most of every dollar they spend. One approach to ensuring responsible resource allocation is to closely examine the organizational culture surrounding decision making and provide a structure and process to incorporate research and data…

One vision of education evolution is to change the modes of thinking of students. Critical thinking, design thinking, and system thinking are higher order thinking paradigms that are specifically pertinent to business education. A model-directed approach to teaching and learning higher order thinking is proposed. An example of application of the…

All of the states in this study have recently been involved in school accountability system reform. Since 2011, the states have taken advantage of a federal program to give them flexibility around certain requirements of the "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2001 (NCLB), the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary…

Enrollment is rising across the nation's community colleges, but completion rates remain untenably low. Reformers are focusing on the importance of using comprehensive, high-quality data on student progress and completion to bring about change. A core tenet of Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count has been to embed a culture of…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders are at great risk for long-term negative outcomes. Researchers and practitioners alike acknowledge the need for evidence-based, preventive, and early intervention strategies. Accordingly, in this chapter an expanded view of prevention is presented as a series of data driven decisions to guide…

States are making progress in supporting effective data use, but the hardest work remains. Although states collect quality data and have enacted policy changes, they have not yet focused on meeting people's needs. This report includes the following: (1) Changing the Culture of Education Data Takes Systems, Policies, and People; (2) Data for Action…

At thousands of schools and universities, years of economic troubles have led to repeated budget cuts. The reductions typically fall disproportionately on maintenance departments, where cuts are viewed as less critical than those that directly affect classroom instruction. And so nearly every facility manager at an education institution faces a…

Surveys and benchmarks continue to grow in importance for community colleges in response to several factors. One is the press for accountability, that is, for colleges to report the outcomes of their programs and services to demonstrate their quality and prudent use of resources, primarily to external constituents and governing boards at the state…

Evidence in literature indicates that Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of teachers is essential in creating effective schools. Since 2001 the implementation of education legislation and policies has progressively shifted the new agenda within a transformation framework aimed at reconstructing the education system to the fore. The many…

Truancy (student attendance) is a serious concern that affects most school districts across the country. Truancy is a statistic that seems to elude school districts in coming up with an exact number, but they do know it exists. The reason this is so is because of a lack of a true definition of truancy. Statistics have shown that students skip…