As the pressure on schools to meet higher and higher expectations with less and less resources increases, educators seek to explore school models which are centered on reforms that increased the likelihood of meeting this challenge. One reform initiative which has received much attention is the utilization of teacher leadership to improve school…

In late 2010, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) initiated a new safety program called the "Culture of Calm" initiative (CoC). Since 2010, CPS has focused resources on schools in order to improve school climate--particularly school safety. These resources were used, to a large extent, to hire vendors that provided services to teachers and…

As part of a multiyear research study on the preparation of educators to use assessment data for instructional improvement, the present study is a pilot test of a research-based professional development intervention for career-technical teachers. Forty-eight educators at nine sites in five states participated in a 1-day workshop followed by…

In 2007, using funds from the federal Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) and private foundations, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) began piloting its version of a schoolwide reform model called the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP). Under the TAP model, teachers can earn extra pay and take on increased responsibilities through promotion (to mentor…

This brief introduces "Community Colleges Broadening Horizons through Service Learning," the American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC's) fifth national Learn and Serve America grant project and describes its grantee college programs. The goals of this grant project are to build on established foundations to integrate service…

In January 2007 the Department of Education and Science approached AONTAS about conducting preliminary research into the lifelong learning needs of older people in Ireland. The findings of the research will be submitted to inform the Department's plans to address the educational needs of older people. In drafting this discussion paper, AONTAS has…

This monograph describes and analyzes the particular processes and structures that the New York City Writing Project (NYCWP) directors and on-site teacher-consultants have developed that enable them to support and learn from each other and to reflect critically upon the work they do with teachers, students, and administrators. Over time the…

In this technical report, we describe the development of cognitive diagnostic test items that form the basis of the diagnostic system for Project DIVIDE (Dynamic Instruction Via Individually Designed Environments). The construct underlying the diagnostic test is division of fractions. We include a description of the process we used to identify the…

Virtual reality (VR) has been demonstrated to offer learning benefits over traditional instructional methods in many technical and occupational areas. However, in the framework of Rogers' innovation diffusion theory, adoption of VR in Career and Technical Education and occupational programs appears to be lagging. This study used experimental…

Restorative Practices (RPs) in schools developed out of growing interest in Restorative Justice in the community. Schools looking for strategies to address disaffection, behaviour difficulties and violence were attracted by the key ideas: the need to restore good relationships when there has been conflict or harm; and develop a school ethos,…

This article examines the influence of keyboarding versus handwriting in a high-stakes writing assessment. Conclusions are based on data collected from a pilot project to move Old Dominion University's Exit Exam of Writing Proficiency from a handwritten format into a dual-option format (i.e., the students may choose to handwrite or keyboard the…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to look closely at the development of a European Credit Transfer System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET). The European Commission, together with the member States, are working on it and several pilot projects have been initiated within the Leonardo da Vinci Programme of the European Commission.…

This paper describes a pilot study for an alternative design process by integrating a designer-user collaborative session with digital models. The collaborative session took place in a 3D AutoCAD class for a real world project. The 3D models served as an interface for designer-user collaboration during the design process. Students not only learned…

This research comprises a brief analysis of the economic model design, projected for poor countries, where complex assessments of the health status, education outcomes and motivation for children with disabilities are impossible to be done; is possible to be applied on a national scale in Georgia, if the actual government has the necessary…

Evaluation is an important program component of RALLY and helps to document the gains that stem from this program. This article describes the quality of RALLY implementation and selected student outcomes of an exemplary RALLY program at an urban middle school. The findings showed effects on students' resiliency as well as academic success, as…