In their full essay for "Reach the Highest Standard in Professional Learning: Resources," the authors note that more rigorous instructional requirements combined with tighter budgets challenge school systems to think more deliberately about where and how they invest in teaching effectiveness. They write that forward-thinking school…

Current theories and models of education often argue that instruction is best administered when knowledge is situated within a context. Problem-based learning (PBL) provides an approach to education that has particularly powerful affordances for learning disciplinary content and practices by solving authentic problems within a discipline. However,…

The aim of this paper is to explore the influence of strategic planning in improving the quality of education. The quality of education is directly linked to the effort expended in making arrangements or preparations of educational objectives and determining the requisite resources to facilitate the training, instruction or study that leads to the…

The inclusion of professional learning community (PLC) groups is now a common initiative in many districts across the country. While this step supports the professional development of teachers, an effective PLC program must go beyond just bringing colleagues together during a common time. The author recommends organizational structures for schools…

Although less well established than in other parts of the world, higher education institutions in German-speaking countries have seen a marked increase in the number of open educational resource (OER) initiatives and in government-supported OER funding in recent years. OER implementation, however, brings with it a unique set of challenges in…

Academic libraries have reported long-term declines in circulation, reference transactions, reserves, and in-house library materials usage. Increasingly, libraries are perceived as being less critical to the academic enterprise. Are these trends irreversible? Perhaps public libraries and some innovative academic libraries can provide us with some…

A stress prevention and mindfulness (SPAM) group is described, which is a 6-week psychoeducational and support group for teachers. The group incorporated psychoeducation about stress and utilized elements of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). The group was implemented in a public charter school in the Southwest. Preliminary evaluation…

This paper examines the usage of institutional and non-institutional technologies to support learning and teaching in UK higher education. Previous work on disruptive technology and disruptive innovation has argued that users prefer simple and convenient technologies, and often repurpose technologies from designers' intentions; this paper…

Incorporating civic engagement into academically rigorous classroom practice requires the retooling of course delivery. In this article, the authors describe an 8-week seminar that acts as a structured, incentivized opportunity for course redesign for Salisbury University (Maryland) faculty who wish to incorporate rigorous and effective civic…

Elementary schools are under increasing pressure to teach science and teach it well; yet, research documents that classroom teachers must overcome numerous personal and school-based challenges to teach science effectively at this level, such as access to materials and inadequate instructional time. The elementary science specialist model…

Since the advent of the iPhone and rise of mobile technologies, educational apps represent one of the fastest growing markets, and both the mobile technology and educational app markets are predicted to continue experiencing growth into the foreseeable future. The irony, however, is that even with a booming market for educational apps, very little…

Classroom teachers are facing increasing responsibility to integrate the arts during literacy instruction. In order to address the arts effectively, teachers require understandings, confidence, and competence with visual arts, music, dance, and theater. Therefore, educator preparation programs must develop the knowledge and skills of preservice…

The fundamental concepts employed by City as Text™ (CAT)--the established experiential learning practice in honors education-and the discipline of geography, specifically the landscape tradition within human geography, share much in common. The overlaps offer CAT practitioners additional intellectual support from a source outside of honors while…

Research on deafblindness and families is scant. The few available studies, in combination with research in the areas of visual impairment, hearing impairment, and significant support needs, help paint a picture of the services and other assistance required by families, including siblings of a child with deafblindness. In the present article, the…

Across the country, districts are choosing to #GoOpen and transitioning to the use of openly licensed educational resources to improve student learning in their schools. Openly licensed educational resources enable districts to reallocate significant funds currently spent on inflexible, static learning materials to resources and activities that…