Throughout the history of American higher education sports have been closely identified with universities and campus life. Intercollegiate athletics occupies a peculiar space in the university; it is an institution within the universe of higher education. While extremely popular among many, there are charges that emphasis on college sports'…

There has been, without question, a persistent demand for holding both leaders and teachers accountable for increasing test scores in schools, particularly in schools serving impoverished children and youth. This concern for increasing test scores and holding educational leaders and teachers accountable for student achievement is central to…

Since 2002 the authors have offered an undergraduate major in Mathematical Biology at Harvey Mudd College. The major was developed and is administered jointly by the mathematics and biology faculty. In this paper the authors describe the major, courses, and faculty and student research and discuss some of the challenges and opportunities they have…

Quantity and quality have long been recognized as primary factors to explain educational development. However, our understanding of the relationship between quantity and quality of education is quite limited and unclear. In this context, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between quantity and quality of education. To achieve…

It takes more than a vision to be called a visionary. One also needs the organization, determination, and spirit to see it through. Four educators are being chosen to be spotlighted as visionaries conceived, developed, and guided technology-driven initiatives perhaps initially thought to be impractical. But their unusual foresight allowed each of…

In 1977, the Chinese government reinstated the national unified college entrance exam enrollment system. As a part of this system, the government also implemented preferential policies on the enrollment of minorities that authorized the increase or decrease of exam scores and enrollment cutoff points; the policies were therefore seen as…

In this article we explore the definition and development of civic capacity at a liberal arts college through a specific teaching and learning initiative. This initiative encourages faculty, staff, and students to share the roles of teacher, learner, and colleague as they gain educational opportunities and foster these for others. Through a…

In this article, the authors report on an important symposium, Beyond BIO2010: Celebration and Opportunities, which was held at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington, D.C. on May 21-22, 2010. This symposium was organized to assess what progress has been made in addressing the challenges and recommendations in the National Research…

Nature education is an important part of early childhood education. As young children develop, the natural world offers concrete and authentic learning experiences. Activities focused on nature support learning in all developmental domains. Children develop physically through hiking in natural terrain, climbing hills and trees, balancing on logs,…

If today there exists a single transcendent idea about the family-school connection, it is that a positive parent-child relationship improves children's chances of succeeding in school. However, using data from the Texas Higher Education Opportunity Project (N = 5,836), we demonstrate that, although positive parent-child relations are associated…

What role can specialized schools with focus on mathematics, science, and technology have in sparking innovation? Such specialized schools can be and in some cases currently are leaders in promoting high-level content knowledge, creative and critical thinking, and problem solving--the basic ingredients of innovation. In this article, the author…

Robotic toys present unique opportunities for teachers of young children to integrate mathematics learning with engaging problem-solving tasks. This article describes a series of tasks using Bee-bots and Pro-bots, developed as part a larger project examining young children's use of robotic toys as tools in developing mathematical and metacognitive…

Student achievement data in schools are often analyzed in terms of ethnic and racial parameters. Such data categorize African immigrant students as African Americans, thus creating an impression of homogeneity within the African American racial group. Given that these immigrant students relocate to the United States with cultural backgrounds that…

Instrumental music teaching occupies a significant portion of the protean career of a musician. Musicians teach their instrument in schools, conservatoires and in private studios. The aim of this paper is to identify educational opportunities available for the education of musicians as instrumental music teachers, to discuss issues associated with…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the Norton High School Early College Early College Program on academic measures for students at Norton High School. Measures of achievement include the results of the English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics, Social Science, and Science portions of the California Standards Test (CST), Student…