With negative ads already rampant on radio and TV, it's clear that President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney differ on most issues. That statement carries over to education as well, as both offer starkly different views on K-12 and higher education policy for the fall campaign. Obama is touting a large increase in Pell Grants…

In recent years, the level of participation and attainment by Indigenous Australians in education and training has improved, yet substantial gaps still exist between Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians. Education has to be a key focus if the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employment rates is to be closed. This report…

Teachers at a Title I elementary school in South Carolina implemented the scripted Reading Mastery© program (RMP) to improve students' comprehension. Comprehension scores did not increase, despite teachers receiving RMP professional development (PD) prior to implementing the program. Administrators were unaware if the teachers were adequately…

This water safety study was both descriptive and exploratory in nature. The purpose was for middle school students to assess their own water safety experiences and to help school decision-makers determine the extent of drowning/water accidents. In July 2009, a water safety survey was administered to 122 students participating in the local Summer…

In an ongoing effort to address the needs of 21st century teachers, a service-learning project was designed which coupled structured reflection and technology. The reflective practitioner model through the use of traditional methods coursework has long been viewed as the most appropriate model for the development of teachers (Hall, 2012). However,…

The links between literacy and care have received little attention. A general neglect of the affective domain in the academe is strongly echoed in traditional analyses of unmet adult literacy needs where economic causes and consequences dominate debates. The findings from a study of people who are survivors of institutional abuse and neglect…

This article provides a critical review of popular models for literacy pedagogy with regard for the needs of low-literacy refugee-background students. We argue that in a context of high linguistic diversity there is a need to re-evaluate teaching practices and curriculum in a way that is more responsive to difference and which pays closer…

This paper explores the often-touted incompatibility between "intellectual rigour" and "relevance" as this has manifested in Australian debates over Queensland's New Basics and "productive pedagogies", and associated initiatives such as the New South Wales Quality Teaching Framework. This debate can be located in…

"Gender, Masculinities and Lifelong Learning" reflects on current debates and discourses around gender and education, in which some academics, practitioners and policy-makers have referred to a crisis of masculinity. This book explores questions such as: Are men under-represented in education? Are women outstripping men in terms of…

Between 2000 and 2009, the Hispanic population more than doubled in 25 of 67 Pennsylvania counties. Over the same period, the Hispanic student population in Pennsylvania schools also rose, from 4 percent to 8 percent (Pennsylvania State Data Center 2011). The focus on Hispanic students' level of academic achievement rose along with this rapid…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 put great pressure to improve student achievement upon principals. Because the principals' work is much more complex since NCLB, it demands a more sophisticated set of skills and understandings than ever before. This qualitative case study examined changes in the principal's role and how current accountability…

How can schools respond to the call to equip all students with the math skills required in college and the workforce when students are working at widely varying skill levels? Offering extended instructional time in algebra, or double-dose instruction, offers one potential solution to this dilemma and has become an increasingly popular approach for…

This article reviews strategies designed to improve female participation in ICT studies and careers. In reviewing a range of strategies from around the world, the article identifies the different actors engaging with the "problem" of girls and technology. It points to the many crossovers that occur as governments, higher education…

Evaluating the impacts of public school funding on student achievement has been an important objective for informing education policymaking but fraught with data and methodological limitations. Findings from prior research have been mixed at best, leaving policymakers with little advice about the benefits of allocating public resources to schools…

This study examines teacher efficacy within the context of professional development to understand the relationship between teacher efficacy and teacher collaboration. Two theoretical frameworks framed this teacher efficacy study based on "locus of control" and "social cognitive theory." A 29-item questionnaire was e-mailed to…