School district officials have faced the urgent task in recent years of ensuring that all schools, not just a lucky few, benefit from sure-footed leadership by professionals who know how to focus on instruction and improve it. The question boils down to this: How can districts develop a pipeline of great school principals? Research about a Wallace…

All schools have the capacity to become great schools. All they need is the focus and leadership to create the proper conditions for the board, school leadership team, staff, and constituents to do so. In this article, the author presents 25 elements that are central to great independent schools. These include: Create and perpetuate an intentional…

The spike in food commodity prices in 2007-2008 is frequently represented as a crisis for the global food system. Interpreted as a failure to achieve the utopian imperative to feed the world, the crisis can potentially expose the distortions inherent to the productivist ideology framing the existing system. As a result, it can act as a shock that…

Board orientation provides a unique forum for an institution to help new board members understand the roles and responsibilities expected of them. It is a chance, too, to share essential information that the college or university thinks new trustees need to know. Moreover, it is an opportunity for the institution to bring new members up to date…

A better understanding of the basic mechanisms of the Problem-solving/Response to Intervention (PS/RtI) framework will help educators address students' diverse learning and behavioral needs. It will also help educators who may view PS/RtI as a compliance matter rather than an informative educational process that helps children reach their goals.…

"Adapting to a Changing World" was commissioned by the National Science Foundation to examine the present status of undergraduate physics education, including the state of physics education research, and, most importantly, to develop a series of recommendations for improving physics education that draws from the knowledge we have about…

Creation of high quality online courses, required for successful learning outcomes, can be a challenge to non-traditional online course designers, such as secondary school teachers. Increasing interest in online classes prompted secondary school teachers to design their course. A poorly designed online course can cause students to lose interest…

In this article, the author discusses the future potential of electronic resources management (ERM) organization, within the development of the next-generation integrated library systems (ILS), as a very promising strategy. This also presents enormous challenges to ERM librarians though, especially on how to determine standards and workflows. The…

This article describes the author's experiences of working with cancer patients/survivors both individually and in support groups for many years, across several settings. It also documents current best-practice guidelines for the psychosocial treatment of cancer patients/survivors and their families. The author's view of the important qualities…

The heart of prior learning assessment (PLA) is the quality and validity of the academic evaluation process itself. Institutions providing PLA opportunities are faced with issues of accountability from all constituents: students, faculty, state systems, and accrediting agencies. Increasingly, institutions are more and more accepting of different…

One of the most important things that teachers do is to provide feedback to students. It's possible to have wonderful curricula, engaging lesson plans, and high expectations, but when a feedback is ineffective, students don't understand how to translate curricula and lessons into improved academic performance. For a student, grades are very…

Special educators assume an essential leadership role in school-wide multilayered instructional systems for teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners with and without disabilities, including learners at risk of being inappropriately referred for special education. Research findings from a model demonstration project are presented…

A growing body of research offers evidence that high-ability students from lower-income families are far less likely than wealthier students to be identified for advanced level course work and opportunities. They are also less likely to achieve at high levels, despite their aptitude. Lacking access to the enriched academic opportunities,…

The purpose of this paper is to address the need for guidance on professional standards for educational practices in online education. Since 1995, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) has provided leadership in the introduction and successful implementation of distance education. During this time, the ASCCC has played a…

This report describes a problem-based learning project focusing on superintendents' awareness of literature-based best practices in supporting student attendance. The project focused on two guiding questions: Do educational leaders have awareness of literature-based practices and strategies that increase student attendance? Do educational…