Our initial intention was to set out to explore the potential for implementing outcome-based assessment practices in a first year statistics unit. It has evolved into a search for a pedagogy enabling clear definition of the desired learning outcomes in our students, and alignment of instruction, student resources and assessment with these…

Increasingly, states are restricting tuition growth through political pressure and statewide governing and coordinating boards. During the 1990s, California, Virginia, and New York all cut or restrained tuition, and recently Michigan, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey have restricted tuition growth either through legislation or intense…

What is the task of educators at a time when mainstream American culture is increasingly characterized by a declining interest in and misgiving about national politics? How one answers this question will have a grave impact not only on higher education but on the future of democratic public life. There are no simple solutions says author Henry…

This report warns that if current trends continue, the United States will lose is preeminence in science and technology and its leadership position in innovation. In this report, the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) proposes a four-part action plan in which business, higher education, and policy leaders support P-12 education leaders in…

Comprehensive school reform calls for a "whole-school" and coordinated approach to improve schools. The strategy differs from piecemeal and fragmented efforts that also in the past have seemed only to lead to short-lived changes. To stimulate whole-school reform across the country, Congress appropriated funds in FY1998 for the U.S.…

The "Science: It's Elementary" (SIE) program is overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) and managed by ASSET Inc. SIE is an initiative aimed at improving elementary science instruction across the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The program is focused on helping schools and districts implement an inquiry-based, hands-on…

Created by teachers for teachers, the Math Academy tools and activities included in this booklet were designed to create hands-on activities and a fun learning environment for the teaching of mathematics to the students. This booklet contains the themed program "Are You Game? Math Academy--Explorations in Probability," which teachers can use to…

This is the first of several papers developed from a faculty and student perspective describing a new distance learning (DL) model. Integral to the model are four interrelated families of multi-variant issues, referred to here as (a) the academic divide, (b) student misalignment, (c) administrative influences, and (d) the use of student…

In the year 1998, California began a massive experiment that focused on testing students and holding teachers and administrators accountable for results. The goal: dramatic, system-wide improvement. Schools' performance began to be measured using California's Academic Performance Index (API). In 2001, with passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB),…

In the knowledge economy, colleges and universities are realigning academic initiatives to link more closely with regional needs. They are unique catalysts for forming community alliances to focus on issues of economic development, neighborhood revitalization, and cultural tourism. In partnership with business, municipalities, and cultural…

In recent years educators and educational researchers in the U.S. have begun to introduce engineering design activities in secondary science classrooms for the purpose of scaffolding science learning as well as supporting such general problem-solving skills as decision making and working in teams. However, such curricula risk perpetuating a…

This report presents the findings of a Project undertaken to address the broad question of how to ensure the engagement with learning of all middle years students and how to encourage in them a higher order of learning objectives and outcomes both now and throughout life. It builds on current nationwide and international efforts at school reform,…

States are engaged in serious efforts to raise student achievement, paying particular attention to narrowing the achievement gap between high- and low-performing students that has persisted in public schools for decades. The achievement gap is particularly troubling because, all too often, those at low achievement levels are minority, special…

This reflective paper is an account and analyses of the change process forced upon a university's education department in the light of unexpected financial downfall. Rather than rehearse the well documented research on innovation and change it focuses on the process from the head of department's prospective. The issues raised highlight that there…

Despite the fact that the early reading proficiency for all children has become a national mandate captured in both the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the poor performance of America's fourth graders on national examinations of reading proficiency indicates that the nation is far from…