With few exceptions, students interact with technology in one way or another every day. And yet, in most U.S. schools, the term "computer science" (CS) refers only to generic skills classes, such as keyboarding and computer applications. Even most Web programming classes usually teach students only how to use conventional graphical user…

Many factors affect an institution's ability to provide campus visitors a high-quality experience: traffic, parking deterrents, street people, navigation mazes, concrete facades, and political agendas, among others. These challenges can be particularly significant for large public, metro, or suburban institutions. Changes as simple as the…

The exit and entry of executive leadership presents a powerful moment. In the exit of leadership, an institution must reflect on both successes and failures. With a contentious exit, as was the case of John Bowen at Nelson College, which is presented in this chapter, the organization needs to understand what precipitated the call for change and…

The purpose of this project was to examine the impact of Smaller Learning Community reform on students' behavioral, relational, and cognitive engagement in a suburban school district experiencing urbanization. We describe a project in which we evaluated the engagement of a cohort of 8th grade students as they transitioned to high school (n = 605).…

By the end of 2010 over 15 million euros will have been allocated in the UK through the Grundtvig adult learning programme. Over 900 organisations and thousands of staff, individuals and learners involved in adult education have benefitted. Grundtvig has helped to enhance the quality of learning provision; widen perspectives; increase motivation;…

Although many educational practices are being modified to meet the needs of all learners within elementary schools, there is a paucity of research and resources that explore the essential knowledge base and application of response to intervention within secondary settings. The purpose of this investigation was to explore (a) how important high…

In the private sector, it is clear that the chair is in charge of the board and the CEO in charge of the company. But in the author's view the chair's principal role is to act as an adviser or counsellor to the CEO and senior colleagues--hence the wisdom of having a chair who is involved in other organisations and the preference for people of a…

The authors argue that the findings from the National Early Literacy Panel (NELP; 2008) report related to parent involvement and family literacy programs require further clarification. Based on an ideological view of literacy, the authors offer three recommendations that would provide a more accurate representation of parent involvement and family…

This chapter offers a case study of how one institution has implemented budget reductions. Using a narrative approach, the vice president for student life reviews the issues faced and the processes used to implement the changes.

Ten years of advocacy targeted at establishing a statewide residential school of mathematics and science offers valuable lessons. These lessons learned from one advocacy journey can be applied to other advocacy efforts and generalized beyond this particular example. Therefore, this article provides more than a description of one advocacy story.…

Successive waves of technology change what is possible in information services, and to stay relevant, information professionals face two challenges. First, they must be willing to learn all about the new tools as they appear. Second, they must learn--or relearn--the crucial characteristics of users. In this article, the author focuses on the…

This article describes how a school district's use of a transparent tool coalesced support for systemic improvement. The author was looking for a way to push improvement in his 4,000-student school system when he discovered the balanced scorecard, a strategic tool for performance management. The author details how the balanced scorecard helped him…

Over the past 10 years, approaches to compensating teachers in primary schools, middle schools, and high schools have come under increasing criticism. The so-called single-salary schedule, which emerged in the 1920s as a way to make teachers' pay less arbitrary and more equitable, seems inefficient in an era where education policy seeks to improve…

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) the federal government is pumping nearly $790 billion dollars into state and local coffers to strengthen the United States economy. In order to stimulate the economy as quickly as possible, states are being asked to invest much of this funding into regions within 30 days, and to have the…

In his inaugural address, U.S. President Barack Obama linked the need to demonstrate accountability and transparency to the earning of trust. His connection of these dots is not surprising, since taxpayers often expect accountability and transparency from their governments, just as governments, donors, alumni, and students expect accountability…