This report offers recommendations for building community support for federal school turnaround approaches, particularly in communities that oppose these approaches. Parents, the report concludes, want improvement but cherish their local schools and distrust the turnaround options mandated from above by higher levels of government. Thus,…

The Learning Partnership (TLP) initiated a Family and Community Engagement Strategy (FACES) initiative in three Ontario communities to foster active and responsive relationships among community partners and enhanced family engagement in transitions to school. A case study research design, grounded in participatory action research, was used to…

Background: Researching falls in persons with ID is limited by difficulties in applying standardised balance outcome measures. The modified Gait Abnormality Rating Scale (GARS-M), developed to identify falls risk in older adults, requires only that the participant walks and thus may be a feasible falls research tool to use with people with ID. In…

There is general agreement in the field of school psychology that revised versions of tests should be adopted in a timely manner, and that to do otherwise is poor practice. This would seem to be in accord with the intent, if not the explicit wording, of ethical and professional guidelines. But does this mean that practitioners should always, and…

Sport stacking is an activity taught in many physical education programs. The activity, although very popular, has been studied minimally, and the energy expenditure for sport stacking is unknown. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to determine the energy expenditure of sport stacking in elementary school children and to compare that value…

The purpose of this study was to examine the measurement properties of the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI) in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) ages 4-12 years using the dichotomous Rasch model. The VMI was administered individually to 454 children with ID. Rasch analysis was applied to investigate…

In recent months, some legislators, government agency officials, segments of the media, and campus administrators have called attention to perceived and proven instances of abuse of the federal student financial assistance programs. Concerns have focused on students enrolling in courses primarily to secure student financial aid funds rather than…

This practical resource is brimming with ideas and guidance for using simple ideas from speech and language pathology and occupational therapy to boost communication, sensory integration, and coordination skills in children on the autism spectrum. Suitable for use in the classroom, at home, and in community settings, it is packed with…

Classmates' academic skill level (peer effects) is emerging as an important predictor of individual student achievement, particularly in the early grades. However, less is known about the influence of peer effects with regard to classmates' self-regulation skills and whether they are associated with students' academic gains. Examining this is the…

There are many articles about space management, including those that discuss space calculations, metrics, and categories. Fewer articles discuss the space budgeting processes used by administrators to allocate space. The author attempts to fill this void by discussing her administrative experiences with Middle Tennessee State University's (MTSU)…

Youth today develop within nested systems that either positively or negatively influence their development. Recent research shows that American youth have made tremendous progress: fewer teen births, fewer youth who are heavy drinkers or smokers, and more students completing high school. However, data also indicate that the number of youth living…

In 2010, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) launched an initiative to transform all district schools into full service community schools. The community school design provides integrated supports to students and fosters a school climate conducive to academic, social, and emotional learning. Interventions span in-school and out-of-school time,…

This dissertation studies the social structures and dynamics of human networks: how peers at the micro level and physical environments at the macro level interact with the individual preferences and attributes and shape social dynamics. It is composed of three parts. The first essay, "Friendship Choices and Group Effects in Adolescent…

A focus on adult learning has been quietly driving an increase in local activism among those who traditionally have had the least "voice". It is precisely this kind of grassroots activity that will enable the vision of local democracy and the Big Society to be implemented. In this article, the author hopes to show how a focus on adult…

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) was created by the Texas Legislature in 1965 to provide leadership and coordination for the Texas higher education system to achieve excellence for the college education of Texas students. Most of the statutes that are applicable to THECB are found in the Texas Education Code, Title 3, Section…