This paper outlines the views of key policy makers, implementers and practitioners on Valuing People (Department of Health, "Valuing people. A new strategy for learning disability for the 21st century," The Stationary Office, London, 2001). It reports a series of interviews conducted in 2003/2004 with a diverse selection of people…

The purpose of this study was to explore how Year 8 students answered Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) questions and whether the test questions represented the scientific understanding of these students. One hundred and seventy-seven students were tested using written test questions taken from the science test used in the…

This article explores the politics surrounding the education of pregnant/mothering students. Utilizing Title IX, which guarantees the rights of pregnant/mothering students to an education equal to her peers, as an analytical lens, the author specifically identifies how absences in knowledge, research, and practice about the education of…

This study investigated father involvement among African American feminist fathers. Five interrelated parenting themes emerged from a narrative analysis of individual semistructured interviews that each father deemed important: (a) nurturance and emotional intimacy with children, (b) politically conscious parenting, (c) nonviolent discipline, (d)…

In this article I seek to explore the ways in which different forms of differentiation can promote the inclusion of gifted and talented students in the classroom. Macbeth, the text being studied by this particular class, was the set text for the Standard Attainment Tests (SATs). This article discusses briefly the inherent problems involved in…

Background: In most primary schools in Hong Kong, a product-oriented approach is used in teaching writing. The process approach to writing has been seen as an improvement over the traditional methods of writing instruction in recent years. However, the effectiveness of using the process approach to teach writing is still inconclusive. It is…

This paper reports the implementation of a collaborative pre-service science teacher education program between an Australian university and a collegiate of eight schools. The program was designed to facilitate the transition to teaching of pre-service teachers by reducing the gap between theory and practice while promoting the professional…

The purpose of this paper is to present a participatory multimedia learning model for use in designing multimedia learning environments that support an active learning process, creative participation, and learner engagement. Participatory multimedia learning can be defined as learning with systems that enable learners to produce part of the…

Formal developmental disabilities services are often underutilized, especially by low-income African-American families. This study examined the basis for interactions and service use preferences of African-American woman who cared for an adult female child with a disability. Diverse African-American perspectives were observed by analyzing the…

This paper addresses the extent to which government policy has helped increase the number and diversity of private secondary schools in Hong Kong, which, in turn, has expanded the options for parental choice. Five indicators were selected to measure this objective. They are as follows: (1) Number of private schools and students enrolled; (2) Types…

Educating preservice teachers for culturally responsive teaching in increasingly diverse contexts remains a substantive challenge. Research findings have suggested that courses in multicultural education have not had much impact on instructional practices of preservice teachers as they enter schools and classrooms. Other scholars have argued that…

This paper addresses the need for quality e-Learning experiences. We used the Demand-Driven Learning Model (MacDonald, Stodel, Farres, Breithaupt, and Gabriel, 2001) to evaluate an online Masters in Education course. Multiple data collection methods were used to understand the experiences of stakeholders in this case study: the learners, design…

This article reports the results of a study investigating the relationships between vocational education and the development of the local economy. The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine the degree of influence that vocational education has had on enterprise development in China and how vocational school education relates to work…

A policy implementation study was undertaken in 65 schools in order to explore practices and outcomes related to state policies requiring schools to establish comprehensive educational support systems and teams. The purpose of these systems and teams was to enhance the capacity of schools to support students with diverse needs in general education…

This paper describes a classroom teaching experiment, concerning the concept of probability, with children aged 5 in a kindergarten school. The teaching experiment was based on constructivist and interactionist theories about the learning of school mathematics and lasted one month. The collection of the information was based on the tape-recorded…