This paper offers a commentary on the debate between Marshall and Mann on the desirability and merits of treatment manuals in the treatment of sexual offenders. Marshall offers a view of manuals as restrictive to clinical practice and as stifling to clinical innovation. Mann takes the position that manuals are a vital component in effective…

School counselors are under increasing pressure to evaluate their programs in a manner consistent with teachers and other educators. A small-group counseling intervention was used by a school counselor as part of a three-level program planning initiative that illustrated best research practices to evaluate program outcomes. Forty-nine third-grade…

This paper explores a number of key issues that have been identified as being important in the identification and evaluation of best practice within the context of e-learning and virtual campuses. The "Promoting Best Practice in Virtual Campuses" (PBP-VC) project is a two year European Commission Education Audiovisual and Culture…

In the 21st century, colleges and universities need to consider faculty development programs in the same way that they view academic programs for their Net Gen and Millennial students. In other words, successful faculty development programs should include mentoring, delivery in a variety of on-campus and off-campus formats (face-to-face, blended,…

With the everyday juggling act principals perform, they have a daunting challenge to keep up the latest research in education. At the same time, the literature documents an intensive need for increased professional development of principals in special education (Goar, Schwenn, & Boyer, 1997; Lasky & Karge, 2006; McLaughlin & Nolet, 2004). To…

This article presents an interview with Michael Barber, a partner at McKinsey & Company, leading its global education practice. He has been working on major challenges of performance, organization, and reform in government and the public services, especially education, in the U.S., U.K., and other countries. Barber was instrumental in preparing…

In this article, the author presents ten practical reflections for educational leaders. The author states that educational leaders should: (1) know themselves and where they are going; (2) not be overly prepared; (3) link with others; (4) measure their words; (5) take responsibility; (6) keep others informed; (7) maintain their perspective; (8)…

With the passage of Goals 2000, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and the Education Science Reform Act of 2002, Congress has put a priority on a science curriculum for children that is based on research on the best practices in science education. According to the U.S. Department of Education, teachers "need to know what programs and…

The identification of the most capable students has been a challenge for school leaders. Although most states mandate that districts use multiple measures to identify students qualifying for gifted and talented programming, the issue often becomes that of defining and interpreting those "multiple measures." Gifted and talented students potentially…

How can comprehensive community colleges serve students with diverse learning needs today while determining a single Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) to improve student learning? During the reaffirmation planning process, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC) recognized this challenge and responded by designing a plan for the selection of…

In the present knowledge economy, individuals, particularly working adults, need to continuously acquire purposeful knowledge and skills so they can better contribute towards addressing society's ever-changing developmental challenges. In the developing world however, few opportunities exist for working adults to acquire such new learning…

This paper describes a model proven to be effective for assessing and documenting evidence of student learning outcomes. Specifically, it will share a model, F.A.M.O.U.S. Copyright ©2008, which is an acronym exemplifying six effective steps for complying with institutional accountability and eternal assessment requirements proscribed by the…

Exploring the critical role of school choice in the future of education reform, Grover (Russ) Whitehurst introduces the Education Choice and Competition Index (ECCI), an interactive web application that scores large school districts based on thirteen categories of policy and practice. The intent of the ECCI is to create public awareness of the…

Though controversy rages about the overall contribution of charter schools to U.S. education reform, few doubt that a subset of charter schools has achieved extraordinary results with disadvantaged students. Relative to the enormous need for quality education, the number of children served by the best charter schools is far too low. Numerous…

During this decade there have been numerous efforts to identify instructional practices that improve students' writing. These include "Reading Next" (Biancarosa and Snow, 2004), which provided a set of instructional recommendations for improving writing, and "Writing Next" (Graham and Perin, 2007) and "Writing to Read" (Graham and Hebert, 2010),…