A significant criticism of the charter school movement is that funding for charter schools diverts money away from traditional public schools. As shown in prior work by Bifulco and Reback (2014) for two urban districts in New York, the magnitude of such adverse fiscal externalities depends in part on the nature of state and local funding policies.…

"Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card" analyzes the condition of state school finance systems with a focus on the fair distribution of resources to the neediest students. The Report Card makes a number of assumptions about how school funding systems should be designed: (1) a fair funding system should provide levels of funding…

The nature of teacher education in South Africa and institutions of higher learning, like the University of the Western Cape (UWC), is reflected by the country's history. The history of the Faculty of Education is intimately tied up with the anti-apartheid and social reconstructionist history of UWC and the apartheid policies of educational…

Although much attention in the education research literature has been placed on comparing the effectiveness of charter schools to the effectiveness in traditional public schools, far less work has gone toward developing a better understanding of the differences in spending and resource allocation between the two sectors. This report aims to help…

This qualitative study explored asynchronous online discussions (AODs) in terms of: (1) whether students interacted effectively with each other, (2) how moderators facilitated discussions, (3) whether students achieved higher levels of thinking about discussion content, and (4) how students demonstrated engagement with provided learning resources.…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was comprehensively reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA; P.L. 114-95) on December 10, 2015. The Title I-A program is the largest grant program authorized under the ESEA and is funded at $15.8 billion for FY2018. Title I-A of the ESEA authorizes aid to Local education agency's…

Strengths-based education initiatives have been implemented at higher education institutions world-wide as efforts to enhance student retention and degree completion. The Oklahoma State University (OSU) College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR) joined the institutions utilizing strengths identification and development…

This issue of Equity Dispatch discusses engaging teachers as social justice actors. In this issue, we contextualize current teacher mobilizations toward fair wages, better resources, and better learning conditions within a professional history of objectification and exploitation. We provide examples of "social justice unionism" (Alter,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain the rationale for choosing the qualitative approach to research human resources practices, namely, recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management, rewards management, employee communication and participation, diversity management and work and life balance using deductive…

Many rural communities are looking for inexpensive and innovative ways to engage youth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). University Extension 4-H programs offer a unique platform to increase rural youth exposure to STEM and build important life skills. This study employed a mixed-methods approach to examine ways in which…

Open Educational Resources (OER) and OpenCourseWare (OCW) target barriers of education and learning by sharing knowledge for free to benefit self-learners, educators, and students. This study aims to investigate the use of OER both as a supplementary resource for a traditional course and as a resource for self-learners. First, the attitudes and…

This paper describes the entire methodology for the development of a scale to measure Attitude towards Open Educational Resources (ATOER). Traditionally, it is observed that some teachers are more willing to share their work than others, indicating the need to understand teachers' psychological and behavioural determinants that influence use of…

It looks like the fate of many small colleges is closure, "merger" (meaning effectively being swallowed up by a stronger institution) or even-subject to regulatory complexities-acquisition. That is not good news for the colleges, their staff, students, alumni, surrounding communities-nor for the higher education sector as a whole.…

Simply stated, light is nature's way of transferring energy through space. Discussions of light usually refer to visible light, which is perceived by the human eye and is responsible for the sense of sight. We see however, only a small part of the light spectrum. Light connects us as we sit and tell yarns around camp fires. Yet, one in every four…

Humorous literature for children has been around since Randolph Caldecott first started writing and illustrating picturebooks. In the article, the authors try to understand what makes picturebooks funny and discuss ways to use humor in the classroom. Many examples of humorous picturebooks are cited to provide teachers with resources for their…