The influence of policy texts upon learners depends largely on how much influence such texts wield. Policy discourses are one of the main means whereby policy texts, in the settings in which they operate, influence the value, the implementation and the inscribing of those texts on learners. The Economic and Social Research Council-based research…

This article presents the results of a program evaluation of an Early Truancy Intervention (ETI) program in elementary schools in a southern school district. The ETI represents a cooperative effort between a southern district State Attorney's Office, and public elementary schools in the largest county in that district. The results indicate a…

Four students reflect on the meanings of a ritual of confession, sharing, and forgiveness during a school retreat. During a night of great honesty and integrity, students spoke to each other of their lives, their choices, their regrets, their wishes, and above all, their love. During that evening, four students came out to their classmates and…

Research supports the use of games in public, academic, and school libraries as a way to engage patrons and students, and to help develop important skills. Games provide stories and information, presented in a new format. They encourage critical thinking and problem solving and accomplish objectives of curriculum frameworks and meet AASL Standards…

In 1998, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center launched OurStory: History through Children's Literature, a history and literacy program series for family visitors to the Museum that was designed to help children and adults enjoy exploring history together. Ten years later, to reach a broader, national…

Ongoing continuing medical education is an essential component of life-long learning and can have a positive influence on patient outcomes. However, some evidence suggests that continuing medical education has not fulfilled its potential as a performance improvement (PI) tool, in part due to a paradigm of CME that has focused on the quantity of…

In this article, the author argues that true knowledge of democracy requires learning about the values of diversity and dissent. The American brand of democratic ideology has inspired numerous movements for inclusion through the securing of rights and opportunities for marginalized populations. Multicultural education is a recent historical…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a Year 1 account of a partnership between a university and rural school district focusing specifically on how the project has helped to bridge the theory to practice divide and strengthen university-district ties. Design/methodology/approach: A design-based research paradigm was utilized to…

In seeking an understanding of the teenage brain, this author was struck by the interplay between the development of executive functioning and the development of the system that controls emotions and memory. This in turn has impacted her work as a member of faculty at a seminary with responsibilities for both directing a program with high school…

The existence of elementary reading specialists in schools has increased, and their role in improving schoolwide efforts for prevention and intervention of reading risk has received increased emphasis. The purpose of this article is to describe the components of a multitier schoolwide reading model in the early grades in which the reading…

In recent years, growing numbers of four-year institutions have implemented a new type of need-based financial aid policy directed toward low- and middle-income students. These initiatives--referred to here as Loan Replacement Grant (LRG) programs--greatly reduce or eliminate loans in student aid awards and replace them with grants. This paper…

An American teacher describes her journey to Ghana, where she worked in the summer of 2009 at the Tuskegee International School. Through recollections of the relationships she established during her time teaching math to students ages 6-16, the author reveals that her most powerful role while there was that of student rather than teacher. Focusing…

The national network of Science Learning Centres is a co-ordinating partner in the Getting Practical--Improving Practical Work in Science programme. The principle of training provision for the "Getting Practical" programme is a cascade model. Regional trainers employed by the national network of Science Learning Centres trained the cohort of local…

In 1978, James Vivian established the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, a collaborative program between Yale faculty and New Haven public schools designed to improve teacher effectiveness. The program stemmed from work Vivian had begun while director of a history education project that promoted faculty partnerships with public school teachers.…

Project "Green Footprint" is a local community environment project created by fifth-grade students to remind the citizens of their school (and Earth) to tread lightly on Mother Nature's creations. The students chose to focus on the air quality outside the school, specifically the carbon emissions produced by idling cars. Students complete Internet…