The purpose of this literature and field review is to understand previous efforts at scaling up performance assessments for use across districts and states. Performance assessments benefit students and teachers by providing more opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge and complex skills, by providing teachers with better…

Factors contributing to parents' decision when they choose between cochlear implantation (CI) and traditional hearing aids for their child were examined. The subjects were children with severe/profound hearing loss, born 1999-2001, registered in the universal neonatal hearing screening program in the Flanders region of Belgium. Qualitative data…

In a rare show of bipartisanship, the Senate passed the controversial Federal Library Agency Act (FLAA) on a nearly unanimous voice vote, sending it to President Obama for his expected signature. The House had passed it in February with a two-thirds majority. The FLAA creates a new mandate by combining federal library functions scattered…

Current literature on libraries is abundant with articles about the uses and the potential of new interactive communication technology, including Web 2.0 tools. Recently, the advent and use of virtual worlds have received top billing in these works. Many library institutions are exploring these virtual environments; this exploration and the…

This study explores the present conditions and emerging issues about the future of vocational teacher education in Turkey. The paper discusses the background and historic legacies that have led to the restructuring of Faculties of Teacher Education in Turkey. The influence of the reforms from the foundation of the Turkish Republic are discussed as…

Purpose: This paper seeks to analyse how excellence and diversity are addressed in student recruitment strategies, and how these strategies are developed in eight Norwegian higher education institutions. Design/methodology/approach: The study utilises a theoretical perspective that asserts that strategy is developed through practice. The authors…

The nature of learning in a public library is relevant to what place e-learning and social networking technologies might have there. That a public library aims to provide something for everyone is also important. Alice Springs Public Library (ASPL) is a place of learning; it is also a crowded and composite space. The use ASPL could make of the…

Strong financial management is a strategy for strategic planning success in student affairs. It is crucial that student affairs professionals understand the necessity of linking their strategic planning with their financial management processes. An effective strategic planner needs strong financial management skills to implement the plan over…

According to the national statistics compiled by researchers and the federal government, there is a grim academic future for the students in low-income urban and rural communities across the U.S. They have no more than a 50% chance of graduating from high school, and those who do graduate will perform at the level of eighth graders in high-income…

Extended time is one of the most common testing accommodations provided to students with disabilities. It is also controversial; critics of extended time accommodations argue that extended time is used too readily, without concern for how it changes the skills measured by tests, leading to scores that cannot be compared fairly with those of other…

Purpose/Objectives: Schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) receive a portion of their annual federal funding as commodity entitlement foods--now called USDA Foods--rather than cash payments. Due to rising food prices in recent years, it has been recommended that schools compare the costs and benefits of commodity and…

Reported here is one part of the nationally representative, "Schools and Continuing Professional Development in England--State of the Nation" research study which was funded by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA). This paper sets out to understand how teachers and school leaders in England perceive the benefits and…

This study explored mathematics teachers' instructional practices in the context of high-stakes testing. Data were obtained from a survey instrument given to a stratified sample of Mississippi and Tennessee teachers who teach the same content tested on their state's high school graduation examination. An analysis showed teachers using a balance of…

This paper analyses the change and innovation strategies that Charles Sturt University (CSU) used from 2007 to 2009 during the implementation and mainstreaming of an open source learning management system (LMS), Sakai, named locally as "CSU Interact". CSU was in January 2008 the first Australian University to implement an open source…

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems can represent one of the largest investments of human and financial resources by a higher education institution. They also bring a significant process reengineering aspect to the institution and the associated implementation project through the integration of compiled industry best practices into the…