The purpose of this report is to discuss the continuing difficulties school leaders and students face as they grapple with the "achievement gap" among students of different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. Several years ago, researchers at the Washington School Research Center sought to evaluate the "unique contribution of low…

Growing evidence suggests that, as a group, many internationally adopted children catch up to their peers in terms of their language development by the time they reach their school-age years. Although this appears to be particularly true for children adopted during the first few years of life, it is not true for all internationally adopted…

This article reports the results of a series of site visits examining modifications to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning based on reform on three differing campuses. Innovations in stem classrooms included collaborative approaches to learning; incorporation of active learning, authentic contexts, peer…

Recent critical views on the usefulness of a general academic vocabulary have heightened the relevance of developing discipline specific academic wordlists to meet the needs of non-native English writers who must read and publish articles in English. Using Coxhead's (2000) Academic Word List, we set out to identify the academic words in a corpus…

First person pronouns are a rhetorical strategy which allows researchers to perform different discourse functions in the text, through which they construct a convincing argument that persuades readers of the validity and novelty of their claims and of their own competence. In this paper I explore how Spanish EFL Engineering students use first…

This article highlights key online teacher professional development (oTPD) areas in need of research based on a review of current oTPD research conducted in conjunction with an oTPD conference held at Harvard University in fall 2005. The literature review of this field documents much work that is anecdotal, describing professional development…

This article addresses multi-disciplinary writing groups in supporting writing for publication for higher degree by research candidates in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Drawing on focus group discussions with postgraduate research students from the Faculty of Arts at Monash University in Australia who participated in the writing…

Evaluation reports contain many statements which can be termed normative statements. Normative statements say or imply that something is good or bad, better or worse, ought to be or ought not to be. Non-normative statements are statements that are value-neutral, ones that do not express (or are not intended to express) value judgments.…

This report contains and analyzes statistical information about the financing of California postsecondary education from the 1965-66 fiscal year through 2010-11. CPEC (California Postsecondary Education Commission) compiles, analyzes, and disseminates this information to provide policymakers with comprehensive and comparable financial data that…

In Texas, undergraduate teacher preparation programs graduate 9,300 new elementary, secondary and special education teachers, nearly half (43 percent) of the total number produced each year in the state. This report examines 67 of those programs on a range of standards. The standards bear directly on their programs' capacity to attract the most…

Children's exposure to violence (CEV)--including direct child maltreatment, witnessing domestic violence, and witnessing community and school violence--can have serious consequences, including a variety of psychiatric disorders and behavioral problems, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Fortunately, research has shown…

The Center on Education Policy (CEP) report, "Has Progress Been Made in Raising Achievement for English Language Learners?", finds that some states have seen increases in the number of English language learners (ELLs) meeting proficiency standards under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), while others have seen decreases. The report notes some…

This study reviewed empirical research conducted in Second Life by educators since Second Life's launch in 2003. The study's purpose was to identify how Second Life is being used in both K-12 and higher education. The methodology, findings, and recommendations of 27 research studies were analyzed. Researchers identified potential problems when…

The Department is pleased to submit this "Report to the Legislature: Academic Support Programs," pursuant to Chapter 61 of the Acts of 2007, line-item 7061-9404. This report provides information regarding Fiscal Year 2008 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) support for the Classes of 2003-2012 funded through these…

Accelerated middle schools are self-contained academic programs designed to help middle school students who are behind grade level catch up with their age peers. If these students begin high school with other students their age, the hope is that they will be more likely to stay in school and graduate. The programs serve students who are one to two…