The Lebanese government education system is based on the French, but private education historically has a high profile at both the school and tertiary levels where an American influence is profound. The mid-secondary "Brevet" examination continues to function as a filtering and channelling mechanism (in the latter instance, into the…

This study investigated the effectiveness of a southern state's department of education program to improve science achievement through embedded professional development of science teachers in the lowest performing schools. The Science Mentor Program provided content and inquiry-based coaching by teacher leaders to science teachers in their own…

Tropical rainforests are biologically rich ecosystems, which are threatened by a variety of different human activities. This study focuses on students' knowledge and understanding of rainforest locations, their reasons for protecting these environments and their familiarity with selected concepts about rainforest vegetation and soil. These…

This paper addresses the findings of a study conducted on identifying the psychological and socio-demographic factors contributing in completers and non-completers of distance learning program. A sample of 232 distance learners ranging in age between 25-45 years old participated in this study. For psychological factors, the Perceived Competence…

The General Certificate of Education (GCE) A* grade was first awarded to students in 2010. It was introduced to assist higher education institutions in differentiating between the highest performing students and to promote and reward greater stretch and challenge. This paper, based on a synthesis of key policy documents, an analysis of…

This article reviews how practical work, including practical skills, is currently summatively assessed in school science in a number of countries and makes comparisons with how other subjects, such as music and modern foreign languages, summatively assess skills. Whilst practical skills in school science are clearly valued as being of importance,…

Purpose. The purpose of this replication study was to describe the extent to which seven collaborative behaviors were demonstrated by general education teachers assigned students with disabilities, education specialists, and their administrators in selected California high schools that exceeded the state average pass rate for 10th-grade students…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of open enrollment, curriculum alignment, and data-driven instruction on the test performance of English Language Learners (ELLs) and Re-designated Fluent English Proficient students (RFEPs) at Shangri-la High School. Participants of this study consisted of the student population enrolled in…

Many of the policies that fall under the school accountability umbrella are designed to incentivize students. Prominent among these are high school exit exams, standardized tests that, in some states, students must pass to earn a high school diploma. Proponents of these tests argue that by incentivizing students, they induce them to work harder…

In much of the world, the issue of accountability and measurement of educational outcomes is highly controversial. Exit testing is part of the movement to ascertain what students have learned and hold institutions and teachers to account. However, compared to the large number of teacher washback studies, learner washback research is lacking…

'Increasing Pupil Motivation' was designed to improve attainment of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) by providing incentives to increase pupil effort in Year 11. Two schemes for incentivising pupil effort were implemented. The first provided a financial incentive, where pupils were told they had £80 ($110.66) at the beginning…

This second paper describes how the Internet was used to modernize a graduate accounting capstone course to enhance student interest and learning, and is an extension of an earlier paper that examined a similar approach with an undergraduate accounting capstone course. Course content was developed from contemporary issues and cases obtained from…

This study had several purposes. The first purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between selected student, family and school characteristics, and state exit exam policies and the impact on graduation from high school among a sample of students with disabilities. A second purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between…

Substantial changes to the undergraduate population at US universities have created a need for the development of a model of academic literacy and a corresponding means of measuring academic readiness that addresses contextualized, communicative English language competence. This paper presents a unified model of academic literacy which treats…

This study focuses on pre-service teachers' perspectives regarding how the process of completing the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT) affected them academically, professionally, and personally. Two cohorts participated in this year-two study. Pre-service teachers' perspectives were acquired using a survey instrument comprised…