The purpose of implementing an assessment and accountability program in an urban school district is to improve student learning of worthwhile content. Current levels of achievement in most U.S. urban districts are unacceptably low. Average achievement test results conceal the fact that achievement levels of students of color are substantially…

It is now almost ten years since the Salamanca Conference on Special Needs Education endorsed the idea of inclusive education. Arguably the most significant international document that has ever appeared in the special needs field, the Salamanca Statement argues that regular schools with an inclusive orientation are "the most effective means…

Community-based environmental education is an important part of the sustainability project. Along with regulation and market-based instruments, adult learning and education in non-formal settings consistently features in the sustainability strategies advocated and implemented by government, community and industry entities. Community-situated…

Though the continuum of care model has been adopted in HIV/AIDS intervention, there is little empirical work documenting the experiences of caregiving families. Addressing this gap, a study on family caregiving and care receiving was undertaken in Mumbai, India. In-depth interviews were conducted with seven seropositive caregivers, seven…

A key challenge facing cancer educators is the extent to which effective programmes can be widely disseminated and implemented. Differences between target populations with respect to social, psychological, and educational characteristics, as well as the social and economic context make it difficult to replicate "cookbook" approaches. Tailoring of…

Educational institutions have rushed to provide online courses; however, too often schools have discovered the difficulty in transferring effective teaching strategies in the classroom to an online environment. A unique aspect of quality online courses is how they rely heavily on effective collaboration to create a meaningful learning environment.…

"The Student Evaluation Standards" were born from the frustrations and concerns of many people who want the evaluations to better serve student learning. This paper describes those standards and how they serve student learning. The first part of this paper lays groundwork--context--by providing strong evidence that, at least in the…

Technology is and will continue to be a driving force in the United States economy. The U.S. Department of Labor (2003) projects computer and data processing services to be the fastest growing segment of the economy between the years 2000-2010. A study by the National Association of Manufacturers (2001) indicates that more than 80 percent of…

The American Evaluation Association's (AEA) Independent Consulting Topical Interest Group (IC TIG) has a membership of over eight hundred individuals who generally work as sole proprietors, in partnerships, or in small consulting firms. Well over a decade ago, the IC TIG conducted a survey of its membership (Bonnet, 1992). To gather current data…

The Illinois Community College Board provided more than $3.3 million to community colleges during fiscal year 2007 to provide workforce and economic development services through their Business and Industry Centers. The workforce development activities conducted under this grant include customized job training on campus or on-site at a business;…

Creating and evaluating Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for students with disabilities is a major responsibility for teachers and school leaders, yet the process involves legal components not always understood by educators. In "Understanding, Developing, and Writing Effective IEPs," legal and special education experts Roger…

The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities (NDPC-SD) was assigned the task of summarizing and analyzing the data for Indicator 2--Dropout--from the 2005-06 Annual Performance Reports (APRs) and the revised State Performance Plans (SPPs), which were submitted to the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in February…

The nation's social agenda for improving education and training has converged with national economic forces (Hornbeck & Salamon, 1991). The emphasis on lifelong learning of the workforce through education, training and development, demands for ever-improving productivity and significant technological advancements have required new tools to…

Data fuel the process of change. Schools and districts should have electronic data systems that store data and make it easy to extract useful information. School leaders and their staff have questions; they need answers. Their data, when stored in a suitable electronic data system, will help them construct better answers to their questions more…

In spite of the fact that noncredit generates approximately 10% of enrollment in the California Community College System, many people outside and even within the system are not aware of or do not fully understand the importance of noncredit and how it serves California's educational needs. Noncredit courses are basically what its title…