Turkey's experience in developing and piloting accreditation criteria and national standards for teacher education is examined. The full implementation of an accreditation process for teacher education programs was not completed within the time of the development project. However, the effort to do so encouraged the formation of a "quality…

Originally published in 1989, "Recreation Programming: Designing Leisure Experiences" has become a standard in the park, recreation, and leisure service industry. This title has been used to teach beginning and experienced programmers in over 100 higher-education institutions, both nationally and internationally. Designed in a user-friendly…

Educators, career counseling offices and alumni associations know well the stories of mid-career challenges. Courted by companies at graduation and quickly promoted in early years, well-educated professionals may assume that success will always be theirs for the asking, even if they take time off. It can be equally easy for universities to assume…

The Women's Center at a university in the United States implemented a mentoring program based on feminist and networking models to improve the educational climate for female undergraduate students. Due to a lack of literature detailing how to develop such a program, an interdisciplinary team of researchers collaborated with the Women's Center to…

This article describes the development of Virginia Improves Teaching and Learning (VITAL) as a statewide data warehouse focused on teacher education. The VITAL system is a longitudinal data system that tracks individuals from their entry into teacher preparation programs to employment in public schools. The system goes far beyond typical…

According to the Austin-based Amati Foundation (a nonprofit group that supports programs for the stringed arts), over the past several decades the number of public school districts offering instruction for violin, viola, and cello has plummeted, from as high as 80 percent in 1960 to less than 19 percent today. Lack of public funding for stringed…

This excerpt from the opening plenary asks evaluators to consider two questions regarding learning and evaluation: (a) How do evaluators know if, how, when, and what people are learning during an evaluation? and (b) In what ways can evaluation be a learning experience? To answer the first question, evaluators can apply the commonplaces of…

The Association Supporting Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) is a group of people interested in small college computing issues. It is a blend of people from all over the country who use computers in their teaching, academic support, and administrative support functions. ASCUE has a strong tradition of bringing its members together to pool their…

This article provides a summative evaluation of the development and implementation of the Open Learning Systems Education Trust's (OLSET's) "English in Action" programme from 1992 to the end of 2009. It describes the programme's development from a uni-modal distance education model focused on enhancing learner involvement and learner…

Principals must be instructional leaders in their schools in order to adhere to federal, state, and local mandates as well as being able to discern that the programs for students with disabilities are being developed and implemented with fidelity to meet the needs of those students. The transition a school goes through to include students with…

The federal "Promise Neighborhoods" program underscores the importance of all children and youth having "access to great schools and strong systems of family and community support that will prepare them to attain an excellent education and successfully transition to college and a career." From this perspective, this brief stresses the importance…

For more than 20 years, the efficacy of using the wraparound approach to support high-risk youth has been examined in educational and community settings. Few studies show the value of wraparound service from either a school- or community-based agency as a dropout prevention strategy. Findings from a federal research grant project suggest that many…

From 2000 to 2009 Umeå University had a genuine faculty board for teacher education that was responsible for both first-cycle teaching and research training. The board itself was an innovation in the Swedish high school system and introduced a new practice-oriented subject for the doctoral degree, "pedagogiskt arbete" ("Educational…

Akins High School is the newest and second largest high school in the Austin Independent School District in Austin, Texas. This report describes how the school has used small learning communities and the "HSTW" framework of Key Practices to improve the school culture, personalize the learning environment, improve student achievement and…

The purpose of the study was for the researcher to develop and have evaluated the content, organization and ease of use of a computer-training program "Emergency Response Quick Start" book based on Information and Communication Technology environmental designs. This book was most notably based on underutilized women social networking…