Early childhood is a critical period to intervene for obesity, developmental and behavioural problems. Data from 1065 children in 14 Northeast Iowa Community Action Head Starts (HS) were collected between 2011 and 2018. Body mass index (BMI) and developmental scores were assessed at the beginning of each school year and compared after the first…

School-based agricultural education (SBAE) teachers face challenges and difficulties while working in the agricultural education profession. Burnout, work and family life balance, and time management are just a few of the challenges. The professional development needs of agricultural educators should be addressed. Fessler and Christensen (1992)…

Tax increment financing (TIF)--an economic (re)development tool originally designed for urban cities--has been available to rural communities for decades. This is the first study to focus solely on TIF in rural school districts, to examine TIF effects on school districts' property tax base and rates, and to conduct event-study estimations of TIF…

Fundamentally, agricultural teacher education programs and their faculty are tasked with preparing competent teachers capable of teaching students enrolled in public schools. As part of their design, an important facet of these programs is ensuring pre-service teachers are ready to provide educational opportunities in aspects of school-based…

Students need to develop cross-cultural awareness and understanding, which has led educational institutions to create high-impact global programs to enhance their learning. Global service-learning, a U.S.-based pedagogy, interconnects service-learning, study abroad, and international education programs. A service-learning program of our study in…

Self-reported perceptions of the impact of acceleration through an early college entrance program at the University of Iowa National Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering (NAASE), revealed the program's contribution to students' overall development. Responses from a sample of 76-gifted participants to a 64-item survey offered insights about…

The Short Readings Group, a reading group collaboration between faculty and the library, allows educators to deepen their understanding of their subject area and of the teaching profession by engaging with current articles and texts from various subject areas. For the library, the model allows librarians to showcase library resources, engage…

Hiring people who have served prison sentences has never been a priority in the United States. For men and women who were once incarcerated, finding any job is difficult; finding a sustainable, family-supporting job is nearly impossible. Today the country is at a critical crossroads on this issue, and it's time for change. As the nation works in…

Iowa BIG is a system of high schools located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in the United States which emerged from community rebuilding efforts following catastrophic flooding in the city. The aim of this case study is to highlight Iowa BIG's complexity by describing how it functions as a: (1) school system; (2) vision for student-centric learning; and…

In March 2020, when public health stay home orders began in order to halt the spread of COVID-19, child care as an industry was drastically and abruptly impacted. This public health emergency highlighted the weaknesses in the child care system in the United States. This study investigated the changes in operations cost, child enrollment and…

This Guide provides universities with a road map to initiate or bolster current efforts to create a robust system for ensuring effective public access to high-quality research data. The Guide aims to assist universities and their senior administrators in crafting consistent and uniform approaches to all aspects of research data management and…

This study identifies the successes and challenges associated with the addition of a nonlibrary service desk in a university library's learning commons. The authors wanted to know whether a training and service collaboration with an outside unit could reliably and efficiently connect students to the librarians, academic support services, and other…

This chapter discusses an innovative state public policy which has incentivized Iowa's community colleges to become the economic drivers of their region. Created in the 1983 legislation, it continues to this day to affect Iowa's rural communities and their colleges.

Rural schools, especially smaller ones, offer enormous opportunities for teachers to get to know their students and to cultivate their academic talents. However, students with potential in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) face specific obstacles to having their talents fully realized in rural schools. Joni Lakin, Tamra…

This investigation examined whether the mode of locomotion matters in how 8-, 10-, 12-, and 14-year-old children (N = 91) judge dynamic affordances in a complex perception-action task with significant safety risks. The primarily European American children in the sample came from the area of Iowa City, Iowa and were balanced for gender. The same…