Despite the fact that the early reading proficiency for all children has become a national mandate captured in both the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the poor performance of America's fourth graders on national examinations of reading proficiency indicates that the nation is far from…

U.S. high school students' lack of preparedness has serious implications for the economy and prosperity. For most of the nation's history, manufacturing workers with modest formal education could earn decent wages. For roughly 60 percent of the jobs in today's labor market, at least some postsecondary education is needed, and that percentage is…

For too many graduates, the American high school diploma signifies only a broken promise. While students and their parents may still believe that the diploma reflects adequate preparation for the intellectual demands of college or work, employers and postsecondary institutions know that it often serves as little more than a certificate of…

In spite of the dramatic increase in the volume of information on computer technology in social work, very little has been written about how this technology might be incorporated into existing curricula. What is needed is an overview of how computers have been used in social work practice and in educational settings that can serve as a starting…

The?future of?this country's colleges and universities is threatened by global competitive pressures, powerful technological developments, restraints?on public finance and serious structural limitations that cry out for reform. This report from The Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education, has recommended strategic…

"Informed math self-placement," a program implemented at American River College in Sacramento, California, to determine students' readiness for college-level math, has been in place for three years. This case study describes the development and implementation of math self-placement at American River. Math self-placement consists of a…

The term "corporate university", which has come into wide use in the last decade, is applied to three kinds of organizations: (1) "established," "mainstream", "non-profit universities" adapting to economic and technological pressures by adopting managerial practices of modern for-profit corporations; (2) "newly established", "highly innovative…

Special education is now an established part of public education in the United States--by law and by custom. However, it is still widely misunderstood and continues to be dogged by controversies related to such things as categorization, grouping, assessment, placement, funding, instruction, and a variety of legal issues. The purpose of this…

This article illustrates the path of the College of Education at Towson University to successfully integrate technology within coursework and thereby meet national technology standards. This discussion includes details about specific required instructional technology courses and a faculty development project that supports the ongoing use of…

Training preservice teachers to develop a predisposition toward constructivist instruction is a major goal for many faculty in teacher education. One critical attribute of a constructivist teacher is a strong hold on pedagogical content knowledge. This study examined the prior knowledge of preservice science teachers and how that knowledge aligned…

Under the 1998 reauthorization of Title II of the Higher Education Act, the secretary of education is required to issue annual reports to Congress on the state of teacher quality nationwide. "Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge" is the inaugural report on this important issue. The 1998 reauthorization also established a…

This 2006 Annual Joint Report of the State Board of Education and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission identifies four joint priorities and nine associated goals addressing areas of need in both student learning and educator development for the advancement of education in Tennessee. The joint priorities and initiatives focus on points of…

In this report on California's teaching force, the authors make two main points: (1) The state needs but does not yet have a system of teacher development that ensures that all who enter the classroom have the knowledge and skills they need to get their students to reach the academic standards the state has set; and (2) The existing distribution…

This article identifies (a) what we know about youths with emotional or behavioral disorders (E/BD) and what works in preparing them for the transition to adult life; (b) the key features of No Child Left Behind (NCLB; 2001) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); and (c) recommendations for working within the requirements of…

This standards review is the first in a series of annual reviews of the Colorado Model Content Standards. Its purpose is to identify student performance over time on measures of exiting mathematics standards, identify ways to affirm and strengthen standards and more clearly articulate the practices used by Colorado schools to promote student…