This article presents a project that is meant to deepen student understanding of what it would mean for one preference voting method to be "better" than another. In the project we show the students how to rigorously compare the methods of plurality and plurality with elimination, and we then allow them to compare two other voting methods…

While research has generated abundant insight into effective professional learning methods, the field continues to suffer from a lack of systemic approaches. In response, a group of national professional learning leaders recently developed a framework that links proven professional learning methods to the strategic priorities of higher education…

Falls are a significant medical and economical concern worldwide. Younger individuals with visual impairment (VI) may be more susceptible to falling and fall-related injuries when compared to peers without a VI. Self-perceived balance confidence is a psychological construct that may predict and/or mediate fall- or other health-related outcomes in…

All Florida schools teach the Florida Standards in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics and the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS) in Science and Social Studies. Student performance provides important information to parents/guardians, teachers, policy makers, and the general public regarding how well students are learning.…

This dissertation in practice documents the program evaluation of the Community Scholars (CS) program at the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities (FCIC), a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) at the University of South Florida (USF). CS is part of a diversity pipeline program that recruits youth with…

Traditionally, models of instructional leadership espouse data-informed decision making in response to student assessment outcomes as one of the core school leader behaviors. In recent years, rising expectations from accountability policies and related assessment practices have myriad implications for school districts, specifically in the areas of…

Assessments that aim to evaluate student understanding of chemical reactions and reaction mechanisms should ask students to construct written or oral explanations of mechanistic representations; students can reproduce pictorial mechanism representations with minimal understanding of the meaning of the representations. Grading such assessments is…

States can and should continue to measure student growth in 2021. Growth data will be crucial to understanding how school closures due to COVID-19 have affected student progress and what supports they will need to get back on track. Education leaders will also need growth data to ensure that any recovery efforts are equitable as well as effective…

Research Reproducibility: Educating for Reproducibility, Pathways to Research Integrity was an interdisciplinary, conference hosted virtually by the University of Florida in December 2020. This event brought together educators, researchers, students, policy makers, and industry representatives from across the globe to explore best practices,…

As part of the Foundations for Success in STEM project at Florida State University, more than thirty teams of teachers have used the Formative Assessment Collaborative Team (FACT) meeting model to work together toward better understanding of their students' mathematical thinking and its implications for instruction. This article provides a brief…

Teacher compensation is one of the most divisive issues in public educational policy as all stakeholder groups ponder the cost effectiveness of increasing teacher pay. What this issue presupposes is that our American educational system tends to underpay teachers and thusly the results of our schools reflect this lagged commitment to appropriate…

Online doctoral programming geared toward working professionals can provide unprecedented flexibility in terms of time and place that affords greater access to a broader student demographic. At the same time, online learning poses its own unique set of challenges and limitations for students with and without disabilities. Universal Design (UD) is…

The need for more quality public schools for U.S. children is as great as ever. One policy solution to help meet this demand is to grow more of what is already working. To expand access to existing high-quality charter schools, policymakers and authorizers remove barriers and make it easier to grow enrollment and expand locations. Behind every…

In May 2013, the governor of Florida signed into law Senate Bill 1720, which fundamentally changed how institutions of higher education manage remedial programs. Institutions seemed to be responding to the high demand for education by channeling large percentages of incoming first-year students to remedial classes based on assessment test scores,…

This article provides a framework to assist evaluators, teaching artists, and program managers in working together.