That the student population in public schools is becoming increasingly diverse is not all that surprising. Studies indicate that in less than three decades, a majority of children will likely belong to race-ethnic minorities. Conversely, teacher candidates are not keeping pace with the diversity ratio of students in the PK-12 public school…

For Daniel J. Kaniewski, the magic formula needed to redirect his career path from anonymous academic researcher to presidential policy adviser was only 719 words long. A single newspaper column that he wrote in April 2005 succinctly criticized the Department of Homeland Security's disaster-preparation plans. A few months later, a White House…

Adult educators are well aware of the need to understand the communities they serve. This is important, not only to improve teaching, but also to make programs more accessible. The Adult Learning Research Project (Goto, Martin, Goulet, Robinson, and Furtado, in press) was designed to gather preliminary information about communities that are…

Institutional leaders, educators, and policymakers are challenged to improve educational outcomes for all students, including Latinos. "Excelencia" in Education responds to this challenge by linking research, policy, and practice that supports higher educational achievement for Latino students. Premier in this effort is Examples of…

Staffing each classroom with an effective teacher is the most important function of a school district. Doing so requires strategic personnel policies and smart practices. This analysis reviews the Seattle Public Schools' teacher policies linked most directly to teacher effectiveness. Ten policy goals frame the analysis. Each of these goals is…

This publication welcomes students attending one of the American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC's) international fairs during Fall 2007 in Jakarta and Surabaya, Indonesia; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Hong Kong and Macau, China; and Seoul, Korea. AACC holds these tours to acquaint international students in Asia with the benefits of…

Purpose: In the USA, as elsewhere, there is an ongoing need to improve quality in higher education. Quality improvement models from business have not been widely embraced, and many other approaches to accountability seem to induce minimal compliance. This paper aims to contend that learning communities represent a viable alternative in the quest…

The Eastern Washington University Department of Education, in collaboration with Spokane Public Schools and Spokane Falls Community College, established a teacher preparation pathway called Discover the Teacher Within for the 2003-2005 biennium. The project's major purpose was to encourage high school students to consider K-12 teaching as a career…

Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) is an innovative program and strategy developed by the Washington (WA) State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) in conjunction with the state's 29 community colleges and five technical colleges. Its goal is to increase the rate at which adult basic education and…

As community colleges become dependent on a contingent workforce, the recruitment, retention, and motivation of quality part-time faculty become an institutional priority. This chapter presents an overview of the practices of three exemplary colleges in providing innovative professional development for part-time faculty.

"ARL" is the bimonthly report on research library issues and actions from ARL (Association of Research Libraries), CNI (Coalition of Networked Information), and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). "ARL" reports on current issues of interest to academic and research library administrators, staff and…

Routes to economic development attract considerable attention in community and rural sociology. Social scientists draw increasingly on studies of social capital and environmental surroundings as they examine the factors that facilitate and inhibit economic development. However, few empirical analyses exist that analyze the impact of the…

The knowledge, skills, and practices of early childhood care providers and teachers are critical factors in their delivery of high-quality developmental and educational experiences to young children. However, studies have found that the majority of professionals that make up the current early childhood workforce are not adequately prepared. Recent…

Finding willing, qualified candidates for the principalship is increasingly difficult in Washington State and elsewhere. Candidate pools are smaller. There are more openings prompted by increased numbers of students and administrative retirements and fewer students in educational administration. Greater demands have reduced the role's…

Each year more than 572,500 international students enroll in more than 3,300 colleges and universities in the United States. Currently, about 84,000 of these students attend community colleges. Why do so many international students choose to pursue higher education in the United States? First, U.S. colleges and universities welcome and value…