Three-dimensional spatial visualization is an essential skill for geoscientists. We conducted two evaluations of students' spatial skills to examine whether their skills improve after enrollment in a geology course or courses. First, we present results of pre- and post-course survey of abstract visualization skills used to characterize the range…

The field of special education is wrought with ethical dilemmas. The Council for Exceptional Children has outlined its code of ethics and standards for professional practice for individuals working in the field of special education. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which special education administrators and teachers possess…

In a study that examined transition services for students with disabilities aged 18-21 years in the state of Wisconsin, respondents completed and returned 231 surveys. Survey data indicated that 50% of respondents lived in rural communities. The authors analyzed data for participant perspectives on components of transition planning in the areas of…

Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on first 10, then seven sites. It…

During Academic Day, September 1, 2009, incoming freshmen and transfer students in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences (CAFES) were asked to complete a one-page questionnaire designed to find out: (1) how they learned about UW-River Falls as an option for their tertiary education; (2) what factors most influenced their…

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how middle school students and their parents are using technologies and what programs citizens of Wisconsin might need with respect to these technologies. During the month of February 2010, staff from the Survey Research Center (SRC) at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, Lori…

Through the Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project (PWTARP), the authors have set out to explore and document what peer tutors take with them from their training and experience. The Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project has made it possible for the authors to sample and analyze more systematically the reflections of 126 former tutors from…

University teacher education programs establish partnerships with P-12 schools, in part to place their teacher education candidates in a learning environment that allows candidates to work with a diverse population of learners. The purpose of this study was to examine three universities in regard to the partnerships utilized for field and clinical…

Services and programs for transition-age youth with disabilities have been fragmented and inadequate (Noonan, 2004; Oertle & Trach, 2007; Sitlington, Clark, & Kolstoe, 2000). These often-ineffective services have contributed to the sizeable gap betweens students with disabilities and their peers without disabilities in employment and other…

Each afternoon across the U.S., 15 million children--more than a quarter of children--are alone and unsupervised after school. The parents of 18 million would enroll their children in an afterschool program, if one were available. These are some of the key findings from the nation's most in-depth study of how America's children spend their…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to assess the relationship between the level of technology use of administrators and the level of technology use of their teachers. The target sample was principals and teachers in nine schools in three school districts in south central Wisconsin. Participants were from one elementary…

This study examines principal mentoring practices in Wisconsin. Particular attention is paid to practices deemed promising in the literature on mentoring for improving principals' capacity for instructional leadership. The implementation of Wisconsin's policy for teacher and administrator mentoring (PI 34) is also examined. Wisconsin's…

This article describes the process and results obtained from an alumni survey administered at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Comparisons are made to similar surveys that have been implemented at other universities. The survey was administered to undergraduate and graduate alumni who graduated one year or five years earlier. Of the 2,763 alumni…

The principles of course redesign that were applied to a gateway Cell Biology course at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee are applicable to courses large and small, and to institutions of any size. The challenge was to design a content-rich science course that kept pace with present and future content and at the same time use principles of…

This study uses administrative data from the Wisconsin Court Record Database, linked with survey data collected from mothers (n= 789) and fathers (n= 690), to describe the living arrangements of children with sole mother and shared child physical placement following parental divorce. Contrary to prior research, results provide little evidence that…