Yong Zhao is Foundations Distinguished Professor in the School of Education with an appointment in the School of Business at the University of Kansas. Prior to joining KU, he served as the Presidential Chair, Director of the Institute for Global and Online Education, and Associate Dean in the College of Education, University of Oregon, where he…

This article reports on an interview with Marcia McCaffrey, the state arts consultant for the New Hampshire Department of Education and current president of the State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education (SEADAE). The discussion revolved around how the new arts standards may interact with evolving structures of arts teacher evaluation…

This article critiques the diversity crises model of diversity planning in higher education and presents a decentralized diversity planning model. The model is based on interviews with the nation's leading diversity officers, a review of the literature and the authors own experiences leading diversity change initiatives in higher education. The…

This article presents an interview with Jay McTighe, an educational author and consultant. In his conversation, McTighe discussed best ways to find out how well students are learning and the evidence of understanding that teachers and administrators must see. He also talked about the five steps to support appropriate assessments. These steps…

The academic style (conduct) of academic circles has become a hot topic in the media. This article presents an interview conducted by "China Newsweek" with Vice Director Yuan Zhenguo of the Ministry of Education, Social Sciences Department. In this interview, Zhenguo talks about the Ministry of Education's plan to set up such…

This article presents an interview with two people who had responsibility for leading the development of the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA)--a joint project of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), supported by the Lumina…

This article presents an interview with Reggie Felton, director of federal relations of the Nation School Board Association (NSBA). Felton talks about the No Child Left Behind Act and the proposed changes of the NSBA. The coalition's major concern is the current accountability framework of NCLB that does not accurately or fairly assess student or…

Over the past 6 years, the Oral History Project Team has conducted interviews with individuals who have influenced the theory and practice of evaluation. In 2006, Robin Miller, with the help of Christian Coryn of The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University (WMU), and Daniela Schroeter, also at the Center, sat down with widely regarded…

In an interview, Educational Testing Service (ETS) President Gregory R. Anrig proposes making the standardized testing industry publicly accountable through adoption of standards modeled on guidelines established by three major professional associations. He also discusses criticisms of the testing industry and the future development of ETS. (PGD)

Professor Terry Wood of Oregon State University helped to craft national physical education standards released in 1995. An interview with Wood discusses how physical education has changed in emphasis and purpose, Oregon's inclusion of physical education as a content area in state standards, assessment and accountability for physical education…

In this article, the author interviews two leading thinkers in the field of education. Richard Rothstein and Kati Haycock talk about the possibility of closing the achievement gap through education and face off on poverty, race, and school achievement. In his book, "Class and Schools" (Teachers College Press, 2004), Rothstein writes that…

The interview with Dr. Reid Lyon examines questions concerning the relevance of teacher education practices, effects of the regular education initiative, suggestions for improving teacher preparation, university faculty accountability, and future trends in teacher preparation. (DB)

This article presents an interview with William H. Graves, a professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. From 1989 to 1997, he also served UNC as senior technology officer (under various titles) and as founder and director of the Institute for Academic Technology. Graves took leave from the…

This paper presents interviews with Dr. Jon Mueller and Dr. Paula Harris. Dr. Jon Mueller is a professor of Psychology at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Dr. Paula Harris is a professor in the Department of Language, Literature, and Arts at Jackson Community College in Jackson, Michigan. In these interviews, they present a…

Five librarians considered authorities on quality cataloging in the OCLC Online Union Catalog were interviewed to obtain their views on the current level of quality control in the OCLC database, the responsibilities of OCLC and individual libraries in improving the quality of records, and the consequences of quality control problems. (CLB)