In this article, Amanda Williford, Jason Downer, Kate Miller-Bains, Jenna Conway, and Lisa Howard tell us how a university research center, an early education advocacy group, and a state department of education joined forces in a research-practice partnership to develop and implement a more comprehensive assessment of young Virginia children's…

Many successful non-financial managers aspire to contribute at the larger table of management decision making. To do so necessitates broadening their skills to include financial acumen. For non-financial managers, learning new financial constructs can be daunting, and knowing when to use which tool is challenging. We describe a…

National events highlight a critical need for refined decision-making skills; tragic ethical shortcomings are all too common in our society (James Madison University, 2013; Smith, Fulcher, & Sanchez, 2015). While employers around the world seek professionals with developed reasoning abilities (Hart Research Associates, 2013; Lau, 2010), higher…

This design case documents the development of a new online training program to teach circuit court interns in Wise County, Virginia, how to create smart land records, or land record abstracts stored on a blockchain. The authors first describe the instructional context behind land record abstraction and the clients' original specifications for the…

The University of New Hampshire (UNH), Virginia Tech (VT), and Texas A&M University collaborated to envision and plan (all) and then create (UNH and VT) the National Extension Web-mapping Tool (NEWT) to increase the use of spatial data in planning and programming decision making throughout Extension. With NEWT, Extension professionals can…

The school reopening debate has reached an inflection point as districts weigh both the safety and learning implications of returning to in-person education this fall. Challenges with transitioning to distance learning during the spring made it clear that teachers, parents and students needed more and different resources to make supportive,…

Virginia Tech has intentionally moved beyond the traditional policy-heavy approach to department head orientation to employ a robust leadership development program for new and aspiring academic leaders and faculty. The annual program begins with a full-day workshop in mid-August, and continues throughout the fall semester with a series of shorter…

Critics of ethics education suggest that students need to learn about contextual pressures of workplace ethical decisions and develop skills to handle them. Thus, instructors are often challenged to integrate an ethics unit into organizational behavior courses in ways that complement, rather than duplicate, what may have been covered in their…

The report on which this brief is based describes performance assessments and their value for guiding and evaluating high school students' learning, as well as informing colleges and universities about what students know and can do. It explores state and local policies that support the use of such assessments, along with emerging higher education…

In this policy brief, TransformEd provides policy recommendations for local and state leaders seeking to take a data-informed approach to SEL. We specifically crafted recommendations that incorporate the use of data because gathering data on SEL allows educators to make meaningful connections between student experiences, school culture, and…

The "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act" (IDEA) 2004 and its implementing regulations of 2006 contain provisions for the transfer of rights of students with disabilities upon reaching the age of majority. (20 USC §1415(m); 34 CFR §300.520). Virginia regulations governing special education further detail these requirements at 8…

Recent leadership failures at a couple of major public universities suggest that we should revisit the question of how colleges and universities should be governed. This article presents the authors' views on the leadership roles of trustees, presidents, and faculty. They describe how those roles can be effectively played and point out some of the…

As part of a broad initiative to create a portfolio of robust living learning communities at Virginia Tech, the SERVE LLC was established in 2009 to offer students meaningful community-engaged learning experiences. The program connects students with a commitment to social justice in an environment that promotes critical dialogue and reflection.…

Helping principals understand the importance of organizational justice is the first step in enhancing learning outcomes for all learners, regardless of their social class, race, abilities, sex, or gender. In schools, organizational justice may be defined as teachers' perceptions of fairness, respect, and equity that relate to their interactions…

The author reports on a Republican presidential debate which revives the contention over requiring middle school girls to be vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer. At the September 12 debate, U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann, of Minnesota, and Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, attacked Texas Governor…