Access to instruction is key to students' success. Deaf and hard of hearing students who gain skills to become independent learners are better prepared to pursue higher-level education with confidence and to have independence in the work place environment (Anderson, 2014). As an itinerant educator, Victoria Bricker works with students' teachers…

GAME results from the exhaustion of doing the same activities, dealing with unmotivated students and not getting the desired results academically. Thus, I initiated a process of research and training in areas such as Positive Psychology, Neurosciences and Neurolinguistic Programming, which allowed to design an Evidence-Based Intervention. Students…

The most challenging parts of teaching mathematics are engaging students and helping them understand the connections between mathematics concepts. In this volume, you'll find a collection of low floor, high ceiling tasks that will help you do just that, by looking at the big ideas at the fourth-grade level through visualization, play, and…

This report shares stories from around the country about community and state leaders working to strengthen partnerships, practices, and policies--all to improve the odds for youth. Stories in this report include: (1) Using new data to spark public conversations about youth issues in Indianola, MS; (2) Leaders building a children and youth master…

Today an increasing number of teachers have successfully implemented blogging with students ranging from kindergarten through high school (Hungerford-Kresser, Wiggins, & Amaro-Jimenez, 2012). Although research on blogging is scant, existing studies suggest it can benefit students in various ways (Meinecke, Smith, & Lehmann-Willenbrock,…

The thoughtful utilization of student course evaluation data has been documented in the literature as a way to significantly improve student learning outcomes and the overall quality of instruction. However, at many community colleges, course evaluations continue to be used only for summative purposes or as a generic measure of instructor…

We developed an interactive exercise to teach students how to draw the structures of the 20 standard amino acids and to identify the one-letter abbreviations by modifying the familiar game of "Hangman." Amino acid structures were used to represent single letters throughout the game. To provide additional practice in identifying…

In this essay Clinton Golding introduces a new construct and area of research--epistemic progress--and argues that it can shed new light on educational inquiry. By clearly distinguishing progress through developing better ideas (epistemic progress) from progress through developing better inquiry skills (procedural progress), teachers and students…

The commentaries in this special issue as well as the articles they address contribute to the knowledge base about advanced learners, how they are identified, and how they are best served. In our Editors' commentary, we have organized our thoughts following the same order in which the commentaries appear in the remainder of this issue. As the…

Imagination is a powerful engine that can drive people to bring their ideas, dreams, and desires to reality. The imagination constructs stories that lead people to create. Combining imagination with engineering knowledge creates inventions which initially might seem fantastic. The authors provide in this article a brief overview of a successful…

These days, a growing chorus of parents, educators, and policymakers is voicing frustration and anger with top-down accountability and high-stakes testing. As members of two not-for-profit education organizations--one focused on assessment and the other on research and instructional practices--the authors find nothing wrong with testing itself;…

This article concludes the special issue of "Studies in Educational Evaluation" concerned with "Evaluating learning pattern development in higher education" by discussing research issues that have emerged from the previous contributions. The article considers in turn: stability versus variability in learning patterns; old versus new analytic…

For over a decade at the University of Minnesota, I have used social media tools in my introductory global history course to improve engagement and final grades. Students and I work as partners in using the tools to engage them more in the class, prepare for exams, and develop these skills for other courses. Our approach is guided by principles of…

In light of an international policy movement to increase focus on students' academic achievement, the question of how to improve schools has become an important issue at all levels in the school system. Substantial resources have been invested in reforms to improve conditions for pupils' learning. Great expectations and responsibility are often…

Community colleges that are exploring ways to dramatically improve outcomes for their students frequently seek a better understanding of the relationship between two "branded" approaches receiving significant publicity: Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) and guided pathways. ASAP was created by the City University of New York…