Ninth grade is a pivotal year for students. Numerous studies find that academic performance in 9th grade often sets the student's trajectory throughout the high school years, as well as the probability of graduation. The Building Assets Reducing Risks (BARR) model is a comprehensive approach that addresses developmental, academic, and school…

The teacher-librarian should be the most effective weapon for collaborative teaching and learning within a school. Teacher-librarians do struggle to find time to effectively plan for the cooperative teaching and learning activities. Often school libraries run their own website as they struggle to offer a digital 24/7 library service for its users.…

This paper describes a major initiative in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to develop a statewide, standards-based, student report card for reporting the learning progress of individual students at all grade levels (K-12). Led by a team of researchers with expertise in grading and reporting, 36 educators from three diverse school districts created…

Strategic planning is complex (Dodd, 2004), and when managed well, it requires deliberate incorporation of evidenced-based data and the collaboration of key stakeholders. Thus, it is essential that the planning process includes the integration of data that are collected regularly and that both internal and external professional partners have the…

Limited information exists on how early career teachers, particularly those in "Generation Y", feel about the pension system and potential reforms to the pension system. This paper presents an analysis of the appeal of different aspects of pension plans; their influence on charter versus traditional public school teachers; and how…

This paper describes the culture of experiential community based learning at Central College, a rural liberal arts college in Midwestern, USA. Pre-service teachers use experiential community based learning to reflect on their personal growth in understanding the needs of diverse learners. Reflections demonstrate how the program contributes to the…

Integrating institutional research, outcomes assessment, program review, strategic planning, and accreditation can be a powerful means of creating a culture of evidence-based decision making and continuous improvement. This study examined how this "integrated" model is organized in practice, how such offices began, why this approach was chosen,…

This case study provides an illustration of the heuristic practices of a high-performing research department, which in turn, will help build much needed models applicable in the context of large urban districts. This case study examines the accountability, planning, evaluation, testing, and research functions of a research department in a large…

Over the last decade, New York City has been the site of a systemwide high school reform effort that is unprecedented in its scope and pace. Since 2002, the school district has closed more than 20 failing high schools, opened more than 200 new secondary schools, and implemented a centralized high school admission process in which approximately…

Chulalongkorn University collaboratively worked with the Office of Basic Education, and Department of Highways, with support from a Corporate Social Responsibility Unit (CSR) of Toyota motor Thailand in a Road Safety Project. The project was aimed at cultivating a social awareness, "from a school to a community", using a set of…

This paper, from Mount Hood Community College (MHCC) in Oregon, describes the complex process of preparing an educational master plan. The paper reflects on how this process involved a number of consultants and a very active strategic planning council within the institution. It discusses three approaches to master planning: (1) not preparing a…

Just as organizations use strategic planning to prepare for the future, individuals and the organization can benefit from personal strategic plans that consider future pathways within the organization as part of those plans. This research proposes a three-step approach to creating personal strategic plans that incorporates personal research,…

As the recent outbreak of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus underscores, an influenza pandemic remains a real threat to our nation and to the world. Over the past 3 years, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has conducted a body of work to help the nation better prepare for a possible pandemic. In a February 2009 report, GAO synthesized the…

Following the principle of planned development for all phases of economic and cultural institutions, library planning and the resultant library legislation in socialist countries emanates from the supreme legislative authority of the state. Historically, existing legislation derives from the date of establishment of socialist governments. Library…

Based on the assumption that an institution's sensitivity to societal needs is a function of its sophistication in planning, this report proposes a model for trend monitoring and analysis designed to improve responsiveness to changes in training requirements precipitated by industrial research and development. As background, the report first…