Recent reforms in Polish education, Canadian interest in cooperative education, and differences in government involvement in Polish vs. Canadian education motivate the current comparative study of Polish post-secondary vocational schools (PVSs) and Canadian community colleges (CCs). While PVSs and CCs may initially appear equivalent (e.g., both…

Austin Independent School District used more than $31 million federal Title I, Part A funds in the 2009-2010 school year to support almost 45,000 students at 71 Title I schools. This report summarizes compliance and service data.

This is a writing story about trying to create just classroom assessment practices not excluding anybody and therefore an attempt to explore what an opening up to judgment, and in my view, what assessment focused on learning might mean and subsequently imply. Social justice and democracy is at stake. How to develop and improve our assessment…

This investigation focused on a group of 17 faculty drawn from disciplines in the humanities social sciences and natural sciences. Using in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and qualitative coding strategies, this study examined how faculty conceptualized the term critical thinking (CT), and how they assessed for it in general education…

This study examined teachers' attitudes and beliefs in one over-performing urban/suburban high school of the state-mandated curriculum framework under conditions that I label a continuously uncertain reform effort or a top-down mandated curriculum involving constant mixed-messages as to its content, accountability demands, and future existence.…

The 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, has been called the most far-reaching federal education bill in nearly four decades. The law's comprehensive assessment provisions address areas from school choice to low-performing schools and increased…

When teaching science, the time allowed for students to make discoveries on their own through the inquiry method directly conflicts with the mandated targets of a broad spectrum of curricula. Research shows that using an inquiry-based approach can encourage student motivation and increase academic achievement (Wolf & Fraser, 2008, Bryant, 2006,…

In the university initiative described in this article, a series of project teams were funded to work on a variety of collaborative projects. The focus of this piece is on the framework that was developed and executed to select, support, and evaluate these teams. The framework is explained and described using data gathered throughout the study and…

The paper analyzes the nature of the basic education, and points out that the scarcity, disparity and exclusiveness to a certain degree form the inner reasons of school choice in China. In review of the policy evolution of governing the school choice problems, and analyzing the policy framework of the current stage, the paper holds that expanding…

The Texas Projection Measure (TPM) has grown out of the state's need to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). An examination of the state's method of predicting 8th grade mathematics scores reveals that several factors have been ignored in the process of developing the model, including assumptions in its underlying statistical…

In this paper, the authors describe the benefits and pitfalls of mixed methods designs. They argue that mixed methods designs may be preferred when evaluating professional development programs for p-K-12 education given the new call for accountability in making data-driven decisions. They summarize and critique the studies in terms of limitations…

The AISD level report highlights analyses results and strategies that address the interactions among factors influencing student performance. The 2008-2009 middle school level report presents results critical to student achievement at the middle school level.

This study demonstrated the lack of research on college sports in significant higher education academic journals and conferences. Higher education peer-reviewed journals and conferences were considered the most common areas to reasonably measure the frequency of opportunity for national dialogue among scholars. The results found one percent of…

A recent cheating scandal at a top business school led at least one commentator to propose recasting cheating as postmodern learning. Paradoxically counterproductive, the proposal represents a special challenge to the academy. As accountable institutions, universities serve students by purposefully integrating integrity initiatives into the most…

In the face of the century-old call for democracy in education by John Dewey, this paper explores how and why teachers have been systemically removed from efficacy within the educational system in which they live and work. The paper examines historical trends that work to limit teachers' institutional power and become obstacles to teacher voice.…