Many childhood educators are attempting to shift from the dominant "recitation" format of discussions found in today's classrooms. This study draws on reader response, and sociocognitive and sociocultural theories to investigate children's perceptions of social skills and leadership moves after participating in small-group discussions of…

Health care administration is a challenging topic to teach due to the inability for students to directly engage in many of the activities such as insurance billing, inventory, and ordering equipment and supplies. The objective of this article is to describe how a discussion-based meeting format can be used to engage students in health care…

As K-12 schools acquire equipment for videoconferencing, they often experience limited usage of the equipment. The purpose of this study was to identify specific concerns of educators currently involved in videoconferencing. The primary data for the study was 400 discussion posts from 34 educators in an online class about videoconferencing. Data…

To get money flowing from alumni, colleges try to keep them feeling plugged in to their alma mater--even if the "plug" becomes wireless. Bucknell University rolled out a new service this month that pushes cell phone text messages to its 47,000 alumni. So far only a few dozen alumni have signed up for the service. If the service, which is…

As part of a multiyear research study on the preparation of educators to use assessment data for instructional improvement, the present study is a pilot test of a research-based professional development intervention for career-technical teachers. Forty-eight educators at nine sites in five states participated in a 1-day workshop followed by…

In the Fall of 2003, the Pennsylvania Build Initiative convened a Rate Policy Task Force to broadly examine the issue of child care rates and make recommendations for action. The Task Force goal was two-fold: (1) to suggest ways that the rate and payment process currently used by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) can better…

Over the past several years, education reformers have increasingly invested in the development of communities within schools as a central strategy to improve teaching and student learning. These communities come in various guises, including small schools, small learning communities, and teacher teams. Two assumptions about how these communities…

"Women Times Three--Women Working, Raising Children, Growing Older," a project conceived by the Saint Francis College Social Work Program, was implemented via 12 town meetings in 3 communities in Pennsylvania's Cambria County over a 3-month period in 1977. The project's purpose was to provide a low-key forum wherein both women and men of…

This description of how to organize a team teaching program begins with a definition of "team teaching" and distinguishes between hierarchic and synergetic teams. The next two chapters describe 10 team teaching programs in operation in elementary and secondary schools in Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, Florida, Massachusetts, and…

This manual is designed to introduce extension workers to needs assessment theory and techniques in an applied context and to serve as a tool for planning and implementing county-level assessments of youths' needs for extension education (including 4-H programs). First, the following steps in the program planning process are explained: identify…