Every student deserves arts instruction for its own sake, as an essential ingredient to a well-rounded education. Yet arts education adds value for a whole host of other educational purposes: among them, enhanced writing and reading, ability to retain information, problem solving, and critical thinking. Interest in models of whole-school reform…

This study examines the efforts of higher education systems in six states to implement large-scale changes to improve student outcomes in mathematics in community colleges and four-year colleges and universities as part of the Mathematics Pathways to Completion (MPC) project. The three-year project was launched in 2015 to help Arkansas,…

A community school is a place and a set of partnerships connecting a school, the families of students, and the surrounding community. A community school is distinguished by an integrated focus on academics, youth development, family support, health and social services, and community development. The community school strategy is central to efforts…

In 2007, Tulsa Community College (TCC) joined the national Achieving the Dream (ATD) network, which is dedicated to developing data-informed interventions to increase persistence and completion among community college students. TCC's participation in the national initiative set it down a path for positive institutional change, but it was the…

Many would agree on the primacy of a high quality education for social and economic health, democracy, and individual prosperity, but scarcely a week goes by that we do not hear that a quality education for all children is not possible. Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) and their partners are told that parents don't care;…

Scientists are creating new and amazing materials by manipulating molecules at the ultra-small scale of 0.1 to 100 nanometers. Nanosize super particles demonstrate powerful and unprecedented electrical, chemical, and mechanical properties. This study examines how nanotechnology, as the multidisciplinary engineering of novel nanomaterials into…

This document contains the Phase III report from the "What Works in Oklahoma Schools" study. As opposed to describing the findings from the study that was conducted, it provides a tool-kit that can be used by Oklahoma principals and teachers to determine the best courses of action for their schools and classrooms. The tools provided in…

As rural communities decline due to job losses in agriculture and other industries, they often aggressively court new industries. In such circumstances, a community should question what a proposed new industry will require in terms of infrastructure; the effects of the new labor force on schools, businesses, and housing; the impact on the…

Traditional schools are notorious for being isolated, inflexible, and reluctant to change. This lack of professional dialogue among educators remains a significant barrier to successful school improvement, resulting in teachers' practices becoming stagnant and student achievement suffering. The K20 Center for Educational and Community Renewal at…

Superintendents of nine Oklahoma school districts that voluntarily consolidated were interviewed to identify successful strategies related to teachers, parents and community, students, support staff, administrators, and board members, and to identify unsuccessful strategies. Assuring that students would benefit, addressing job security, and…

This qualitative case study focuses on a district and community relations plan developed in Oklahoma City Public Schools. This article provides a description of the proposal regarding MAPS for KIDS (Metropolitan Area Projects for Keep Improving District Schools) in Oklahoma City from 1998 through November 2001, and it explores the coalitions that…

Passage in 1989 of Oklahoma's education reform bill, H.B. 1017, provided encouragement and financial rewards for use of consolidation as a reform strategy, but this approach is often met with anxiety and hostility from stakeholders. In an effort to identify strategies that facilitate consolidation, semistructured interviews were conducted with the…

The report of the seminar on inservice vocational education personnel development contains the transcripts of 14 speeches and the reports of six discussion groups. The papers are organized under four main headings: the context of inservice education, which contains three papers on inservice education philosophy, requirements, and responsibility;…

This report describes and assesses the 1993-94 (October 1, 1993 through September 1994) activities of the federally-funded Bilingual Education Multifunctional Resource Center based at the University of Oklahoma and serving a nine-state area (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee).…