In the knowledge economy, the journey of education to develop a flexible, knowledgeable, and skilled workforce should begin in pre-school and continue until at least an associate degree--the equivalent of a high school diploma a generation ago--is achieved. A high school diploma is not sufficient to compete in a global economy. The number of…

The current ARL report summarizes a multi-year effort that captures evidence in the form of narrative profiles as it delivers the message of the value and contributions of research libraries during transformative times. When ARL library directors were interviewed in 2005 and asked to describe a research library in the 21st century, there was…

There is often confusion about distinctions between growth models and value-added models. The first half of this paper attempts to dispel some of these confusions by clarifying terminology and illustrating by example how the results from a large-scale assessment can and will be used to make inferences about student growth and the value-added…

In response to the worldwide shortage of biostatisticians, Australia has established a national consortium of eight universities to develop and deliver a Masters program in biostatistics. This article describes our successful innovative multi-institutional training model, which may be of value to other countries. We first present the issues…

Few researchers support the belief that a school superintendent can drive improvements in student achievement. The Science and Mathematics Achievement Required for Tomorrow (SMART) Consortium was formed in northeast Ohio in 1998 with the belief that superintendents can have a measurable effect on student learning. The goal of this collaboration…

This report highlights the experiences of the 33 members of CIC's (Council of Independent Colleges) Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) Consortium over the past three years as they used the CLA to measure student learning outcomes. The CLA instrument assesses how the college experience helps students develop such "higher order" cognitive skills…

This paper identifies a series of activities which reinforce each other and form part of a thematic unit of instruction across the content areas for English language learners (ELLs). These activities will be connected to the relevant English language proficiency (ELP) standards established at level three by the World-Class Instructional Design…

Ever since North Carolina State University Libraries launched their Endeca-based OPAC replacement in the beginning of 2006, the library world has been completely obsessed with ditching their old, tired catalog interfaces (and with good reason) for the greener pastures of more sophisticated indexing, more accurate relevance ranking, dust jackets,…

Tennessee State University has a rich history of public service and civic engagement--thus the motto "Think, Work, Serve." Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University has grown dramatically from a small college to two campuses. We actively engage in adhering to the cornerstone of the land-grant universities: teaching, research, and outreach. Our…

Consortia are increasingly popular mechanisms by which educational institutions may achieve organisational goals that might be especially challenging to accomplish individually. Such collaborations are intended to offer courses and services through combined resources and expertise. Consortia designed to develop and deliver distance education…

When the University of Chicago's Consortium on Chicago School Research published "From High School to the Future: Potholes on the Road to College" in March 2008, it wasn't expecting to focus on the major problems faced by Latino students in applying to, enrolling in, and attending college. But as its research expanded, it was clear that…

This issue is devoted to the curriculum guidelines from the Liberal Arts Computer Science Consortium. These guidelines provide a coherent and important model for computing education within a liberal arts context, giving primacy to critical reason, rigorous methods, and student engagement in the research process. In this regard, they are at the…

The Middle College National Consortium (MCNC) is one of 11 intermediary organizations awarded funds by the Gates Foundation to establish Early College High Schools (ECHSs). The MCNC is a school-practitioner network of more than 30 middle colleges (high schools located on college campuses) committed to a set of shared beliefs and instructional…

This paper highlights several current collaborative activities of the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC). There are many specific examples of TA (Technical Assistance) collaborations that take place on a regular basis; the seven examples presented here were selected to represent different types of collaboration. The…

Over the past decade, online courses and entire online degree programs have been made available, serving millions of students in higher education. These online courses largely have been designed and taught using the theoretical concepts and practical strategies of Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN). During 2003-04, approximately two million…