Strategic communications is important for building awareness, engagement, and commitment for serving children and youth. When this communication is bidirectional, it also creates avenues for state education agency (SEA) leaders to receive timely, honest feedback from stakeholders about the effectiveness of whole-person initiatives. This guide is…

In 2017 to 2018, the University of Wisconsin (UW) System undertook a major consolidation, removing its two-year college campuses from a standalone sub-system known as the UW Colleges and merging them with nearby four-year UW institutions. The system-level motivation for doing so, in a state undergoing a demographic shift with an aging population,…

Just as students undergo "learning progressions" in moving from naivety to mastery of biochemical topics, faculty experience "teaching progressions" as they experiment with pedagogy, listen to students' feedback, and become members of a community of educators. An important element of both teaching and learning is assessment.…

Based on survey data from over 400 faculty members who taught short-term study abroad courses, the purpose of this study was to identify the types of goals that faculty members have in teaching short-term study abroad courses and the relationship between faculty background characteristics (i.e., race, gender, discipline, and prior experience) and…

The relation between what many students desire and how the nature of the teaching is related to the core notion in Entwistle's paper -- the need for teachers to consider the constructive alignment in the interactions between teaching and learning. First proposed by John Biggs (1996), the claim is that there should be alignment between the outcomes…

This study, conducted by a small group in a master's level class taught by Dr. Christine Wilson, assessed extracurricular experiences at a large, public university to identify potential alignment with characteristics of "high-impact practices" as defined by the Center for Postsecondary Education (2015). Students engaged in…

This qualitative action research study was conducted in a bilingual second grade classroom. It will present findings regarding implementation, understandings and evidence of differentiated instruction (DI). The findings of this study highlight how aligned instructional planning and defined pedagogical understandings foster differentiated…

Laboratory education plays a paramount role in the education of engineers and engineer technologists. Laboratories allow students not only to learn essential concepts and principles, but also to develop fundamental skills to solve complex problems, work with complex systems, communicate effectively, work in teams, and reflect on the societal…

This article reports on an application of an SoTL [Scholarship of Teaching and Learning] research process for two teacher education instructors in an undergraduate teacher education course, Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age. After engaging in content analysis of student work samples derived from a Digital Sabbath assignment, the instructors…

In this "Voices from the Field" article, we (two teacher-educators/-researchers) describe our negotiation of teaching practices in an online writing course for pre-service teachers. Our overarching purpose is to disrupt dominant discourses of writing and to illuminate critical perspectives. Specifically, we highlight intentional shifts…

The ambitious goals of standards-based reform call for both technical and adaptive leadership to address problems of practice involving the technical and adaptive alignment of teachers' instruction to the standards. Thus, standards-aligned curriculum implementation necessitates both types of strategies; otherwise, adaptive challenges will persist.…

Across the United States, schools are implementing Restorative Practices (RP) in an effort to reduce exclusionary discipline and improve school climate through fostering a relationally driven school community. Emerging research has begun to examine the implementation and efficacy of RP as an alternative to punitive discipline approaches. While…

Research has shown that written feedback is important for student learning and development. However, the messages embedded in feedback may lead to students being misled about what they need to learn or how they need to develop. This article reports on a small-scale investigation into the messages embedded in feedback. Legitimation Code Theory was…

Drawing from campus-based research projects sponsored by the AAC&U and the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California, "From Equity Talk to Equity Walk" provides practical guidance on the design and application of campus change strategies for achieving equitable outcomes. The authors offer advice on how to…

This framework marks the first in a series of five reports detailing the work of the Optimizing Assessment for All (OAA) project at Brookings to strengthen education systems' capacity to integrate 21st century skills (21CS) into teaching and learning, using assessment as a lever for changing classroom practices. In a world of rapid advancement and…