The Policy Practice in Field Initiative was created to seed innovation and develop new models for an integrated approach to enhance the policy skill set of all social work students regardless of specialization. Funds provided to the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) are regranted to schools and programs of social work for field placement and…

This article presents an innovative textbook reserve program at a mid-sized academic library. Research conducted subsequent to the program's launch showed a positive correlation between students' use of the program and their perceived academic success. In addition, the program has proved effective at helping students with college affordability.…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how nature-inspired art education might foster a sense of connectedness and collaboration in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (hereinafter knows as ASD) in a day program. While many studies have uncovered such beneficial art education for children with ASD, there has been little research attempted…

U.S. rural community colleges serve approximately 3.4 million students, yet there is very little research on these institutions. We conducted a mulitple case study to develop a typology of rural community college locations. We gathered and analyzed publicly available data (n = 25) and private institutional data (n = 6) and conducted in-person…

This study sought to understand how and why Northampton Community College's Summer Bridge program--The Smart Start program--is highly successful at helping "at-risk" students transition to college-level work. For ten years, the Smart Start program has helped more than 150 incoming students acclimate to college, persist, and graduate…

This case study presents an overview of the development of a new Office for Leadership Programs at Villanova University, housed under the Office of Student Development. Adapting Kingdon's (1984) public policy model to the creation of new initiatives in student affairs, this article offers a conceptual framework for the design of new student…

This paper explores enabling conditions for scaling high-quality project-based learning (PBL) to understand factors that influence how PBL spreads, whether and how it can be sustained and the extent to which it informs meaningful change in schools. We report on a year-long collaboration across three research projects. Each project team analyzed…

Colleges and universities are being increasingly recognized as key contributors to the well-being of the places in which they are located. However, in spite of the promise and potential of place-based engagement, there is little agreement about what place and place-building means or how these concepts can be operationalized in within the context…

In writing studies research, automated writing evaluation technology is typically examined for a specific, often narrow purpose: to evaluate a particular writing improvement measure, to mine data for changes in writing performance, or to demonstrate the effectiveness of a single technology and accompanying validity arguments. This article adopts a…

The basic components of apprenticeships are the same today as in 1937, when the National Apprenticeship Act set the foundation for apprenticeships in the United States. Apprentices enter into a structured training program of classroom and paid on-the-job training under the guidance of a mentor. As their skills increase, so do their wages. Upon…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the supervision-questioning-feedback (SQF) model of supervision on critical thinking in graduate students studying speech-language pathology. The researchers hypothesized that students who were provided with the SQF model of supervision would score higher than students who…

The purpose of this study was to explore and to compare the programs at two Pennsylvania Universities for students with intellectual disabilities (ID). The study explored how each university began the program from idea to implementation, including why and when it was started. The first university in this study was a four-year private school that…

This case study examines how The Clay Studio, a ceramic-arts studio, gallery and shop in Philadelphia, attracted younger audiences to its workshops and exhibits. In 2007, the studio became concerned that its audience was getting older and few newcomers were signing up for classes or making purchases. The studio had to engage younger professionals…

Teacher certification is a topic with a number of varying viewpoints to the requirements "quality" teachers need to instruct students in the 21st century career and technical education classroom. Numerous pathways to certification exist for individuals who have aspired to teach career and technical (CTE) students. This study examined the…

The following study examined the perceived developmental influence of the university supervisor-student teacher relationship during the student teaching phase of teacher preparation. Since the supervisor is viewed as the gatekeeper to eventual teacher certification and acts as an evaluator, mentor, and instructor (Borko & Mayfield, 1995;…