The International Baccalaureate[R] (IB) examination system has grown exponentially in the United States from 268 schools involved in 1999 to 1,090 schools in 2009. The fact that 49,100 students of a total of 87,800 students in 122 countries were from U.S. schools in 2009 has posed problems in strategic planning, assessment and training, the…

Dating violence is a serious public health problem. In recent years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other entities have made funding available to community based agencies for dating violence prevention. Practitioners who are tasked with developing dating violence prevention strategies should pay particular attention to…

Policies for principal preparation and licensure are important levers for improving school leadership. By developing a rubric of research-based practices, this University Council of Educational Administration study aims to provide a formative tool for policy makers. Using a policy analysis frame by Roach et al., this study explores the state code,…

In this article, we report the results of a survey that accessed the perceptions of family studies and family therapy international master's and doctoral students across the United States. Our goals included giving collective voice to the experience of international students and gathering their suggestions for improving programs. Themes that…

Purpose: A crucial aspect of a school's capacity to promote and sustain change and improvement in student learning is the depth, breadth and endurance of both its formal and informal leadership. Shortages of willing leaders, however, have forced governments around the world to expend a considerable amount of time, effort, and money to fill up the…

A short 27 months ago, two groups of U.S. states were each awarded more than $175 million to design, develop, and pilot test a new generation of assessments (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). These new tests will replace assessments in English language arts and mathematics that are currently in use within state and federal accountability…

Over 18.5% of military personnel returning from war zones to civilian life suffer mental health issues, which can lead to family breakdown, homelessness and other problems. Almost 4000 Australian soldiers have returned home from active service in the last decade suffering from combat stress and mental health conditions. A 2009 Australian…

The Reflective Professional Honours Programme of the Saxion Universities of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands centers on a profile of what graduates of the program should have accomplished in addition to their regular bachelor's degree program. The development team for our programme first investigated what the profile should be, interviewing…

The demand for improved workplace skills in the U.S. is rapidly rising, and U.S. industries, employees, and educational systems are struggling to respond. This paper describes the Skills Advantage program, an effort led by employers and facilitated by Kirkwood Community College to address regional employment needs. This work-ready certificate…

The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) is a comprehensive, school-wide program that was designed in the mid-1980s to reduce bullying and achieve better peer relations among students in elementary, middle, and junior high school grades. Key program elements are described and a number of cultural adaptations to U.S. schools are noted. Several…

A mission statement that identifies the goals and aims of an honors program is a key step in program development. The National Collegiate Honors Council's Basic Characteristics of a Fully Developed Honors Program states unequivocally that a successful honors program "has a clear mandate from the institution's administration in the form of a…

Encouraging older workers to stay in the workforce has become a policy priority, not least because the life expectancy of Australians has increased dramatically over the past several decades, effectively inserting a new stage in life, often called the "third age." This report explores the possibility of using that third age to embark on…

Family literacy programs in North America and the United Kingdom have enjoyed widespread public and political support. Thousands of initiatives following a variety of models currently operate under the spectrum of family literacy programs. In this paper, the influence of learning theories, the research on children's early literacy development, and…

The twenty years since Minnesota passed the nation's first charter school law have seen a great expansion in school choice, with charters operating in all but ten states and enrolling nearly two million students nationwide. Yet while parents now enjoy more schooling options for their children, a disappointing number of charter schools fail to…

Pickering and Howard-Jones (2007) reported educators' enthusiasm for NeuroEducation from a sample of teachers attending neuroscience professional development courses. Their results revealed teachers: (1) are enthusiastic about the role of neuroscience in education; (2) believe an understanding of the brain for educational program development is…