Pediatric physical and occupational therapists are in the unique position to provide therapeutic and health promotion interventions to children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) including those with chronic conditions (such as overweight and obesity) in a variety of settings. In this commentary, the authors share their experiences…

Increasingly, colleges and universities value undergraduate educational research experiences, though traditional apprenticeship models may be infeasible due to faculty time and resource limitations. The "embedded researcher" method can provide research experiences to large numbers of students within traditional courses while generating valuable…

With the implementation of Response to Intervention (RTI) across many states, the school counseling profession must be proactive in establishing its critical role in this process. This article outlines the three essential and shared components between RTI and comprehensive, developmental school counseling programs. Each of these integral and…

This paper provides background on planning and organizational culture change in libraries and describes a grassroots planning process taking place at the Ohio State University Libraries. Now in its third phase, the process aims to create a long-term plan for the organization while fostering a more collaborative, innovative culture.

Performance funding--the linking of allocation of resources to accomplishment of certain desired outcomes--is an idea that is once again finding favor with policymakers. It has intuitive appeal; what's not to like about paying for results? While it is a notion that makes common sense to most decisionmakers, it is an idea with a very checkered…

Bullying and cyber bullying are important issues in schools, not only in the United States but in many other nations. In this article, the author recommends sites that he thinks would be helpful for teachers and schools combating bullying and cyber bullying. These recommended sites provide teacher lesson plans and other resources dealing with…

This paper provides a brief review of blended learning as a didactic method, and discusses the issues and challenges of using blended learning models in post-secondary education. Blended learning refers to mixed modes of instruction that combine traditional face-to-face classroom teaching methods and online learning materials. The paper will…

"Drama for Schools" ("DFS") is a professional development program in drama-based instruction shaped by theories of critical pedagogy and constructivism. In 2007, the Director of "DFS" invited an educational psychology faculty member to develop a research and evaluation component for the program. This article discusses…

In the United States and elsewhere, there is a dramatic shortage of engineers and technologists. And, unfortunately, these professions often suffer from a lack of awareness among K-12 students. Clearly, educators need to show students the very exciting and lucrative aspects of these fields. Engineering and technology are consistently listed by…

When the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released the Common Core State Standards in June 2010, it was the culmination of a yearlong process. It resulted in what the two organizations stated was the establishment of clear and consistent goals for learning that would prepare America's…

STEM--shorthand for "science, technology, engineering, and mathematics"--has been part of the school improvement discussion for more than a decade, as educational leaders and policy makers have underscored the importance of these areas in an internationally competitive, 21st-century economy. But building and implementing programs that…

Privatization has been used to address the limited capacity of government to achieve positive results in child welfare systems. Privatized systems have not realized better outcomes than their public counterparts, however, and many states continue to struggle with implementation. In order to demonstrate that privatization is in fact an investment…

National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) were launched in the United Kingdom (excluding Scotland) in 1987 as a framework for rationalising what was described at the time as the "jungle" of existing vocational qualifications. They were never intended to be the basis for a comprehensive NQF for all qualifications; however, successive…

By offering open-source software (OSS)-based networks as an affordable technology alternative, we partnered with a nonprofit community organization. In this article, we narrate the client-based experiences of this partnership, highlighting the ways in which OSS and open-source culture (OSC) transformed our students' and our own expectations of…

Between 2006 and 2008 the Ministry of Education funded the evaluation of three Talent Development Initiatives for gifted and talented students. The methodology employed was one of participatory action research, a process of evaluation that enables learning by doing, as researchers and practitioners work alongside one another. Through the process…