"Blogging across the curriculum: Integrating blogging in the elementary classroom" is an Action Research Project that sought to explore the level of engagement in the writing process by students in grades 3, 4 & 5 while blogging across the curriculum. Blogging took place in homeroom classrooms as well as in the school's math, science and…

Contemporary test-based reforms are often grounded in the claim that test performance is the key to international economic competitiveness. However, this oft-repeated assertion lacks empirical support. According to the World Economic Forum, the United States' recent loss of economic competitiveness standing is due to macroeconomic instability…

The assessment of knowledge and learning progress in the context of game-based learning requires novel, noninvasive, and embedded approaches. In the present paper, we introduce a mathematical framework which relates the (problem solution) behavior of a learner in the game context to the learner's available and lacking competencies. We argue that a…

Schools are demanding ever more sophisticated executive skills from heads these days. As a result, the headship position is beginning to resemble that of a "chief executive," while at the same time retaining all of the academic and interpersonal components of the past. Many schools require their heads to at least understand, if not be…

This article discusses the UK government's consultations on skills policy and further education funding. Adult learning has, throughout the years, been subject to endless strategies and proposed plans--but none of these has fully realised its potential. There are two contrasting attitudes to the outlook for further education and, indeed, the…

School principals need to be well prepared to manage school facilities assigned to their care. Educational leadership programs can make best use of the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) Standards to develop a course of study to address school facility management issues. Every standard has its facility implications that lead to…

The 21st century has been characterised by changes in the economy, the nature of society and situations in the ecological environment. Teaching and learning processes have never been the same since the demand for work-related competencies, the type of information available and the way that education and training systems must be implemented must…

Recognising both the complexity of skills policies and the potential for peer learning, the OECD has developed a global Skills Strategy that helps countries to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their national skills systems, benchmark them internationally, and develop policies that can transform better skills into better jobs, economic…

Today's marketing instructors are faced with the challenge of improving their students' soft skills to prepare them for today's business environment. Numerous authors have noted that client-based/-sponsored projects help students improve the soft skills they need to succeed in the business community. This article provides detailed guidelines on…

Within the current accountability context of education in the United States and Canada, there is a clear need to educate teachers on effectively using assessments to support, measure, and communicate student learning. Despite this need, assessment has historically been a neglected area in teacher education programs with comparatively little…

The Common Core State Standards, released in June 2010, offer an opportunity to shift education away from shallow, test-prep instruction and toward a focus on key cognitive skills, writes Conley. Two consortia of states are now developing common assessments to measure these standards--assessments that will be designed to capture deeper, more…

This article describes one assessment that provides a college- and career-ready individual for employers. In Illinois, workNet is the state's primary online workforce development Web site and resource for Workforce Investment Act services. With help from NOCTI, workNet offers assessments that identify the skills and interests of participants,…

Peter G. Northouse's "Leadership: Theory and Practice" defines leadership as an individual's influence on a group in order to reach a goal. This definition is good in that it is difficult to disagree with, but it is vague in that the creation of influence can happen in countless ways, some of which, such as the use of coercion, force, or unethical…

Today's environment requires community college leaders to put student success and equity at the top of their leadership agendas. Thus, higher education institutions have realized a need to change the philosophies and programs that underpin the training of community college leaders. Other schools of education are adapting to give college leaders…

In this brief, Erik Rice identifies three strategic practices schools, districts, and communities can use to help prepare students for college and career success: (1) To collectively articulate and align a set of student outcomes that prioritize 21st century skills; (2) Transform defined outcomes into functioning frameworks for curriculum and…