In this final chapter, we highlight recurring themes from the preceding chapters and discuss the potential impact these themes have on program planning and instructional practice in adult education.

In this article, we describe how the recent movement towards evidence-based programming has impacted Extension. We review how the emphasis on implementing such programs with strict fidelity to an underlying program model may be at odds with Extension's strong history of adapting programming to meet the unique needs of children, youth, families,…

Greater Boston is home to a set of charter schools that are among the most successful in the country in improving student academic skills as measured by state tests. These schools are committed to boosting student outcomes and continuously improving through innovation. Greater Boston is also home to research universities that are exploring how…

Previous research identified a variety of special populations which may be serviced through online learning activities. These have included the military, Native Americans, prisoners, remote occupations, and others. This paper focuses the growing role of distance learning opportunities for student and professional athletes. Special attention is…

The discriminatory practices against African Americans during the Jim Crow era in St. Louis, Missouri did not deter Dr. Ruth Harris, the first African American female president of Stowe Teachers College (STC) in St. Louis, from accepting the challenge of leading the African American teachers' college from 1940 to 1954. Her appointment to President…

The primary purpose of the article was to build a framework for an innovative approach to online internships after examining best practices in hospitality internships. Learning the ins and outs of an industry virtually, using contemporary internship methods strengthens the student's expertise and better prepares them for future workplace…

We explore the recent undertaking in El Salvador to establish the country's first industry-higher education clusters in four economic sectors critical to growth and competitiveness: (1) information and communication technology; (2) light manufacturing; (3) energy and energy efficiency; and (4) agroindustry and food processing. These clusters take…

This paper describes the development and implementation of engaging and supportive experiences to promote student engagement, persistence, and success at a commuter, open enrollment, public, minority-serving institution. Project components included faculty development at the SENCER Summer Institute (SSI) 2016, attended by a team comprised of an…

Throughout Baltimore, men and women, from young adults to older workers, are seeking meaningful employment opportunities that offer family-sustaining wages and support personal well-being. Labor markets are tight, meaning that skilled workers are in great demand, and a unique prospect exists to open doors to quality jobs, particularly for those…

The past decade has been marked by rapid changes in teacher evaluations. While many districts and states announced their intention to install better systems, they faced political and structural challenges. In this study, [National Council on Teacher Quality] NCTQ examines evidence of the impact of teacher evaluation in six places (four districts…

Students on a college campus are involved in each other's lives in ways that are pervasive and consequential, including during times of distress. A comprehensive campus based suicide prevention plan includes strategies to promote peer involvement that are both safe and effective. Careful program planning, careful training and careful messaging are…

This paper analyses some contemporary educational contexts that teachers should consider for their puberty education programmes and/or curricula, for primary and secondary school students. The educational contexts addressed here include significant international puberty education framework documents, socio-biological factors including earlier…

A strengths assessment of the College of Education at Kansas State University in the United States showed that a majority of faculty had strong interests in social justice issues in education. The need for providing continuing post-graduate education in social justice education with theory-to-practice relevancy is critical in formal and informal…

Educational research often portrays culturally, linguistically and economically disenfranchised (CLED) children's disengagement from school learning as individual behaviour, ignoring the contribution of race, gender, socio-cultural, ethnic and social class factors. This paper analyses a specific community engagement programme in Australia which…

The symposium provides an overview of the Early Years STEM Australia (ELSA) program. The conceptual underpinnings of the program are framed within STEM practices, rather than traditional thinking concerning the integration of discipline content knowledge. We will argue that our focus on practices is more aligned with the play-based and intentional…