The TEACH Act of 2002 was passed into American Federal law to give educators guidance for the use of copyrighted material in online courses. It gives broad leeway to a variety of uses and protects educators from copyright holders who do not want their work used without compensation even if the work is clearly allowed under previous provision of…

Children in foster care face multiple barriers compared to their nonfoster peers, especially as it pertains to their educational success. The problem was school administrators, such as principals and assistant principals, face greater challenges in meeting the educational needs of foster children in addition to balancing the extraneous issues…

The retention rate in online classes is significantly lower than traditional classes especially in subjects like accounting. More than 40% of the students who were enrolled in online Accounting 101 courses either dropped or failed the course (internal data, 2020). There is a need to identify best practices to increase retention in online classes…

Recent reform efforts have been adopted in the United States to reimagine student learning in science. Historical reform efforts have required teacher buy-in necessary for substantive change to occur. Using a mixed-method methodology, chemistry teacher progress in implementing the "Next Generation Science Standards" in Illinois and views…

Environmental education is implemented in formal curricula in multiple ways, including K-12 science. In the United States, the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) has provided a lens for considering how the goals of environmental education and formal science education may overlap and complement one another. Potential synergies…

Forty years ago, Alan Peshkin began his study of fundamental independent Baptist Christian schools. With time, further insight can be gained on the outcomes of the students from these schools. Despite possessing employer-desired character traits, fundamental Christian school students were expected to earn few academic or career achievements. The…

Teachers present their perceptions when designing and mapping curriculum to implement standards-based instruction and assessment. It appears that teachers are willing but not always able to make curriculum and instructional decisions. Participation of teachers varies from district to district. When curriculum is given to teachers as part of their…

The author examines the process for applying for National Association for Development Education (NADE) accreditation. The multi-year process began when the English faculty of the community college she works at reviewed data from the National Community College Benchmark Project. The data showed low success rates and poor persistence from…

This article illustrates how mathematics teachers can develop design-focused projects, related to project-based learning, to motivate secondary mathematics students. With first-hand experience as a secondary mathematics teacher, I provide a series of steps related to the engineering design process, which are helpful to teachers in developing…

Professional development in higher education is traditionally viewed as occurring through participation in workshops, attending conferences, and completing learning modules. But sometimes professional learning occurs in informal and unintended ways. This article contributes to the collective understanding of informal professional learning in…

This study looks to answer the question, "Does the current accounting educational system in the United States focus too heavily on the requirements of large (and SEC registered) companies at the expense of small companies and individuals who comprise the primary clientele of most practicing CPAs?" This investigation surveys CPAs…

In 2012, a committee at a small Midwestern liberal arts college, Lake Forest College, embarked on a journey to create a music education teacher licensure major. Drawing from narrative inquiry, this article reports how the dean of faculty, education department chair, music department chair, and assistant professor of music/music education…

Previous papers in this issue of "JCS" have presented case studies of the state-based curriculum commissions that developed the "Illinois Learning Standards" of 1997 and Norway's "Laereplanverket 1997" ("L97") (1997). The studies were developed using as a framework a body of German research that sees…

This case study of the development of the "Illinois Learning Standards" of 1997 parallels a study of the development of the Norwegian compulsory school curriculum of 1997, "Laereplanverket 1997." The pair of case studies is designed to explore the administration of state-based curriculum-making and, in particular, the use of…

The public educational system is comprised of diverse demographics wherein each student has a distinct cultural personal history (O'Brien, 1998). In America, the traditional perception was that a melting pot society existed. But deMarrais and LeCompte (1999) maintain that a stew pot or salad bowl would be a more appropriate analogy. Melting pot…