A study was conducted considering a mathematics learning center as a figured world, that is, as a social space that is treated as if individuals within the space share certain meanings about the space and interactions within it (Holland et al., 1998) from the perspective of the undergraduate peer tutors employed in it (for the larger study, see…

In 2007, I began research for my doctoral dissertation on what a curriculum in an undergraduate degree in homeland security should look like. At that time, the field of homeland security was a nascent discipline, and as such it did not have a standardized academic curriculum. There were several institutions of higher learning in the United States…

Community college students face a number of life and academic challenges. It is unknown what counseling models are currently employed by community colleges to meet their students' many needs. Representatives of Florida's 28 community colleges completed a survey detailing their counseling model, student populations, rationale behind the model…

Over the past decade, several European countries have implemented policies and programmes leading to the introduction of the concept of "all-day schooling," thus acknowledging the need to guarantee the guard of all children and to enhance equal opportunities of success at school. The Portuguese Ministry of Education created and funded…

In an epoch of increasing globalization and rapid social change, the political leaders of both developed and developing countries are confronted with the challenges of maintaining and improving their systems of formal education. The leaders of Madagascar, a remote island country and developing nation, have faced the challenges of leading a French…

This paper presents a study of 428 youths who participated in service-learning projects in developing countries in South-East Asia, China and India. Using mixed-method approach, this study examined the reasons for their participation in the YEP (youth expedition projects) and the impact of their service-learning experiences on their civic…

The Head Start National Reporting System (NRS) exemplified an assessment system where significant ambiguity existed regarding its purpose(s). This article considers the perceived purposes of the NRS from a local program perspective through observations and interviews with staff members during the 2004-2005 school year. This study found that a…

While it is clear that all educational undertakings consist of ends and means, the relationship between the two is far from straightforward. This article proposes a framework for understanding the relationship in the context of citizenship education. Qualitative research was undertaken of three educational initiatives in Brazil: the schools of the…

Akmal et al. (2002) and Sanders (2001) acknowledged the 100-year debate on the purpose[s] of technology education (TE) and its debatable ties to industrial arts. The debate has been further fueled by the fact most states classify TE as career and technical education. However, some of these states allow Carl D. Perkins federal funding to support TE…

This study investigated whether or not an increase in secondary science teacher knowledge about evolution and the nature of science gained from completing a graduate-level evolution course was associated with greater preference for the teaching of evolution in schools. Forty-four precertified secondary biology teachers participated in a 14-week…

An e-mail survey was conducted in the summer of 2007 to obtain information from state supervisors of mathematics (employees of state departments of education with primary responsibility for K-12 curriculum leadership) regarding the impact of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) 2006 publication, "Curriculum Focal Points (CFP) for…

The Curriculum Orientation Profile was designed to assist in the identification of individual perspectives on curriculum and curricular decision-making. It contains 57 items, with which one agrees or disagrees. Each item is also given a code to be used in interpreting the score. Items with which one agrees are assigned to one of five codes,…

A summative evaluation of the first year of the Concord career education project is presented in the report. Major first-year goals of the project were the introduction of career education concepts and activities in the classroom, development of career education curriculum programs, and development of student testing and a process for exploration…

A survey was undertaken to gather and record the perceptions that college writing program directors and teachers have of the goals of their writing programs, particularly freshman composition. Responses were returned by 134 writing program directors and 135 composition instructors from publicly or privately funded institutions, two-year colleges,…