The notions of indigenous knowledge and cultural philosophies are becoming ubiquitous in many social inquiries, and evaluation is no exception. Nonetheless, the pursuit to embed relevant indigenous philosophies in contemporary evaluation has yet to succeed. In this article, we discuss indigenous relational philosophies, approaches, and practices…

In the fall of 2021, the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) requested assistance from the Region 8 Comprehensive Center in finding research-based strategies for effectively recruiting teachers, especially teachers of color. This request stemmed from Indiana's growing difficulty in fully staffing schools, especially in high-need areas. This…

Models of giftedness in the 21st century tend to describe talent as a social construct. Research now indicates that certain talented populations that are composed of multiple exceptional individuals are excluded from talent development programmes. Recognizing how well the environment best fits individual needs at particular key developmental…

This article evaluates the effect of a community project that was adopted by the students of a school of social work in Israel. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was used. The pretest was administered during the planning stage of the project and the posttest a year later, during the implementation period. The findings show a significant…

Collaborative learning environments found with gaming communities can provide excellent structures to study the way that learners act within informal learning environments. For example, many of these gaming communities encourage gamers to create videogames and virtual world walkthroughs and commentaries. Walkthroughs and commentaries provide…

This paper explores the effectiveness of networking in promoting inquiry-based science education (IBSE) through raising the self-efficacy of science teachers to take ownership of more effective ways of teaching students, supported by stakeholders (Holbrook & Rannikmae, 2010). As PROFILES project (Professional Reflection Oriented Focus on…

Teng's (2007) article entitled "Lessons Learned from Initiating a Community College Learning Community Program" provided a foundation for community college leaders who are interested in working with faculty in creating a learning community on campus. Teng (2007) listed the five lessons that may be useful guidelines to other colleges who…

This column posits enhancing professional development through uses of digital tools to create professional learning communities (PLCs) designed to support collective inquiry and action research leading to schoolwide improvement. These digital tools include a social networking/discussion forum for teacher collaboration; teachers' individual…

This volume contains the following papers: (1) Beyond Computer Literacy: Supporting Youth's Positive Development through Technology (Marina Umaschi Bers); (2) Educational Technology, Reimagined (Michael Eisenberg); (3) Children as Codesigners of New Technologies: Valuing the Imagination to Transform What Is Possible (Allison Druin); (4) Content…

A significant dilemma for the health and human service professions continues to be the question of how best to bridge the divide between academic research and practice. Communities of practice have traditionally been a vehicle for collaborative research and for information exchange (Moore, 2008). Through collaboration, communities of practice have…

In Belle Glade, Florida, a slum populated by Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, migrant farmworkers, and Haitians, where the incidence of most major health risks was far greater than anywhere else in the state, a program was planned and partially implemented which aimed to provide health services to at-risk, disadvantaged teenage mothers and their…

The papers selected for this reader represent the broad range of "practice oriented" interests, problems, populations, and interventions found in both rural social work and at the Seventh National Institute. Section 1 contains four papers which deal with program development and community practice, i.e., planning social services in a…

This paper discusses the challenges of effectively matching the needs of youth populations with program services. An introduction reviews some broad issues that shape the discussion, namely whether youth is a period integrated into the course of life or a separatist culture. A second section proposes an ecological approach to youth services, which…

Computer-Assisted Foreign Language Teaching and Learning: Technological Advances highlights new research and an original framework that brings together foreign language teaching, experiments and testing practices that utilize the most recent and widely used e-learning resources. This comprehensive collection of research will offer linguistic…

This monograph describes and analyzes the particular processes and structures that the New York City Writing Project (NYCWP) directors and on-site teacher-consultants have developed that enable them to support and learn from each other and to reflect critically upon the work they do with teachers, students, and administrators. Over time the…