Mentoring is a series of collaborative activities and conversations between young people and older or more experienced persons (i.e., mentors) who are acting in a helping capacity to provide support that benefits one or more areas of the young person's development. This resource offers those who develop and implement mentoring services meaningful…

The sustained recruitment and retention of students in STEM majors is a national concern. Although the rate of attrition in these majors is comparable to other majors, the demand for trained scientists to enter the workforce with a baccalaureate degree is high. To enhance retention and support of STEM students from their first year until…

In 2019, the Texas legislature passed a historic education finance bill that included an initiative to add up to 30 days to the school-year calendar. One way districts can do this is to offer a voluntary summer learning program. In 2020, the American Institutes for Research, with support from The Wallace Foundation, launched the six-year Texas…

Recruitment and retention challenges are once again leading to teacher shortages across the nation. Especially in urban and rural school districts, low salaries and poor working conditions often contribute to the difficulties of recruiting and keeping teachers, as can the challenges of the work itself. As a consequence, in many schools--especially…

Amaya Garcia of New America talks with Kappan about grow-your-own programs, in which school districts partner with teacher preparation programs to recruit and prepare community members, often current students or school staff, to teach in local schools. A recent 50-state scan shows that there is a great deal of variety in how these programs are…

Recruitment and retention challenges are once again leading to teacher shortages across the nation. Especially in urban and rural school districts, low salaries and poor working conditions often contribute to the difficulties of recruiting and keeping teachers, as can the challenges of the work itself. As a consequence, in many schools--especially…

We have modified the popular Cafe Scientifique model for engaging adults in dialog on issues at the nexus of science and society to address the specific needs and interests of high-school age youth. Key elements of the model are Youth Leadership Teams that guide the program design and assist with implementation; a speaker preparation process to…

The "Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area" (ESG) were adopted by the Ministers responsible for higher education in 2005 following a proposal prepared by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) in cooperation with the European Students' Union (ESU), the…

State oversight for teacher preparation programs mostly ignores the impact of graduates on the K-12 students they teach, and it gives little attention to where graduates teach or how long they remain in the profession. There is no evidence that current state policies hold programs to high standards in order to produce teachers who can help…

Our current system for holding U.S. teacher education programs accountable doesn't guarantee program quality or serve the needs of schools and students. State oversight for teacher preparation programs mostly ignores the impact of graduates on the K-12 students they teach, and it gives little attention to where graduates teach or how long they…

Alternative programs in special education are often developed in response to chronic personnel shortages. At issue, however, is the quality of alternative programs and their graduates. This paper describes the design, implementation and evaluation of a large special education alternative certification program that adheres to both professional…

A study was conducted to determine the background of employed students in a sampling of accounting cooperative education programs, the nature of the final selection process made by the firms, the value of the students to the firm, and the value of the program to the students as perceived by members of the firm. (CT)

Presents 10 basic steps to use as guidelines in setting up a corporate volunteer program: develop a philosophy, survey the community and employees, isolate a need and outline program functions, recruit volunteers, motivate employees, place volunteers carefully, monitor and evaluate program and volunteers, review goals and results, and consider…

In U.S. K-12 public education, incentive pay for educators remains firmly fixed as a high-interest policy topic and has recently become a popular reform initiative in many school systems. The Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF), created in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Education, is at the forefront of this policy movement and has provided hundreds of…

Due to a predicted shortage of fully certified vocational agriculture teaching personnel in Iowa during the 1976-77 school year, an emergency certification program was initiated. The selection criteria used to identify prospective teachers, the program description, and results are summarized in this article. (BM)