A survey of 37 system-of-care sites constituting 31 programs for children with serious mental health challenges found high family participation in such activities as modification of questionnaires, collecting data, and reviewing results. Low family participation was reported in the hiring of staff and data processing. Most families were…

Health and social care education has a long established association with reflective learning as a way of developing post-qualifying professional practice. Reflective learning is also a key feature of self-regulatory learning, which is an essential aspect of life-long learning for today's National Health Service workforce. Using a small-scale case…

This research article summarises a study that set out to collect information about the actions that three primary schools have taken to develop a more positive school culture. The aim was to identify in what ways a change in culture could contribute to an improvement in school relationships and a reduction in bullying. The research questions…

In addition to challenges of adolescence itself, teens with asthma face demands of asthma management and risks of asthma sequelae, including fatalities. Few asthma educational programs specifically address their needs. In response to school nurse concern, this pilot study evaluated an adolescent asthma education program, the "Power Breathing[TM]…

This article describes a design for a teacher preparation program that is successfully preparing teacher candidates to teach in the complex, diverse classrooms in urban schools. The program provides intensive, authentic, field-based experiences and effective mentoring support for teacher candidates as they gain the knowledge, skills, and…

ISO 9000 is a set of quality standards that assists an organization to identify, correct and prevent errors, and to promote continual improvement. Educational institutions worldwide are implementing ISO 9000 as they face increasing external pressure to maintain accountability for funding. Similar to other countries, in the United States vocational…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the assessment practices reported by Canadian educators and workplace supervisors involved in exemplary work-based education (WBE) programs for high-school students. Design/methodology/approach: Six focus groups were conducted, four with teachers and coordinators and two with workplace supervisors…

On January 23, 2004, President Bush signed the DC School Choice Incentive Act into law. This landmark piece of legislation included $14 million in funding for what would come to be called the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). The OSP is the first federally funded K-12 scholarship program in the country and is designed to provide…

This article captures the different perspectives of those involved in a collaborative project which implemented an e-learning initiative with higher education and further education institutions in partnership. The initial part of the article provides context and considers some of the debates in the literature on collaboration. It reflects on what…

This research reveals the type of support that is imperative for principals working with external agents in low-performing urban schools as required by federal and state legislation. Nine principals, in four urban districts, two aided by one external agency and seven aided by another, were followed in year-long case studies. Mixed methods for data…

This paper focuses on the difficulties of assessing multi-year team projects, in which a team of students drawn from all three years of a full-time degree course works on a problem with and for a real-life organization. Although potential solutions to the problem of assessing team projects may be context-dependent, we believe that discussing these…

This report describes how an innovative curriculum promoted the civic development of high school students along with parents by stimulating news media attention and discussion in families. Evidence is based on a three-year evaluation of Kids Voting USA, an interactive, election-based curriculum. Political communication in the home increased the…

The purpose of this program evaluation was to identify the effects of Small Learning Community (SLC) reforms on school climate, student attitudes and student performance. Eight SLC programs in five Albuquerque high schools were studied for one to four years, depending on each program's date of inception. Data were collected from students,…

In the fall of 2000 the Department of Sociology at North Carolina State University (NCSU) implemented a Phase IV Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) initiative. The goal of this program was (and is) to ensure that doctoral students anticipating entry into a professional position be prepared for all expectations associated with faculty life in a wide…

This study analyzed the responses of K-8 human resource directors and principals to teacher education students' electronic portfolios used for hiring. From the focus groups several themes emerged. First, because the principals do not have much time to examine portfolios of any kind, the ideal electronic portfolio would include only a few clearly…