The coming era of Web 2.0 focuses on users' active online participation and interaction. Among such interactive media, the blog is one representative tool of online knowledge construction. The purpose of this study is to explore the behavioral patterns and the depth of knowledge construction when using blogs for teachers' professional development.…

This paper describes the signature role played by accomplished, experienced teachers in professional learning communities, and the importance that these practitioners make their teaching public and shared. In so doing, the authors describe how accomplished practices can be shared between classrooms and between practitioners with varying levels of…

High-quality out-of-school-time (OST) programs have a positive effect on youth development, but many cities have found it difficult to address the challenges of expanding and improving the quality of programs offered to underserved and high-need students. In response, The Wallace Foundation sponsored an initiative to help five cities increase…

The purpose of this article is to review a partnership between a teacher education department and a dropout prevention program. The partnership developed from a variety of communities' needs, no less of which was that of reconnecting marginalized youth at a local dropout prevention school with their community through cultural and civic…

The new IEA "International Civic and Citizenship Education Study" (ICCS) will investigate the extent to which young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens across a range of countries. ICCS will survey 13-to-14-year old students in over 30 countries in the year 2009. The ICCS outcome data will be obtained from representative…

School-based management (SBM) is the decentralization of authority from the central government to the school level. SBM has become a very popular movement over the past decade. The World Bank's work program emerged out of a need to define the concept more clearly, review the evidence, support impact assessments in various countries, and provide…

In this article, the authors describe a cross course collaborative research project designed to provide students with an opportunity to integrate aspects of sociological study that are typically addressed in a compartmentalized course by course manner. They used this approach on two separate occasions. The first involved collaboration between a…

When the Global Intercultural Experience for Undergraduates (GIEU) at the University of Michigan, was in it's infancy, faculty and administration were looking to create a comprehensive program that would have a profound impact on the way students learned at the university and on the way faculty approached their students and taught. This was in…

Many adults in OECD countries have low language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) skills. The consequences of these low foundation skills span the economic, health and social well-being of individuals, families and communities. Investment in this sector of adult education is therefore crucial. This study looks specifically inside the programmes for…

During the 2007-08 school year, the New York City Department of Education launched the second phase of its ambitious and innovative initiative known as "Children First." Ultimately, this initiative aims to intensify the focus by all educators on student performance and in doing so to stimulate the development of evidence-based cultures…

Definitions are central to both the practice and the power of leadership. This deceptively simple supposition was the basis for an elective doctoral leadership seminar at Illinois State University designed and taught by Lyman in Fall 2005, and replicated by Gardner in Spring 2007. The authors featured the same texts and stimulated students'…

In response to widespread concern that many American students do not write well enough to meet the requirements of higher education and the workplace, the College Board's National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges has called for a writing revolution. A key component of this revolution is evaluation, with particular emphasis…

The case study describes a program for learning disabled and neurologically impaired high schoolers. A historical review notes the school's community and the evaluation of the mainstreaming program. Administrative details are briefly summarized, as are the unique characteristics of the teacher and aide in the resource room program that serves 12…

The report describes accomplishments of a program serving approximately 2500 handicapped students fomerly educated in New York state operated or supported schools. The program offered supplemental services to eligible students either through teacher training or through provision of materials and equipment. Curriculum areas in component 1 included…

Community education programs in rural areas come up against a different set of problems than their counterparts in urban areas. These problems seem to cluster into three categories: communication, the "so what phenomenon," and the form or substance of the idea. Observations of programs in South Dakota suggest that some characteristics…