Despite skyrocketing growth in its English Language Learner (ELL) population, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has been remarkably effective in improving outcomes for ELL students across the district. Achievement has increased, and gaps between ELL students and their native English-speaking peers have decreased. This success is intentional.…

The "Learning Together" longitudinal study focuses on four counties' efforts to expand bachelor's degree opportunities in early care and education (ECE) for adults currently working in the field. The "student cohort model"--in which small groups of ECE students with similar interests and characteristics pursue a bachelor's…

As educators, we have two missions. First, we must serve our students--they are both our customer and our product. Second, we aim to provide the market in general with graduates with relevant skills and knowledge for jobs that have not even been created yet. Given that most students graduating and moving into the workplace are not necessarily…

The focus of the article is on Phase I of an American-Slovenian collaborative research project that was aimed at investigating effective classroom teaching-learning performances. The international project involved Dowling College and its first Professional Development School (PDS)--the Belmont Elementary PDS--and the University of Primorska at…

The iQUEST (investigations for Quality Understanding and Engagement for Students and Teachers) project is designed to promote student interest and attitudes toward careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The project targets seventh- and eighth-grade science classrooms that serve high percentages of Hispanic students.…

This article describes an outreach program to broaden participation in computing to include more students with visual impairments. The precollege workshops target students in grades 7-12 and engage students with robotics programming. The use of robotics at the precollege level has become popular in part due to the availability of Lego Mindstorm…

The development of social-emotional competence is of key importance during early childhood, particularly during the preschool years. We too often believe that early childhood education should focus on the promotion of academic skills to increase intelligence and, therefore, neglect the importance of social and emotional learning. Children who are…

Since its inception in 1990, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Teacher at Sea program has enabled more than 460 teachers to gain first-hand experience of science and life at sea. By participating in this program, it becomes possible for teachers to enrich their classroom curricula with a depth of understanding made possible…

This brief introduces "Community Colleges Broadening Horizons through Service Learning," the American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC's) fifth national Learn and Serve America grant project and describes its grantee college programs. The goals of this grant project are to build on established foundations to integrate service…

When Bremerton High School (BHS) established a new school motto--"Respect, Responsibility and Safety...is the Knight Way!"--as a fashion marketing teacher, the author saw an opportunity to develop a learning opportunity for her advanced fashion marketing students. Her 2005-2006 class agreed to create and market a T-shirt to raise awareness of the…

This chapter describes a "grow-your-own" leader development program that emphasizes cross-disciplinary, multisector programs and activities that reinforce the community-building role of rural community, junior, and technical colleges.

Concurrent/dual enrollment programs at postsecondary educational institutions have rapidly proliferated across the country during the last several years with wide variations in the structure and composition of such programs. Having recently completed a pilot phase of its first dual enrollment program, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) has…

Blended learning can be seen as the means to achieving a greater sense of "localness" on the part of colleges and universities. Blended learning has been evolving for several years and while definitions vary from one institution to another, it is defined in this paper essentially as a combination of face-to-face and online learning. Localness is a…

Developing statistical skills and obtaining credit in statistics courses are common requirements that many college students have to contend with. However, not all students succeed in meeting these requirements--often despite their best effort and that of their instructors. This paper describes an instruction and support program that a university…

An examination of the professional socialisation process is critical in changing the way graduates are trained and how they are supported post graduation. This article summarises key mechanisms to facilitate socialisation from recent socialisation studies undertaken in the fields of medicine, physical therapy nursing, occupational therapy, and…