The primary purpose of "National CrossTalk" is to stimulate informed discussion and debate of higher education issues. This issue contains the following articles: (1) The M Word: "Marketing" Has Changed from a Dirty Word to a Buzzword in Higher Education (Jon Marcus); (2) A Contrarian View of the Testing Industry: FairTest…

This paper offers a survey developed as part of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy's Professional Development Study. Most of the questions in this survey were tested with 100 adult education and literacy teachers in the New England area; a few changes have been made to this version to correct poorly worded questions…

Mental health services continue to gain additional focus and momentum in the United States. The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health recognized the critical role schools can play in the continuum of mental health services. The commission's final report, "Achieving the Promise, Transforming Mental Health Care in America…

This article describes the development of criteria for the architectural design of school buildings to accommodate the needs of mentally and physically handicapped students. A comprehensive summary of the criteria is included, covering building design and layout, classroom and service areas, furniture, surfaces, and considerations for specific…

Contemporary research into "voice as discourse" alerts one to the continuing presence of barriers in education settings. With reference to the "voice" of those labelled with "Special Educational Needs" and/or "Disability", this article suggests these barriers are the effects of an unconscious commitment to…

This article reviews three of the most widely-known guiding philosophies of student affairs for the past 65 years. The article analyzes the rise, dominance, and fall of the student services and student development philosophies and then explores the emergence of student learning as a guiding philosophy. The results of two research studies on the…

Educational institutions that wish to implement a specialized teaching laboratory often have a variety of obstacles to overcome. Some of these obstacles are related to adapting existing classroom infrastructure, building the laboratory, and meeting the demands for multiple-use classrooms to maximize the return on investment. In some cases, such as…

This paper focuses on the challenges faced by faculty in the urban teacher preparation programs, particularly in the area of technology integration by pre-service and in-service teachers in their classroom instruction. The paper discusses the issues of first-order barriers (access to technology, infrastructure support) and second-order barriers…

The Internet offers a promising medium for delivering nutrition education. This study aimed to evaluate user perceptions and usage patterns of an innovative healthy eating website promoting the Mediterranean diet. The website was evaluated over a 6-month period by female employees of University of Glasgow, aged 25-55 years. User satisfaction with…

Technology is affecting how student affairs professionals work with students to deliver traditional programs and services. This article begins with an overview of the characteristics of current students and their experiences and comfort with technology. This understanding leads to the role of student affairs professionals as creators, designers…

We conducted interviews with staff members, parents, and adolescents at a residential treatment center to examine the frequency, nature, and satisfaction with contact between parents and adolescents and parents and staff. We also assessed perceived barriers to family involvement and possible solutions for improving this involvement. Results…

In 1922 Edward Thorndike wrote, "The task of education is to make changes in human beings. For mastery in this task, one needs definite and exact knowledge of what changes are made and what ought to be made". Seventy-nine years after he wrote these words, the 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation stated, "Schools must have…

The developmental speech problems and the speech problems derived from bilingualism could have some similar characteristics but they need different intervention. So, distinguishing between them is essential. The present, multi-method (methodological triangulation), case study aimed to investigate whether it is possible to identify developmental…

This literature review describes the physical activity behavior of adults with mental retardation consistent with the U.S. Surgeon General's recommendation of 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on 5 or more days per week. The proportion of participants achieving this criterion ranges from 17.5 to 33%. These data are likely to be…

A typical definition of distance education is the delivery of instruction in a format that separates the teacher and learner, often both in time and space. It tends to be an umbrella term that may encompass more specific forms of education such as distributed learning, independent study, correspondence education, satellite education, etc. This…