Background: With the growing emphasis for educators to use data to inform their practice, little has been done to consider the means by which the educators can acquire the requisite data literacy skills. This article provides a context for why schools of education can and must play an important role in preparing teachers to use data. Purpose: This…

Research on second language (L2) acquisition has recently sought to include formal instruction into second and foreign language classrooms in a more unobtrusive and implicit manner. Textual enhancement and input enrichment are two techniques which are aimed at drawing learners' attention to specific linguistic features in input and at the same…

Purpose: This paper aims to provide a description of the achievements of the United Nations (UN) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) with a focus on higher education, and it describes some of the key issues which will guide sustainable development in the coming years. Design/methodology/approach: The paper initially…

Scores on annual statewide achievement tests can provide parents, students, educators, and policymakers with valuable information--but only if students participate. This issue brief provides the background about recent increases in (and efforts to expand) the number of students opting out of statewide assessments, describes the information and…

At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the rapid growth in the MOOCs offering brought about a new educational landscape, posing new challenges to teaching and learning, mainly due to massive participation, ubiquity and free enrollment. These courses embody a confluence of technological and pedagogical mediations yet to be fully…

This report presents the underlying theory and methodology of the first framework to operationalize culture and culturally responsiveness in the context of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. Created following a systematic review of literature, this framework was created as a cultural artifact to expand the conceptualization of the…

States can use their resources, including technical expertise and financial support, to provide vital data to help parents make informed decisions about their children's education. Accessible, tailored, and easy-to-understand data can help parents answer questions about their children's education such as, "Is my child on track to graduate…

Accessible, tailored, and easy-to-understand data can help parents answer questions about their children's education such as, "Is my child on track to graduate college and career ready?" and "How does my child's school compare to other schools so that I can make the best choice about my child's education?" Information about…

'Everybody can quickly collect data using questionnaires'--this is an incorrect assumption among not only students but also veteran researchers. As a researcher and lecturer for research methods, I have more than once came across carelessly conducted studies using poorly constructed questionnaires meant to inform the implementation of…

Teachers' observations of student performance in reading are abundant and insightful but often remain internal and unarticulated. As a result, such observations are an underutilized and undervalued source of data. Given the gaps in knowledge about students' reading comprehension that exist in formal assessments, the frequent calls for teachers'…

Academic libraries have traditionally collected reference statistics using hash marks on paper. Although efficient and simple, this method is not an effective way to capture the complexity of reference transactions. Several electronic tools are now available to assist libraries with collecting often elusive reference data--among them homegrown…

Hip-hop music has been embraced worldwide by youth, pummeled in the media for supposedly increasing social misery and hailed as a significant musical breakthrough. Hip-hop culture has transcended musical boundaries and now impacts speech, clothing, mannerisms, movies, websites, television programming, magazines, and energy drinks (Dyson, 2007;…

Educational data mining (EDM) is an emerging discipline that focuses on applying data mining tools and techniques to educationally related data. The discipline focuses on analyzing educational data to develop models for improving learning experiences and improving institutional effectiveness. A literature review on educational data mining topics…

Adolescence is the time during which people develop and form their crucial values, personality traits, and beliefs. Hence, as deviant behaviors occur during adolescence, it is important to guide adolescents away from such behaviors and back to normal behaviors. Moreover, although there are various kinds of deviant behavior, most of them would…

The benefits of student engagement in undergraduate research are well-recognized by many higher education institutions. Increased emphasis on undergraduate research in these institutions has taken many forms resulting in considerable differences across institutions ranging from "light touch" to "heavy duty" involvement of…