The Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the centerpiece of the Clinton administration's education reform program, provides a fascinating case study of the challenges facing an activist administration in trying to craft federal legislation that can provide national direction and leadership in a highly decentralized education system. Goals 2000…

The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provides an opportune occasion to take a fresh look at the federal role in teacher professional development. Funds designed to improve teachers' professional prowess currently are tucked into a number of federally funded programs--programs, for example, for students living in…

A successful collaboration resulted in a researcher and a teacher linking professional development with change in small-group reading instruction and student achievement. The context was a two-way Spanish-English bilingual immersion first-grade classroom with many English language learners (ELLs), located in a low-performing, high-poverty school.…

Some colleges of education and urban school districts have established collaborative Professional Development Schools (PDSs) to prepare teachers across the learning-to-teach continuum (pre-service to in-service to instructional leaders) to address the particular needs of low-income, culturally and linguistically diverse (LI/CLD) students.…

Concept maps are widely used in education, and have been acclaimed for their excellent results. For efficiently using concept maps in education, computer-based concept mapping systems have been developed. However these computer-based concept mapping systems are limited in their assessment algorithms. The assessment takes only concept nodes as the…

An experimental study was designed to study the effectiveness of Problem Based Learning (PBL) in the context of higher education in an urban-city university in Lima, Peru. In the fall semester of 2004, eleven sections of Chemistry 1 were offered to first year students in the College of Science at this University. In six of these eleven sections…

Identifying effective interventions to help children with autism reach their potential has been a source of disagreement among professionals and parents for decades. The complexities of the challenges that face children with autism, and uncertainty about best practices, have delayed progress. This article identifies seven critical program…

We analyze a two-year Faculty Fellows Program designed to enhance the service-learning pedagogy and scholarship at a regional comprehensive university. The impact of the program was analyzed using initial questionnaires, meeting notes, final reports, and faculty reflective essays. Participation in a faculty fellows cohort program provided a sense…

This study analyzed the effects of online formative and summative assessment materials on undergraduates' experiences with attention to learners' testing behaviors (e.g., performance, study habits) and beliefs (e.g., test anxiety, perceived test threat). The results revealed no detriment to students' perceptions of tests or performances on tests…

Initial teacher training was a new concept in the beginning of the 19th century and has undergone a tremendous amount of change since then. Currently, the common element of this change process is to invoke more practical training in schools. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of the mentoring activities within schools. This study…

This study compares middle school students' and teachers' perceptions regarding the effectiveness of intervention and prevention strategies commonly used by children, teachers, and nonteaching staff to address bullying among students as identified in the research literature. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The results indicate…

Alcohol and drug use education and prevention continue to be core educational issues. In seeking to inform students at all levels about drug use, the present exploratory study highlights the potential educational use of interactive computer programs for this purpose. Seventy-three college students from two substance abuse classes interacted for at…

This research addresses the question: Does the military atmosphere of a treatment-oriented boot camp lead to greater reductions in antisocial attitudes and cognitions than a standard correctional facility that is also treatment-oriented? A self-report measure of antisocial attitudes and cognitions was collected from 118 inmates randomly assigned…

Recent interest in increasing access to substance abuse treatment for drug-involved offenders has been spurred by concerns over expanding prison and jail populations, high recidivism rates for drug-involved offenders, and the close link between illegal drug use and criminal activity. Chronic untreated drug and alcohol abuse is likely to result in…

The purpose of this article is to provide a snapshot of assessment practices for distance MBA programs in order to help readers gain a better understanding of this landscape. The authors present the findings of a study that they designed which consisted of a nineteen-item on-line questionnaire that surveyed distance MBA providers in regard to…