Over the past half-century, billions of dollars have been spent across the nation on efforts to transform low-performing public schools -- most of them urban, most of them low-income, and most of them disproportionately enrolled with students of color -- into models of success. It hasn't worked. The failure of attempts to remedy the state of urban…

The training materials presented in this guide were developed by the Kentucky Department of Education as guidance during the process of selecting a principal. This training represents best practices for the principal selection process. These suggested steps and ideas are written with the expectations that all involved parties are following the…

What do quizzes, gamification, infographics, and videos all have in common? They can all be prepared in bite-sized chunks of information. Such forms of multimedia capitalize on presenting information in short segments of information. Furthermore, with media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram so heavily accessed, many people are…

As a general education requirement, basic communication course instructors are afforded the unique opportunity to reach a variety of students. Because many students often are enrolled in the basic communication course out of necessity, student amotivation can transform what should be a dynamic and interactive classroom experience into a daunting…

This article draws on existing communication research and praxes to share the best practices for retaining students enrolled in the introductory public speaking course. Among the many important pedagogical practices that communication scholars have documented, this article highlights the value of 10 best practices: instructor use of immediacy and…

Communication courses (e.g., intercultural communication and gender communication) dedicated to the promotion of social justice often result in students' raised consciousness regarding privilege and the oppression of people who have been marginalized historically. Affected students, however, often are at a loss about what to do with the newly…

This article places William Newell's work on interdisciplinary studies (IDS) within the larger landscape of definitions, theories, and practices of interdisciplinarity. It begins by benchmarking three of his major contributions to the field of interdisciplinary studies read in the context of expanding literature on related topics: specifically his…

This chapter provides an overview of current legal issues in college sports and offers implications for supporting student-athletes and the academic mission of higher education institutions.

Using findings from a national study of trans* students' experiences in gender-inclusive housing, we argue student affairs educators must move toward gender-inclusive housing as an intentional--rather than best--practice. We frame this innovation in the practice of gender-inclusive housing through findings related to the need to perform ongoing…

In this digital ITEMS module, we introduce the framework of nonparametric item response theory (IRT), in particular Mokken scaling, which can be used to evaluate fundamental measurement properties with less strict assumptions than parametric IRT models. We walk through the key distinction between parametric and nonparametric models, introduce the…

This article examines two best practices of intercultural education in Portugal. The Intercultural School Seal in Portugal aims to identify schools that stand out in their promotion of projects that recognise and appreciate diversity as an opportunity and source of learning for all. This initiative comprises a contribution to the work of the…

The importance of digital citizenship has been well recognized and integrated in standardized school curriculum. However, there are very few empirical studies that report on the success of these new initiatives. Our teaching experience suggest that students are able to perform well on exams that assess proper online conduct, but they still fail to…

Increased focus on data-driven decision making requires Extension professionals to excel at data analysis and interpretation. Data parties have become increasingly popular for involving stakeholders in making sense of data. As these parties become more frequently used by Extension professionals, best practices are emerging from lessons learned to…

Building on more than a decade of experience working with a diverse array of school systems, our extensive collection of district data, and published research on what works best for students, Education Resource Strategies (ERS) has developed a diagnostic that can guide district leaders from assessment to strategic planning. The Strategic System…

Developed first in the late 1990s by the Centre for Applied Special Technology, the pedagogical framework known as "Universal Design for Learning" (UDL) has drawn increasing investment from K-12 and post-secondary institutions. The promoters of UDL often frame the approach as being "based in neuroscience," and further as an…