Objectives: To provide recommendations that will build a better foundation for research on youth smoking cessation. Methods: The Youth Tobacco Collaborative Cessation panel evaluated youth tobacco cessation literature and convened meetings to reach consensus. Results: Methodological issues include design, recruitment and retention, follow-up,…

Laboratory schools play an important role in furthering the study of child development and education. Budget cutbacks at universities have threatened the existence of many lab schools, and a growing number are expanding to full-day programming to develop more consistent sources of funding. As lab schools evolve we must consider how they can best…

The transition from high school to adult life is an exciting time for many young people. Youth from high poverty backgrounds, however, are considered at-risk for a host of unfavorable outcomes including academic failure, school dropout, drug abuse, unemployment and incarceration. These adolescents are more likely than their more affluent peers to…

This report documents the Connecticut Department of Higher Education's efforts to investigate and document best practices in assessing student achievement as measured by workforce success. That effort is part of a five-state project to Define Best Practices for Responsible Accountability Models in Higher Education funded by a U.S. Department of…

In Chapter Five, Alisa Belzer, Cassandra Drennon and Cristine Smith provide an overview of the challenges facing state-level professional development systems. The authors begin the chapter with a brief history of professional development in adult basic education, noting shifts in the funding and priority of professional development in the field.…

In enacting the 1998 Amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, the Congress changed Section 435(a)(5) of the act to lift the exemption for cohort default rates that were established for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Navajo Colleges in 1990. The new provisions became…

The growing belief that North Carolina's schools need to be up to international standards led the Public School Forum of North Carolina to launch its twelfth Study Group, addressing three questions: (1) What would it take to bring North Carolina's teaching of mathematics and science up to internationally competitive standards?; (2) How could North…

To help teachers develop a repertoire of instructional strategies that will effect positive changes on students' learning outcomes is essential for both general education and the field of gifted education. This article introduces readers to a classroom observation tool that is designed to help assess professional development needs of teachers of…

When teachers participate in professional development and learning opportunities it enables them to reconceptualise their assessment and teaching practices with the support of facilitators and researchers. National programmes of professional development and research, such as the three year Enhancing Effective Practice in Special Education (EEPiSE)…

As is true for human resource development (HRD), the field of organization development (OD) draws from numerous disciplines to inform its theory base. However, the identification and selection of theory to inform improved practice remains a challenge and begs the question of what can be used to inform and guide one in the identification and…

With pervasive and persistent changes affecting education, educators are called to challenge current paradigms about best practices in instructional design and delivery and redefine how they are integrated into the curriculum. The purpose of this article is to introduce a model designed to support the new paradigm for best practices in education.…

There is no doubt that quality administrator preparation is critical because research has documented that successful school leaders have a strong influence on student achievement as they set direction, support and develop effective teachers, and as they implement effective organizational processes. Yet, it seems that every day the media reports…

To understand how much or how little progress is made in democratising higher education, an examination of transformation in the sector needs to be undertaken. Such an examination will reveal best practice, the sharing of which can move the process of transformation forward by inspiring those further beyond in the process. This article serves to…

The lessons learned from a decade long, site based school reform project are used to examine the relationship between technology integration and school reform. The nature of the reforms will be described along with implications and conclusions for technology planning. Six key school reform takeaways will be shared that are necessary to build a…

Since the start of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) thematic review of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Policy in 1998, some 20 countries across the world have been involved in the project. Recently the OECD has had a very successful launch of the report from the second round--Starting Strong II. This…