In this article, the author identifies six "traps" of institutional research. These traps are: (1) the seductive power of scenarios; (2) that change is the solution to everything; (3) "benchmarking for comfort"; (4) fixation on Research Assessment Exercise (RAE); (5) reputation over quality; and (6) dealing with the counter-intuitive. The author…

This "Rejoinder" responds to criticisms made by Simon Hussain (2011) about the construction and operation of the "Association of Business Schools' (ABS) Academic Journal Quality Guide". In this paper the broad purposes of journal lists and guides are outlined before an account is given of the long history and multiple forms of…

Continuous curriculum improvement derives from a variety of perspectives, opportunities, and approaches. In this brief, we describe a process that facilitated student participation in curriculum development. We took our Supply Chain Management students to a regional conference affiliated with APICS and had them assess their knowledge readiness…

This study investigates if transnational communication in the context of the Bologna Process (BP) has led to the convergence of higher education (HE) policies. The country sample includes both Bologna participants and non-participants, for which systematic knowledge about the implications of the BP is absent so far. We investigate study structures…

More and more, social technologies and virtual work methods are facilitating new ways of crossing boundaries in professional development and international collaborations. This paper examines the peer development of higher education teachers through the experiences of the IVBM project (International Virtual Benchmarking, 2009-2010). The…

The "Arts Achieve: Impacting Student Success in the Arts" project involves a partnership between the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) and five of the city's premier arts organizations. "Arts Achieve" provides intensive and targeted professional development to arts teachers over a three-year period. The goal of the…

University provision for academic development is well established in the USA, UK and many other countries. However, arrangements for its provision and staffing vary. In Australia, there has been a trend towards professional rather than academic staff appointments. Is this appropriate? In this paper, the domains of academic development work are…

Many school district strategic plans and education conferences are aggressively embracing technology to improve teaching and learning. Classroom technology typically includes blended learning, personalized learning, online courses for students, and professional development for teachers, among many other things. As districts wrestle with tighter…

This report focuses on the extent to which students who are academically far off track in fourth or eighth grade in Arkansas catch up by eighth or eleventh and twelfth grades. We studied two recent cohorts of Arkansas students whose eighth-grade ACT Explore® scores were more than one standard deviation below the ACT Explore Benchmark scores…

Students who demonstrate perennial difficulties with researched writing typically have poor reading skills. Those who do not improve significantly as readers and writers in first year composition, if they do not drop out, often struggle throughout college. Even when students are given explicit and enhanced instruction in reading and adjustments…

This dissertation was designed to examine elementary teacher use of formative assessment and the impact formative assessment may have on student achievement as measured by benchmark assessments. The study was conducted in a school district in northwestern North Carolina. The teachers in this study have had NCFALCON training in the use of formative…

This publication is the outcome of the international conference organized by UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), in collaboration with the Centre for Validation of Prior Learning at Inholland University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands, and in partnership with the French National Commission for UNESCO that was held in Hamburg in…

The new Pre-K-Grade 12 Gifted Education Programming Standards should be part of every school district's repertoire of standards to ensure that the learning needs of advanced students are being met. "NAGC Pre-K-Grade 12 Gifted Education Programming Standards: A Guide to Planning and Implementing High-Quality Services" details six standards that…

This study updates previous Education Trust briefs that looked at public, four-year colleges that successfully improved minority graduation rates and narrowed graduation-rate gaps. This new report examines which four-year, nonprofit colleges--public "and" private--have made the most improvements for Hispanic students. Because for-profit…

Performance-based funding is a system based on allocating a portion of a state's higher education budget according to specific performance measures such as course completion, credit attainment, and degree completion, instead of allocating funding based entirely on enrollment. It is a model that provides a fuller picture of how successfully…