California educators continue in their struggle to communicate district plans to parents, teachers, and other members of the school community. Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs), have ballooned into jargon-laden stacks of tables, impenetrable to all but the most sophisticated reader. Envisioned as a tool to improve transparency, the LCAP…

A benefit of the increasing participation in online professional development courses is the ability for such courses to reach a wide variety of educators, despite geographic distance. Along with this benefit comes the challenge of ensuring that such courses can engage learners from diverse backgrounds. The current study investigates educators'…

In winter 2014, I came upon an opportunity to conduct a case study on a team of middle school math teachers who initiated a study group to examine how a set of learning progressions could help them with their planning, instruction, and assessment. Learning progressions are research-based hypotheses about how students develop more sophisticated…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs in out-of-school time (OST) are designed to supplement school work, ignite student interest, and extend STEM learning. From interactive museum exhibits to summer-long science camps, opportunities for informal student engagement in STEM learning abound. The differences these programs…

One of the learning goals for social justice education courses is to prepare students for social action engagement. Teaching students about issues related to social justice is complex. Prior studies have found a positive relationship between student enrollment in social justice education courses and action-oriented outcomes. While these findings…

In this 2013 John Dewey Society Lecture I examine the history and the structure of the American system of higher education. I argue that the true hero of the story is the evolved "form" of the American university and that all the things we love about it, like free speech, are the side effects of a structure that arose for other purposes.…

This chapter provides an overview of external and internal changes associated with collegiate study abroad experiences. A brief review of the research literature is included along with recent research that sheds light on potential mechanisms associated with study abroad-related change. Recommendations for enhancing outcomes associated with study…

States are investing in their futures through the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Doctoral Scholars Program, which helps minority Ph.D. students become faculty members. The return on investment? Candidates complete their doctorates faster and serve as role models for the increasingly diverse college students they teach as faculty members.…

Although breaking down a mathematical problem into smaller parts can often be an effective solution strategy, when the same reductionist approach is applied to mathematics pedagogy the effects are far from beneficial for students. Mathematics pedagogy in UK schools is gaining an increasingly reductionist flavour, as seen in an excessive focus on…

In this article, author Daisy Christodoulou, a former teacher in the United Kingdom, debunks the myth that teaching facts prevents understanding, and she explains why teaching content knowledge is part of the primary mission of education. Throughout this article, she tries to stress that she shares the aims of many of the people whose methods she…

One of the tasks of education in Russia is to instill a sense of patriotism among students, and this requires the creation of both a cognitive and emotional basis for patriotic commitment. (Contains 2 notes.)

This webinar described the findings of our literature review on alternative measures of student growth that are used in teacher evaluation. The review focused on two types of alternative growth measures: statistical growth/value-added models and teacher-developed student learning objectives. This Q&A addressed the questions participants had…

As a major world religion representing approximately 20% of the human family, Islam holds particular and significant educational perspectives. The purpose of this article is to identify and interpret the viewpoints of Islam on education (with emphasis on Shia' faith). To accomplish this aim, "educational goals" from the viewpoint of Islam have…

In this article we argue for the importance of building critical communities as an integral, yet neglected, aspect of education for social justice. We begin by defining critical communities and by describing goals and vision for social justice education. We then explore how community is discussed in the education literature, limitations and…

This article focuses on minority languages in education in Europe in contexts where they are in contact with national state languages and English. Teaching minority language implies bilingual education because it is not about replacing the majority language, but to come 'alongside' or at 'equal footing'. The cases of Basque and Frisian, comparing…