President Obama's higher education goal is to provide "every American with a quality higher education--whether it's college or technical training." The work must begin now, despite the current economic downturn, since Americans believe that doing so is critical to the future competitiveness of their nation. In this article, the authors describe…

This paper presents a wind power system laboratory activity and an outline for evaluating student performance in this activity. The work described here was to design and implement the laboratory to assist teachers in achieving the teaching objective of this activity. The laboratory teaching activities introduce energy sources, wind energy…

Although learning objectives are a hallmark of lesson planning, it is rare for these to be shared with learners, even though best practices suggest doing so. This article examines the practice of establishing purpose for English language learners as a means for developing conceptual schemas. Participants in this study were 332 southern California…

This article discusses the findings related to a number of research projects investigating students' expectations and experiences of the first year in higher education. In particular, findings with regard to first-year students' expectations and challenges with issues of time management are reported. It was found that many students were realistic…

Research on welfare state regimes and research on educational policy share a common concern for the reduction of social inequality. On one hand, welfare state research is typically designed within a comparative approach where scholars investigate similarities and differences in social institutions across selected countries. On the other hand, the…

Contemporary educational evaluation policy and practice can be challenged by applying critical theory and hermeneutics perspectives in evaluation and by asking whose interests are being served through evaluation. Using educational evaluation in Sweden as the context, the author argues for an explanation-oriented evaluation approach that assumes…

This paper presents a philosophical approach to undergraduate curricula. The approach, informed by research, has been conceptualised as "socially critical vocationalism" (SCV). SCV is neither training nor pure traditional academic provision but an approach to curriculum that is academically defensible, practically relevant and socially…

Large, lingering, and recently widening gaps in educational achievement exist amid growing differences in access to educational opportunity along lines of race and socioeconomic status among American students. Recognizing these gaps and developing strategies for eliminating them is essential. Previous research has documented a positive…

A growing number of business leaders, politicians, and educators are united around the idea that students need "21st-century skills" to be successful today. It's exciting to believe that one lives in times that are so revolutionary that they demand new and different abilities. But in fact, the skills students need in the 21st century are not new.…

Although there is some research addressing gifted African American children who attend K-12 schools, few studies address high-achieving and gifted African American male college students. Moreover, the vast majority of research highlighting the schooling of African American students focuses on their negative educational outcomes instead of their…

This report presents the outcomes of the analysis of Grade Level of Achievement (GLA) data at the provincial level to inform the program planning and evaluation needs of Alberta Education as well as school and central office based administrators. GLA data reported to Alberta Education is a teacher's judgment of a student's academic progress. GLA…

The following is an abridged version of the author's original Master's thesis written in 2008 for LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York. This qualitative, structural, comparison determined if twelve Character Education studies of Brigham Young University, specifically the Positive Behavioral Support Initiative, assessed the same literacy program…

Do learning communities with pedagogies of active learning, collaborative learning, and integration of course material affect the learning, achievement, and persistence of first-year Latino university students? The data for this project was obtained from a survey of 1,330 first-year students in the First-Year Learning Community Program at Texas…

The purpose of this study was to explore how high school social studies teachers made sense of curriculum work. The setting was a large, urban area in Texas with high percentages of students who were considered economically disadvantaged. The context of the study was important because these teachers were implementing revised standards and new…

Using narrative data collected through semi-structured phone interviews with eleven "graduate(d) student athletes," this dissertation examines participants' academic trajectories and experiences. Theories regarding role-conflict, attribution, college choice and career maturity undergird analysis. Findings are divided into four chapters:…