The Urban Academies of Broward County (UABC) was conceived and implemented as a collaborative teacher preparation model designed to develop, hire, and retain high-performing and motivated educators in predominantly poor minority schools. The program targets high school students, college students majoring in education, and practicing teachers.…

Students conceive of assessment in at least four major ways (i.e., assessment makes students accountable; assessment is irrelevant because it is bad or unfair; assessment improves the quality of learning; and assessment is enjoyable). A study in New Zealand of 3469 secondary school students' conceptions of assessment used a self-report inventory…

The purpose of this study was to understand what personal epistemologies and science teaching goals preservice secondary science teachers of a teacher education program in the USA bring with them to their learning to teach and how they translate such beliefs into actions. A set of essay questions, developed through a pilot study, was used to…

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) documents dimensions of quality in undergraduate education and provides information and assistance to colleges, universities, and other organizations to improve student learning. Its primary activity is annually surveying college students to assess the extent to which they engage in educational…

This paper first explains outcome-based education and then considers specific questions related to serving gifted students in an outcome-based education school community, with special application to Pennsylvania. Outcome-based education is defined in terms of its emphasis on establishing learning outcomes, developing appropriate measures, and…

As part of the educational reform movement, states and local districts have implemented outcomes-based accountability for student outcomes. Outcomes-based accountability systems are using results of both traditional assessments, such as norm-referenced tests, and authentic performance assessments in an effort to measure broad domains of student…

The lives of people in developing countries need to be compared with and connected to the lives of people in prosperous countries. This is a central issue in what is known in Europe as the North-South problem. This publication argues that it is a problem that deserves a more central place in the political education of young people in Europe. Ideas…

This curriculum presents an overview of responsibility as a concept intrinsic to the functioning of a democratic society. The curriculum has been developed to provide students with an increased awareness of the importance of responsibility in their own lives and its place in contemporary society, and to encourage their capacity and inclination to…

This report presents the results of an assessment of social studies in the state of Massachusetts. From 240 to 390 test items were administered to all students in grades 4, 8, and 12. The test covered history, government/citizenship, geography, sociocultural environment, economics, multicultural environment, social studies process skills, and…

Examination of almost any university's curricular goals or expectations and the actual courses taken by particular students demonstrates significant discrepancies between the rationale and the actuality and between the intentions of general or specialized education and the knowledge made available in the courses taken. A major reason for the…

This paper argues that the current debate over humanities curricula has failed to articulate a vision for humanities education because it has turned on a liberal/conservative axis. It also contends that educators must stop debating elite versus democratic values or traditional versus contemporary problems in humanities education, and start…

The high failure rate among small businesses attests to the need for improved efforts at the community and junior college level to help prepare the would-be self-employed person to develop entrepreneurial skills. A survey of over 400 community and junior colleges disclosed only 4 business management programs that included courses for small…

THE CRISIS OVER RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, RAPID SOCIAL CHANGE, THE KNOWLEDGE EXPLOSION, AND AVAILABILITY OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO A PHENOMENAL EMERGENCE OF CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR MINISTERS. BECAUSE CONTINUING EDUCATION IS MORE LIKELY TO BE ACTION RESEARCH, IT MUST ASK WHAT THE CHURCH'S MISSION IS AND WHAT METHODS ARE MOST…

Using questionnaire derived-data from randomly selected Northeast Alabama high schools, an historical comparison was made of the educational goals of 924 seniors in 1966 (19 schools) and 918 seniors in 1972 (15 of the same schools). Differences in the status projections of 1966 youth (438 males and 486 females) and their 1972 counterparts (470…

Provides a rational for, and describes the implementation of, a psychology department requirement that students must accrue three units of research participation as part of their course grade. Discusses the specifics of reporting credit for participation. Provides an evaluation of the procedures from the viewpoint of experimenters, instructors,…