How learners learn to take responsibility for their own learning remains a challenge for educators. One concept that has not been widely considered that we propose is an important requirement in successful independent learning is the concept of Gumption (Pirsig, 1974). Gumption is all about initiative and creativity, zeal and vigour--the practical…

Presently, service learning is utilized as a tool for learning about something other than service, such as: gaining civic dispositions, learning subject matter, practicing inquiry techniques, or questioning inequality. What might happen if, instead, an exploration of service itself grounded classroom studies and field work, fostering explicit…

Ability grouping is a contentious issue in high school science education, and one that divides teachers, parents, and policymakers alike. However, it may be that current grouping systems are founded on ideas that are failing to provide for the best interests of students at any ability level. This article aims to review current practice and its…

Fifty years after John Tracy Ellis challenged the quality and character of Catholic intellectual life, much work remains to be done. This essay explores Ellis's original assertions and places them in an overarching historical context that involves Flannery O'Connor and Thomas Merton.

In an effort to encourage dialogue and reflection on matters of common concern and interest, responses are invited on selected articles from other educators, who engage the text critically and offer some reflections about its utility and validity.This article offers responses from J. Christian Beretta, a principal, and Richard G. Wosman, assistant…

"Making the Grade: How Boards Can Ensure Academic Quality" fills a significant void in today's boardroom discussions with its clear, realistic advice and its "perfect pitch" balancing act with respect to board involvement with the heart of the academic enterprise: teaching and learning. NCHEMS vice president Peter Ewell clarifies the grey areas of…

Evidence based and comprehensive, this important work offers a new approach to understanding and intervening with students with learning disabilities. The authors--leading experts in neuropsychology and special education--present a unique model of learning disabilities that integrates the cognitive, neural, genetic, and contextual factors…

Instructors of statistics who teach non-statistics majors possess varied academic backgrounds, and hence it is reasonable to expect variability in their content knowledge, and pedagogical approach. The aim of this study was to determine the specific course(s) that contributed mostly to instructors' understanding of statistics. Courses reported…

Poverty can be both a consequence of, and contributory factor to, educational exclusion. This paper argues that poverty and exclusion are multidimensional. They require a multisectoral and multilevel approach in education if the most vulnerable sectors of society are to benefit from initiatives to turn exclusion into inclusion. This paper also…

What do the Internet, mobile phones, SATs, global warming, wetsuits, wind farms, laptops, recycling bins, iPods, the NLS and the Beckhams have in common? Answer: virtually no one had heard of any of these in 1986, when the first issue of "PSR" came out. The world of children and teachers has clearly changed since then. So what of "PSR" itself?…

National leaders in the field of gifted education have voiced serious concerns regarding the effect of No Child Left Behind on gifted children. This article looks inside classrooms to determine if and how such concerns materialize in the "real world." A survey of selected teachers in various elementary- and middle-school settings in four…

This article is concerned with understanding continuity and stability in teaching, and their significance. It looks particularly at the work of Anthony Giddens on structure and agency, that of Martin Heidegger on the limits of discursive and theoretical analysis, and the communitarian strand within ethics. It applies this discussion to…

The following paper outlines the historical and philosophical development of, "community of inquiry" in educational discourse. The origins of community of inquiry can be found in the philosophical work of C. S. Peirce. From Peirce the notion of community of inquiry is adopted and developed by educational theorists of different orientations.…

In light of the new emphasis on information literacy, this research updates previous studies and explores current practices in first year library instruction and programming. Academic librarians are reaching out to freshmen seminar programs, first year orientations, Introduction to College courses, and English composition courses to integrate…

This paper discusses fluency's role in reading development and suggests ways of incorporating fluency instruction into the literacy curriculum through a range of oral reading approaches. It concentrates on two distinct groups of learners: students who are making the shift to fluent reading (generally second and third graders) and those who have…