The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 calls for improving test scores of minority students in third through eighth grades, making middle level schools a key venue for closing the racial gap in achievement. This study, by analyzing data on the 15,000 eighth graders who took the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics,…

One pressing issue that students in the new millennium must know more about is the uneasy bilateral relationship between the United States and Japan. In this study, I examined how 33 teachers from 21 schools, who participated in the "Japan Today" Program, taught about Japan, continued teaching about Japan after a one-year commitment,…

This paper discusses a combined university-school research project involving three associate teachers from the pre-service teacher education degree at the University of Otago, New Zealand in the examination of their literacy teaching practice. The provision of resources for this collaborative study allowed the teachers to design the project in…

This study investigated the beliefs of tertiary teachers in Indonesia about internationally-published materials. In addition, it explored whether there were mismatches between the teachers' beliefs and what they claimed to be their classroom practices. This study learned that most respondents believed that internationally-published materials were…

The process of classroom observation is experienced by all, teaching in further, adult and higher education. This will either be as part of the organisation's quality assurance procedure, in-service staff completing teaching awards or the training of pre-service student teachers. Given its evaluative nature, it is a practice that generates strong…

This article argues that the use of the network metaphor can link together various different aspects of research into the use of advanced learning technologies based on computer networks. The idea of networked learning has become commonplace as an alternative to e-learning that stresses the interaction of learners, tutors and resources through…

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) is well-remembered as a man of peace who entered into a life of renunciation to overcome India's caste, class and religious differences for the purpose of independence as much as personal liberation. Less well- known is Gandhi's critique of the education system established in India under the circumstances of…

This article considers the development in understanding of aspects of formative assessment of students' writing at Key Stage 3 (11-14 years) by a group of trainee English teachers. An "analysis and application" approach to writing development, which requires students to master categories and processes then apply them, is outlined and…

Cultural diversity in society is reflected in schools but it is seldom taken into account as an influential variable in the personal and social development of students. School culture transmits specific socio-cultural values (those of the dominant group), excluding other cultural features that are not in accordance with it. Certain educational…

The integration of digital tools and multimodal representations in the English classroom has the greatest potential when we define literacy as multiple socially constructed practices. If digital literacies are defined as autonomous tools and isolated symbolic systems, reduced to a set of skills and forms for students to reproduce, then school…

This paper describes an analysis of facilitation of a student-centered problem-based learning group. The focus of this analysis was to understand the goals and strategies of an expert facilitator in support of collaborative learning. This was accomplished through interaction analysis using video data and stimulated recall to examine two PBL group…

This article presents the results of a small-scale empirical study investigating engineering students' perceptions of writing in the classroom and workplace. It asks questions regarding the types and frequency of documents engineering students have written in school and internship settings, and it reveals both the strategies used to complete those…

Evidence-based practice is a decision-making process that integrates the best available scientific research evidence with family and professional wisdom and values. The editors argue that it has the potential to transform the services provided to children and families because it incorporates the "different ways of knowing" that characterize early…

For more than 200 years, American democracy has served as a model for the world. Central to the founders' vision was that government requires the consent of the governed that the people must be active and responsible participants in their own governance. A primary mission of American public schools has been the civic education of young people.…

Democracy within the school without participation of the students in planning and carrying out the program is just as lacking as it is within a state where the people who are governed are denied the privilege of determining the scope and processes of the government. There is no one who is more directly concerned with and affected by the…