Research shows that participation in a high-quality preschool can improve young children's readiness skills for elementary school, positively influencing behavioral, social-emotional, and cognitive outcomes. However, some preschool program evaluations document that some initial benefits may not persist into early elementary school. To explore how…

This brief summarizes the findings of a recent study that examined whether adding results from teacher and student feedback surveys to one district's principal evaluation system strengthened the link between principals' evaluation ratings and their schools' achievement gains in math and reading. The study also examined whether certain subscales…

The Commission on International Adult Education (CIAE) of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) provides a forum for the discussion of international issues related to adult education in general, as well as adult education in various countries around the globe. These "Proceedings" are from the Commission of…

The roles of organizational and relational factors in regard to professional learning communities (PLCs) have been investigated by many, yet none have considered enabling school structures, trust, and collective efficacy as variables. We take a deeper look at the formal or organizational aspects of the school represented by enabling school…

Much of the work on teacher knowledge suggests that content knowledge shapes pedagogical content knowledge, and in fact is primary in the relationship between the two forms of knowledge. In this paper we challenge this view, arguing from a situated perspective on knowledge and learning, that pedagogical content knowledge strongly shapes content…

In this paper we examine theoretical perspectives on assessment in cooperative education placements. As assessment is linked to student learning, we focus briefly on the purposes of assessment. We then consider a range of learning theories that have been, and are more recently, explored as ways to explain the process of learning on cooperative…

This paper examines our use of knowledge-creation activity as a way of developing evidence-informed practice among a learning community of 36 early years practitioners in one London borough. It also seeks to illustrate how we approached the idea of measuring evidence use and our engagement with, and adapted use of, two separate measurement scales:…

This article examines the lessons from a collaborative project that worked with women agricultural leaders in Papua New Guinea. The project sought to build the capacity of these leaders as trainers in a way that would enable the development of a sustainable community of practice and worked within a critical and place-based pedagogy underpinned by…

Meanings in a picturebook are constructed in the space between words, images and reader. Contemporary picturebooks are ideal vehicles for a deep reading of, and philosophical engagement with, texts that move beyond literary and literacy knowledge. Philosophy with picturebooks also offers an alternative to personal responses to these texts that are…

Three themes are central to preparing doctoral students for the professoriate: identity formation, scientific integration, and intellectual communities. In this article, we argue that these three themes are not separate pillars but interlocking circles. Our main thesis is that (1) social work must develop into a distinct integrative scientific…

Current reform efforts seek to redesign teacher education in alignment with a practice-based theory, a fundamental reconceptualization of higher education demanding a tighter alignment with K-12 school practices. The Faculty Research Residency Model--a Department of Education Funds for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) grant…

Group preparation for teaching contest, or lesson polishing, is a teacher professional development activity unique to China. Through participant observation and discourse analysis of a typical case, this study explores how a science lesson evolved through lesson-polishing process and how such process influenced individual learning and the…

There has been widespread comment on the use and impact of Web 2.0 technologies in education. Given the use of such technologies, particularly social networking sites such as Facebook amongst the student body, it would be remiss of educators to not consider their use as part of a pedagogical strategy. This paper provides a preliminary…

Virtual collaboration continues to gain in significance and is attracting attention also as virtual collaborative learning (VCL) in education. This paper addresses aspects of VCL that we identified as critical in a series of courses named "Net Economy": (1) technical infrastructure, (2) motivation and collaboration, and (3) assessment…

The United States is currently enrolling more international students than any other country in the world. In 2011, approximately 764,000 international students were enrolled in higher education in the U.S., comprising 19% of the world's total students studying internationally (Institute of International Education, 2012). This rise, as well as the…