Deciding whether to go with a particular open source product is an exercise in risk management: understanding the risks of one's possible actions and choices, calculating when a certain level of risk is appropriate to reach a desired outcome, and planning for how to handle negative outcomes. To be sure, opting to go with a particular proprietary…

Undergraduate literature courses tend to neglect American fiction of the 1930s, especially the proletarian novel. Disregard of this particular genre is often based on the assumption that it emphasized a crude Marxist realism opposed to aesthetic modernism. Various examples of the genre are, in fact, worth teaching, especially because they do not…

Choosing a college major represents a major life decision--a decision that research has shown to be the most frequently identified life regret for Americans. The focus of this study is to identify the foundations of the psychological process by which undergraduate students select their academic majors. A means-end analysis was first employed to…

President-elect Barack Obama and his team started work this week on a transition that includes searching for the people who will bring to life his agenda of expanding preschool, improving the quality of teachers, and fixing the major federal law in K-12 education. Within 24 hours of his election, the Illinois Democrat assigned a team of campaign…

This article provides a rationale and related practical suggestions for using literature as a support system for social-emotional development as children cope with the stresses, anxieties, and feelings of loss that can occur in family life. The authors discusses types of books, how to choose them, and how teachers can use authentic literature to…

Booktalking authentic multicultural literature can encourage students to read, promote respect for all cultures, and help make all students feel welcome in libraries and media centers. It also provides opportunities to collaborate with teachers to increase diversity throughout the schools. This article presents selected booktalks of contemporary…

Academics can be found all over the Internet commiserating about academic bullying, including on "The Chronicle's" own forums and blogs. There are debates over how to resolve bullying, warnings to other scholars, and even primal cries for help. This article describes three blogs on bullying: (1) Historiann (http://www.historiann.com); (2) On…

In a "risk society," as defined by Beck [(1992). "Risk society, towards a new modernity" (M. Ritter, Trans.) Newbury Park, CA: Sage, see also Castel, R. (1991). "From dangerousness to risk." In G. Burchell, C. Gordon & P. Miller (Eds.), "The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality" (pp. 281-298). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press],…

Over the last few years, there has been a wealth of materials written and presented on next-generation library catalogs. These next-generation interfaces strive to turn "standard" integrated library systems (ILSs) into more nimble and robust search platforms that offer more user-friendly 2.0 enhancements for users. Rather than abandoning…

Today's effective school counselors are integral in education reform, school leadership, and student achievement. It is typically the responsibility of building principals to hire effective school counselors. This article builds on previous literature and provides principals with questions to ask and information to gather that may be helpful in…

This report identifies the concrete practices that set exemplary principals apart from their peers, exploring how they assemble the strongest-possible staff and foster a culture where teachers--and their students--are supported to success. The researchers conducted an in-depth analysis of data sets from two studies conducted by New Leaders from…

In late 2008, Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) participated in The New Teacher Project's (TNTP's) research for a national study, "The Widget Effect," published in June 2009. In summer 2009, CPS, the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers (CFT) and the Cincinnati Association of Administrators and Supervisors (CAAS) asked TNTP to explore a…

This research tested a path model for how rural high school students' self-perceptions and environmental perceptions influence their course-related interest, school engagement, and ultimately, post-graduation intentions. Participants were 414 students in all four grades, in 10 rural, public high schools. Correlation and path analyses (in LISREL…

This investigation elicited the perceptions of thirteen of the most successful research supervisors from one university, with a view to identifying their approaches to selecting research candidates. The supervisors were identified by the university's research office using the single criterion of having the largest number of completed research…

This article has been about reconsidering how writing center directors train tutors to read and respond to texts. The subject here has been new media texts. The author has asked directors to reconsider how they tutor and how they talk to students about their writing. The impetus for these evolved practices is the arrival of increasing numbers of…