The purpose of this study was to identify the beliefs of Tennessee principals and teachers about the knowledge and skills required of leaders when using data to improve educational decision-making. Personal interviews were conducted with 10 principals and 10 teacher leaders certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.…

Researchers conducted a comparative evaluation of HIV/AIDS education to examine alterations in practice and outcomes occurring within secondary education between 1994 and 2000. The study investigated the impact of reduced public emphasis on HIV/AIDS knowledge. Participants were students enrolled in the general health curriculum at a Pennsylvania…

This paper concisely chronicles the evolution of the concept of expertise since the 1960s. After presenting the key themes of expertise throughout the years, we propose a breakdown of the evolution into three waves: information-processing wave, speed/problem solving wave, and emotional intelligence/ways of expertise wave. We then show the…

This study examined borrower satisfaction with the Federal Direct Loan and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) programs. A telephone survey of approximately 3,600 student and parent borrowers who had originated loans under the two programs in 1994-95 found that: (1) Direct Loan borrowers with previous FFEL loans were more likely than FFEL…

Learning in the wholetheme approach is defined as reorganizing one's own intuitive knowledge base, as opposed to storing facts. This presentation discusses several thematic organizers to illustrate their role as a teaching tool in helping learners reorganize their own intuitive knowledge base. Intimately tied to the brain's ground-figure processes…

This study examined college choice within the African American community, focusing on how low income African American parents understand the college selection process. The parents studied were trying to help their children make a choice about what college to attend and why to choose it. Data were collected from more than 375 students, parents, and…

Despite strong research evidence on the importance of early learning for later school success, thousands of Massachusetts children enter school without the benefit of quality preschool experiences. This statewide study examined the opinions of voters, child care experts, and opinion leaders regarding early care and education in order to inform a…

The traditional K-3 social studies curriculum has focused on food, clothing, shelter, communication, transportation, and other cultural universals. A study was designed to provide information with respect to the topic of shelter, and in the process, to assess claims that primary grade students do not need instruction in the topic because they…

The use of a portfolio approach to assessment for graduate students in a school-community relations course was studied. Twenty-eight graduate students constructed portfolios consisting of articles from the media, professional journals, and the Internet. These materials were organized into categories of "understanding the community,""administering…

A key component of a quality early care and education system for young children is the early childhood workforce--teachers and others who work directly with children, as well as directors and administrators. This paper explores a number of issues central to early childhood teacher education in New York State. The paper first describes the…

This research project studied the effects of hierarchical versus heterarchical hypermedia structures of Web-based case representations on complex problem-solving skills and knowledge assembly in problem-centered learning environments in order to develop a system or model that informs the design of Web-based cases for ill-structured problems across…

New and returning camp staff were surveyed about the difficulty of camp-specific skills and knowledge and their own abilities. A summer-camp training inventory of 24 camp-specific skills and knowledge statements was administered to a total of 702 new and returning staff at eight camps on the first and last day of pre-season training sessions and…

This paper offers a theoretically grounded template for analyzing the root causes of individual performance problems in school, work, or personal pursuits. There are four basic reasons why individuals fail to perform as desired: they don't know what to do (communication problem); they don't know how to do it (knowledge problem); they don't want to…

This study was designed to explore the validity of scores from a select-and-fill-in (SAFI) concept map assessment as a measure of 130 undergraduate students' connected understanding of introductory astronomy. Scores from SAFI maps created for this purpose possessed high internal consistency and showed large mean increases from the beginning to the…

A review of the literature reveals that obstacles to the successful transfer of basic skills, knowledge, and thinking skills during classroom instructional time differ depending on which of three components of expertise is entailed: conceptual understanding, domain-specific basic skills, or domain-specific strategies. This paper focuses on…