Rafe Esquith has taught for 23 years at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in Los Angeles. In a neighborhood plagued by gangs, guns, and drugs, his is a special classroom known as Room 56. Within its walls, children living in poverty play Vivaldi concertos, perform unabridged plays by Shakespeare, and go on to attend top universities. In 2003,…

Concern about teacher shortages has been widespread in the last decade. Numerous reports have focused attention on the issue in the United States where the shortage is particularly acute in specific teaching specialties and in urban and rural schools. Attempts to alleviate the shortage have taken place at multiple levels. School districts with…

In spite of advances in physics pedagogy, the lecture is by far the most widely used format of instruction. We investigated students' understanding and perceptions of the content delivered during a physics lecture. A group of experts (physics instructors) also participated in the study as a reference for the comparison. During the study, all…

The article presents the results of a study focusing on the family situation, education and interpersonal relations of adults (26-35 years old) who in their adolescence (16-19 years old) displayed exceptional giftedness. One group of those surveyed were national academic award winners (90). The control group consisted of 90 people of no…

This article explores the importance of giving academics the space to be creative in developing new teaching materials in the context of a government drive to increase the quality of the student experience, and what this means for "academic staff development". Academics who have engaged with a UK Centre for Excellence in Teaching and…

This article features the educators who received top honors at the ACTE Convention in Kansas City last December. The educators who received top honors share a dedication to career and technical education and to their professional organizations. Among others, Kevin English, who currently serves as the industrial education department chair at Peoria…

Each year it becomes increasingly difficult to select just 10 Emerging Scholars. There are so many outstanding scholars of color in the academy who are breaking new ground in research, applying scholarship to public policy and grooming the next generation of leaders and professionals. "Diverse's" 2007 Emerging Scholars are doing all of that while…

As a veteran educator, the author has lots of stories to tell, but most of those stories center around the various players in her professional life--students, parents, board members, and colleagues. In this article, the author shares a story about her and the impact of a recent research and writing experience that powerfully affected the way she…

The "CASE" (Council for the Advancement and Support of Education) Professor of the Year program recognizes outstanding professors for their dedication to teaching, commitment to students, and innovative instructional methods. It is the only national program to recognize college and university professors for their teaching skills. Three marketing…

This paper explores the ways in which music educators have allowed others outside of music education to name who and how they are in the world. Often comfortable with voicing advocacy and purpose from the status of second class citizen, music educators are complicit in the very processes of reproduction they wish to challenge. Seeking to address…

Most discussions about special education leadership address the work of principals and district administrators, without reference to the collective and distributed forms of leadership that have taken center stage in contemporary discussions about improving schools. To explore the contributions of and roles for teacher leadership in special…

In this article, we offer a tribute to the memories of Dr. Beatrice Medicine and Dr. Vine Deloria Jr., two of the most revered and celebrated Indigenous educators. We describe the legacy these scholars leave as one that calls on Indigenous communities to survive by both fighting against ongoing colonization and pursuing individual and communal…

This article focuses on the early research domains investigated by Michael Pressley, along with the integrations and initiatives that were inspired by them. These research domains include verbal and imagery elaboration memory strategies, and developmental aspects of them; interrogative elaboration; pictorial strategies for language and literacy…

The article reports on the assignments and activities of Dean Griffin, one of four American Vocational Association associates directors; highlighted is a conversation of Griffin's with Art Linkletter, who addressed the Minnesota Vocational Association in October. (AJ)

This study examined two research questions: (1) Is there any significant relationship between general departmental support and adoption of instructional innovations by faculty innovators at a large university? and (2) Is there any significant relationship between specific departmental support and adoption of instructional innovations by faculty…