Each year, Austin Independent School District Department of Research and Evaluation (DRE) staff develop a plan of work to describe the scope of work for the coming year. The plans that make up this document identify programs to be evaluated and services to be provided by DRE staff and provide the blueprints for evaluation that staff will follow…

In this article, the author offers pieces of advice for those who are considering developing an integrated program. He stresses how important it is to let one's program evolve. Another emphasis for him is to bring skills, passion, and experience to what a program becomes. The key is to find the right curriculum connections that allow these…

In this article, the author discusses British Columbia's integrated curriculum programs (ICPs). In this province of sea and mountains, outdoor adventures figure prominently in its ICPs--with a healthy dose of environmental and sustainability education mixed in. The author presents five examples from British Columbia's ICPs: (1) Earthquest Outdoor…

From previous research on second language acquisition and early language learning, educators know that young children have a cognitive advantage to learning a foreign language over other age groups (e.g., Garcia-Sierra et al.; Hyltenstam and Abrahamsson; Singleton and Ryan; Werker et al.). More recently, an increase in functional benefits for…

ELTeach is an online professional development program consisting of two courses, English-for-Teaching and Professional Knowledge for English Language Teaching (ELT). Each course includes a coordinated assessment leading to a score report and certificate for individual teachers. Developed with reference to international and national teaching…

Spanish speaking nurses are in great demand. For bilingual Hispanic undergraduate nursing students who might someday fill this need, interpersonal support can be a deciding factor in whether students successfully complete their program of study. This paper presents the results of an evaluative study of supportive relationships within a…

The purpose of this article is to analyze a task included in the LINC Home Study (LHS) program. LHS is a federally funded distance education program offered to newcomers to Canada who are unable to attend regular LINC classes. A task, in which a language structure (a gerund) is chosen and analyzed, was selected from one instructional module of LHS…

In this guided inquiry, students investigate advantages and disadvantages of genetic engineering by integrating popular fiction into their study of bioethics. What are the effects of artificially created hybrid creatures on characters in "The Hunger Games" and in our society? What are the effects on and basic rights of the organisms…

"Real life" learning has often been suggested as a good method for engaging students in the science curriculum. In this article, an evidence-based rationale for the use of engineering as a context for "real life" science study is explained. This has been achieved through development work undertaken by the National Science…

The train-the-trainer model has great potential for expanding information literacy programs without placing undue burden on already overextended librarians; it is surprisingly underused in academic libraries. At the University of Kentucky, we employed this model to create a new information literacy program in an introductory biology lab. We…

U.S. higher education institutions are being called to question their central nature, priorities, and functions, with prominent and unprecedented attention being given to accountability and the measurement of student learning outcomes. As higher education evolves in how it assesses student learning and leisure studies and recreation departments…

With an ever increasing array of technologies offering potential for the delivery of educational e-content and support of online communication and interaction, distance learning has an opportunity to make the transition to authentic online learning and teaching as never before. However, it seems that institutions are only slowly exploiting this…

This paper reports on a blended-learning project that aims to develop a web-based library of interpreting practice resources built on the course management system Blackboard for Hong Kong interpretation students to practise outside the classroom. It also evaluates the library's effectiveness for learning, based on a case study that uses it to…

This article reports on an alumni study of middle school participants in a university-based science camp; at the time of the study the youth were completing their junior or senior year of high school. The science- and technology-intensive program was set in an intentionally designed positive youth development context. The camp was free to youth…

Few alcohol prevention programs focus on elementary school-aged youth, yet children develop expectancies and norms about alcohol use during the elementary school years, and many elementary school children are allowed to have sips or tastes of alcohol at home. Research on consequences of early alcohol use indicates that it can put children at…