Many individuals transition into teaching positions without the benefit of effective professional mentoring. This study was conducted to better understand the interactions in which mentors and proteges engage and to inform future design of mentor support for novice teachers. The research examined mentor/protege interactions within a year long…

Every librarian wants to go to the American Library Association (ALA) annual conference in Washington, DC, June 24-29. Despite that, more than half of those asked informally said they can't afford it. The good news is a cornucopia of programs aimed at nearly every need of librarians of all types and including every best practice in libraries. Many…

The introduction of outcomes-based vocational education in schools can have significant impact on the management and delivery of education and training. These impacts are not limited to classroom practice, and extend to the fields of policy and system coordination. This article reports on the results of a major trial of outcomes-oriented…

Despite decades of research on the importance of engagement and interaction in learning experiences, programs produced for planetarium audiences are primarily passive in nature. Planetarium professionals were interviewed with regard to their goals and beliefs for planetarium experiences, specifically focusing on goals for children, and their…

Before devoting institutional dollars to a full-scale program evaluation that may be costly and time intensive, a preevaluation strategy known as evaluability assessment can be used to determine whether a program meets the minimal preconditions necessary for the results of a full-scale evaluation to be meaningful and useful to college…

In 2006, Michigan changed their traditional merit award to a credit contingent program based upon successful completion of 60 college credits. The Michigan Promise Scholarship was crafted by state policymakers without input from the financial aid community. This case study suggests that the change in policy resulted in two unintended consequences:…

Background: The Equipping Youth to Help One Another Programme (EQUIP) was designed for young offenders to address a developmental delay in moral reasoning, distorted cognitions and social skills. Methods: The present authors undertook a single case series study and piloted an adapted version of the EQUIP programme with three men with intellectual…

Universities in Europe have been playing an increasingly important role in the institutional evaluation of political and social systems for the last thirty years. Their major contribution to those processes of accountability has been to add methods and safeguards of evaluative research. In this paper we report an illustration of how evaluative…

The purpose of this retrospective study was to develop an understanding of how one group of adults who graduated from a Virginia regional alternative program made sense of their experience in an alternative education setting. Specifically, this study sought to determine if adult participants, several years later, perceived participation in the…

The authors investigated the design and implementation of the capstone courses that are part of Virginia's College and Career Readiness Initiative. Based on a set of performance expectations for college readiness, two capstone courses--one in English and one in mathematics--were developed to help support high school juniors and seniors who intend…

A practical exercise for developing a simple cost-effective solar ultraviolet radiation dosimeter is presented for use by middle school science students. Specifically, this exercise investigates a series of experiments utilising the historical blue print reaction, combining ammonium iron citrate and potassium hexacyanoferrate to develop an…

American businesses and industries have long identified shortages in key career and technical areas--some of these areas require two- or four-year college degrees, whereas others simply require industry certifications. Career and technical education (CTE) has the potential to play a central role in filling these gaps. The current Carl D. Perkins…

Early career teacher attrition is a matter of economic, social, and educational concern in many countries. Usually induction programs, including mentoring, are seen to alleviate the problem of early career teacher attrition. Mentoring/induction programs as a solution to what is defined as the problem of early career teacher attrition and retention…

This study investigated the practices, challenges, and needs of Chesapeake Bay watershed outreach professionals, as related to behavior change strategies and best outreach practices. Data were collected through a questionnaire e-mailed to applicants to the Chesapeake Bay Trust's environmental outreach grant program (n = 108, r = 56%). Almost all…

As our communities strive to support community change efforts for survival and vitality, the importance of social capital has become evident in leadership development. Many researchers and practitioners realize that tapping into the inherent power of relationships and social networks is crucial. This paper provides an overview of the design and…