This is the fifth report prepared by the Center for Education Reform (CER) evaluating the capacity and flexibility of state laws promoting charter schools. Three primary factors were evaluated in preparing charter-school quality rankings by state. The center finds that the establishment of multiple sponsoring authorities, in addition to local…

This formative study is based on focus group interviews with nearly 200 teachers at 30 Iowa high schools during the spring of 1998. During the one-day site visits at each school, data was also collected from students, the principal, the technology coordinator (where available), and the district's technology plan. Teachers were asked about how they…

This paper discusses online tools that support an essential element of technology planning--the staff responsible for integrating technology in their curricula. Two solutions using different strategies to address the critical area of support for technology implementers are examined, i.e., the online Stages of Concern about the Innovation…

Museums have long been the repository of important cultural items. They make these items available to public view in exhibitions in specially designed architectural spaces, and more recently, in the virtual spaces provided on the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM. By making their collections accessible to the public in carefully crafted and coherent…

Two graduate teaching assistants (TAs)--one taught language arts methods and the other taught social studies methods--who were office mates at a large university in Florida formulated a plan to create one end-of-course project that would both satisfy requirements and combine the social studies and language arts. That way, students could see that…

These papers reflect the impact that early childhood teachers have on their students when they "stand in front of the classroom" and the effect their performance and characteristics have on children. After "Introduction: Factors that Impact Teacher Quality" (Olivia N. Saracho and Bernard Spodek), 11 papers include: (1)…

This report analyzes the outcomes of the Running Start Program, part of Washington State's 1990 "Learning by Choice Law," which was designed to expand educational options for high school students. The program allowed high school juniors and seniors to take college-level classes at the state's community and technical colleges and earn…

This manual covers thirteen different topics relevant to the education of students with disabilities in the era of educational reform and standards-based education. Sections include: (1) "Raising Standards of Learning: and Students with and Standards-Based Education Students with Disabilities" (Janet R. Vohs, Julia K. Landau, and Carolyn…

The purpose of this study is to help Taiwanese English-as-a- foreign-language (EFL) college students construct the concept of gender equality by reading and responding to two gender issues: housework and virginity. Educational researchers have been interested in and aware of the importance of promoting the concept and practice of gender equality…

The engaged learning model centers on information and communications technologies as tools to assist teachers in helping students take responsibility for their own learning, become knowledge explorers, and collaborate with others to find information and to seek answers to problems. This paper defines engaged learning, and outlines the following…

As several initiatives relating to integrating the use of information technologies (IT) were started in Prince Edward Island, the Faculty of Education at the University of Prince Edward Island saw a unique opportunity where the merging of some of the initiatives and collaboration among the participants might be more productive and advance the…

This case study was designed to investigate the effect on an instructor's simultaneously teaching the same course in both a distance and a traditional educational format. The study involved one male instructor-participant at a mid-sized regional university who, in one term, taught the same course in both distance and traditional format. Data were…

Noting that much has happened in the field of early childhood education during the 10 years since publication of the first edition of "The Project Approach," this new edition re-introduces the project approach and suggests applications and examples of the approach in action. Notable additions to this second edition include: (1) two new…

In October 1998, the Coordinating Board Committee of the Department of Education at the University of Texas--Pan American (UTPA) recommended adoption of a problem-based learning model for use in the university's stand-alone doctoral program in educational administration. This recommendation came despite some apprehension and confusion among some…

Ways in which the field of applied linguistics is evolving in the changing global context are examined. After a brief review of the field's history in the late twentieth century, and of the development of a number of related professional organizations, the emergence of applied linguistics as an interdisciplinary endeavor is discussed. Major areas…