The Virginia Boucher-OCLC Distinguished ILL Librarian Award is the most prestigious commendation given to practitioners in the field. The following questions about ILL were posed to the two most recent recipients of the Boucher Award: Tom Delaney (2002), Coordinator of Interlibrary Loan Services at Colorado State University and Lynn Wiley (2001),…

The federal government has been collecting, analyzing, and disseminating educational statistics for more than 130 years. Over time the focus has shifted from data gathering to research and development (R&D) to find more effective ways of educating children. Educational research and development, however, has not been held in high esteem by most…

Administrative systems renewal is not something the faculty will ever get excited about, but the authors believe there is much that can be done to render the academic community more receptive and even supportive. In this article, the authors use the implementation of their student information system (SIS) at the University of Saskatchewan (and a…

This article presents answers to the question: What do powerful educational leaders think about training practitioners for social justice? The data are drawn from interviews with a former governor and leaders from the American Association of School Administration (AASA), National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), National…

This study investigated elementary grade teachers' personal experience with instructional computing in classroom instruction and depicts the causes of comfort or discomfort among teachers in using computers at elementary grade teaching. The specific study involved ten elementary grade teachers from randomly selected schools in Western New York.…

Early childhood teachers may express positive views about inclusive practices but are the practices implemented in their classrooms? This study examined preservice and inservice teachers' attitudes toward inclusive practices as reflected in the teachers' behaviors. This qualitative study utilized open-ended initial interviews, observations with…

Financial aid can encourage students to enroll in college and increase their odds of academic success. While the California community colleges (CCCs) have very low fees, which are waived for most low-income students, the additional expenses of books, supplies, transportation, housing, food and childcare can create significant financial barriers to…

This paper emerges out of a larger qualitative study that aimed at mapping barriers to basic education experienced by children and adults in the context of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The study was undertaken in Richmond district and involved a range of centres of learning (formal and informal) including three high schools, five primary schools,…

The purpose of this study was to understand the experience of students as they progressed through three specific online graduate courses in health promotion studies delivered primarily by asynchronous computer conferencing. Focused teleconference discussions were conducted with approximately 45 students from the different courses and the…

Drawing on work in general education, second/foreign language teacher education has begun to recognize that within its knowledge base, teachers, apart from the methods and materials they may use, are central to improving English language teaching. To understand the professional development of teachers in the English as a foreign language context,…

The Maryland statewide plan to improve access to community college education for the state's handicapped population is presented in five parts. The first section describes the efforts to determine the current status of handicapped students in the community college, through extensive college self-analysis. These involved the development of plans…

More and more, private for-profit and non-profit organizations are involved in schools. No longer limited to support services like transportation and food services, companies are providing tutoring, directing classroom instruction and managing public and charter schools. School reform has raised the stakes for schools and students, asking for…

This brief details the history of the federal government's stance with language minority students, and analyzes the implications of changes to its guiding principles made by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. With every federal re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act prior to 2001, the importance of bilingual…

High school is becoming the next frontier for after-school advocates. The conceptual and practical leaps from programming for elementary and middle school students to high school students are significant, with huge marketing challenges. Arguing persuasively for investments in this population requires revisiting almost every strategic decision,…

While significant progress has occurred over the past several years regarding the expansion of the quantity and quality of after-school opportunities, the ambitious idea of "after-school for all" remains a distant goal. In this commentary, we push beyond some of the numbers to take a close look at questions related to access and equity,…