This article describes how to implement the four-phase curriculum review model, a simplified process for renovating a high school health and physical education curriculum. Although this model was used at a large suburban high school, it could be adapted for use by smaller schools or other disciplines. The four phases of this model are: (1) needs…

In this paper, the authors address the question: what are skills, knowledge and professional dispositions that U.S. co-teachers need to balance the seemingly competing mandates of NCLB and IDEIA in order to prepare teachers for the classrooms of today and tomorrow? Based on the results of two recent studies that focused on secondary co-teacher…

This study highlights the efforts of a U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools Partnerships in Character Education Program grant awarded to an Appalachian region state education agency to study the effect of the integration of character education models into rural schools. More specifically, this study focuses on data…

Childcare workers play a significant role in the learning and development of children in their care. This has major implications for the training of workers. Under new reforms of the childcare industry, the Australian government now requires all workers to obtain qualifications from a vocational education and training provider (e.g. Technical and…

Evaluative statements from alumni have legitimacy with both internal and external stakeholders. Thus, alumni studies can provide valuable evidence of institutional effectiveness and lend themselves to both locally designed and commercial survey instruments for data collection. Under ideal conditions, the results of alumni studies equip faculty and…

The Thai higher education sector has expanded quickly during the past decade, making a transition from an elitist to a mass institution. A driving force behind the expansion was believed to be the Student Loan Fund (SLF), introduced in 1996. During the first 10 years of its operation, the SLF has lent to more than 2.6 million students, with the…

This study aimed to examine the concept of critical thinking, and implement and evaluate seminars to teach undergraduates critical appraisal skills. Participants were 140 undergraduate students on a Behavioural Medicine module. Four seminars were designed to teach and reinforce critical thinking with source material including research proposals…

Most assessment arguments are about measurement. When is it better to use direct versus indirect measures of student learning? Is one standardized test of critical thinking better than another? Is applying rubrics to student work better than using standardized tests? How valid are self-reported measures of learning? Although these arguments are…

The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of mind mapping with cooperative learning (MMCL) and cooperative learning (CL) on: (a) programming performance; (b) problem solving skill; and (c) metacognitive knowledge among computer science students in Malaysia. The moderating variable is the students' logical thinking level with two…

This paper examines the question of decomposability versus complexity of teaching situations by presenting three case studies of MIS courses. Because all three courses were highly successful in their observed outcomes, the paper hypothesizes that if the attributes of effective course design are decomposable, one would expect to see a large number…

Alternative education programs (also called alternative schools) first appeared on the American landscape in the 1960s. Despite the proliferation of these programs, a generic description of what constitutes an alternative education program, historically, has been elusive. Most alternative education programs have the general criteria of serving…

Research Findings: This study compared the unique effects of training low-income mothers in dialogic reading versus elaborative reminiscing on children's oral language and emergent literacy. Thirty-three low-income parents of 4-year-old children attending Head Start were randomly assigned to either dialogic reading, elaborative reminiscing, or a…

Government, employers and professional societies want university graduates who are better prepared for employment. The UTS Work-Ready Project is a curriculum renewal initiative that aims to improve graduates' professional attributes and employability skills. The paper provides an overview of the project's curriculum renewal strategy of…

Meta-analysis procedures were employed to synthesize findings of research for improving reading comprehension of students with learning disabilities published in the decade following previous meta-analytic investigations. Forty studies, published between 1995 and 2006, were identified and coded. Nearly 2,000 students served as participants.…

Context: The challenge of providing meaningful health care services to veterans living in rural communities is a major public health concern that involves redefining the traditional facility-based model of care delivery employed in urban areas. Purpose: This paper describes the steps of a demonstration project, the Elko Telehealth Outreach Clinic.…