Recent years have seen increased attention to the high school-college transition. Students are enrolling in college in record numbers, yet they are also taking increasing numbers of remedial courses. How to measure and report on academic readiness for college is an important policy issue receiving attention from the National Assessment Governing…

In Canada, as around the world, large numbers of Indigenous children encounter culturally dissonant learning environments in preschools and schools. Many of these children experience serious challenges, in part because of a striking mismatch between their early learning experiences in the family and community, and the expectations, perceptions,…

Background: Research has primarily concentrated on adults' implicit theories about high quality science education for all students. Little work has considered the students' perspective. This study investigated high school students' implicit theories about what helped them learn science. Purpose: This study addressed (1) What characterizes high…

Online courses are increasingly seen as a viable way to expand the number and types of courses offered and broadening access to key courses, particularly in small and rural schools. Algebra I in middle school exemplifies an important course that educators and policymakers want to be more available to students. To study the effectiveness of using…

Given the importance of globalization as well as the need to train skilled and knowledgeable employees for the 21st century workforce, higher education needs to take a more critical look at the educational practices and instructional methods which lead to improvements in students' essential skills such as self-directed learning. This study sought…

In order to prepare new online students to be successful in the virtual classroom, many institutions opt to provide them with an orientation course. Academic institutions must understand the needs of their students in order to develop an orientation course that is best suited to prepare their students for success. In this study, online graduate…

This paper presents the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning's annual report for 2009-2010. Providing quality early learning opportunities in the first five years shapes a child's learning and success for life. The window to make a difference in a child's future is small, but outcomes show that the agency is having an…

Given the importance of the early childhood period as a time when the foundation is laid for later language and literacy, it is important to determine what activities and experiences lead to positive language and literacy outcomes in early childhood. This Fact Sheet reviews fifteen experimentally-evaluated programs and intervention strategies that…

Reading skills are core competencies in children's readiness to learn and may be particularly important for children in foster care, who are at risk for academic difficulties and higher rates of special education placement. In this study, prereading skills (phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and oral language ability) and kindergarten…

We used an online academic-advising program to examine the effects of preparatory training designed to elicit high states of learning-goal orientation and low states of avoid goal orientation. Results indicate that training was effective in some cases for manipulating states of goal orientation. The training did not directly affect behaviors as…

To succeed as tomorrow's workers in the knowledge society of the new century--a world characterized by ceaseless change, boundless knowledge and endless doubt, today's business writing students must develop the skills and traits needed to become creative problem-solvers, flexible team-players and risk-taking life-time learners (Bereiter, 2002a).…

Whereas some four year olds could draw a person with five fingers on each hand and a full set of facial features, others could barely hold a pencil. Some sat quietly in a small group, intently listening to and understanding a story, while others wiggled, fidgeted, and couldn't focus their attention. In those days, before the explosion of…

Medical students are expected to possess self-directed learning skills to pursue lifelong learning. Previous studies have reported that the readiness for self-directed learning depends on personal attributes as well as the curriculum followed in institutions. Melaka Manipal Medical College of Manipal University (Karnataka, India) offers a Bachelor…

School readiness is a quality that adults believe exists within the child, but it actually is an artifact of age-graded schools. Even in a single grade, there will be a one-year spread in ages and, therefore, in development. Instead of sorting children into those who are ready to learn and those who are not, schools should provide opportunities…

A growing body of research showing that grade retention serves as an educationally low-quality placement has raised increasing concerns about whether the use of standardized tests in making decisions concerning grade retention conforms to current standards for appropriate and nondiscriminatory test use. This article examines the extent to which…