The literature on effective schools emphasizes the importance of a quality teaching force in improving educational outcomes for students. In this article we use value-added methods to examine the relationship between a school's effectiveness and the recruitment, assignment, development, and retention of its teachers. Our results reveal four key…

In a recent meta-analysis of online learning, the U.S. Department of Education supported findings to suggest that learners benefit from exposure to blended learning environments when digitally skilled teachers implement technology into traditional classes. Data from these studies support evidence to benefit learners by increasing interest,…

Successful school leadership is an issue currently being debated up and down Caribbean territories. Key issues in the ongoing debate include: students' outcomes and participation in the regional Caribbean Secondary Examinations (CSEC); teacher recruitment and retention; teacher training and continuing professional development (upgrading); and…

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Education awarded a contract to a team of education, youth development, and web development specialists to develop an online professional learning community for grantees in the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC). The online community, You for Youth (Y4Y, www.Y4Y.ed.gov) will support afterschool…

APPA's highest institutional honor, the Award for Excellence in Facilities Management (AFE), recognizes those educational institutions whose facilities management organizations demonstrate quality in overall operations and effectiveness. The two most recent recipients, Arkansas State University-Jonesboro (ASU-J) and the University of Nevada-Las…

One has more than language barriers and varying cultural differences to consider when staying overseas these days. In the wake of hotel terrorist bombings in countries such as Indonesia and India in the last few years, travelers need to be assured the place they call home for the duration of their stay won't result in injury or death. To reduce…

Teacher mentors of first-year teachers provided insight into those practices they viewed as essential for their success in the mentoring role. Specifically, they were queried about teacher involvement/support, staff development, administrative support and resource materials. Almost all of the mentor teachers believed a teacher mentoring program…

This study reports a qualitative investigation that examines the design and implementation of a holistic teacher training model in a cyber face-to-face language learning context. To this end, this study first proposes an e-training model called the Practice, Reflection and Collaboration (PRC) model, and discusses the rationale and theoretical…

Title I legislation was enacted in 1965 under the Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged Act. The goal of Title I was to support disadvantaged students in achieving academic excellence and to close the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and students from high socioeconomic backgrounds. Despite billions of dollars, and…

This study grew out of the realization that implicit literacy expectations between working class United Auto Workers (UAW) staff and professional class staff were complicating the filling out and filing of a position audit form. Professional class supervisors had designed the form as a measure of fairness, in that each UAW employee on campus was…

Federal and state guidelines direct students with disabilities to the least restrictive environment (LRE). The inclusion of students with disabilities in the LRE (general education) has been an issue for many public schools. In an effort to promote inclusive education for students with disabilities, many special education teacher-chairpersons…

This issue of "FOCUS" describes the results from a series of comparative case studies exploring how selected national organizations, representing different stakeholder groups, can play an important role in communicating new research findings to diverse audiences. Knowledge value mapping helps understand the context of each organization's…

More and more, the educators this author works with recognize that schools will need to become different, not just better, to help students meet the challenges of the future. These educators are trying to respond to an imperative to innovate as well as improve. The depth of change required to move from creating improvement to fostering innovation…

In order to continue to do great work with challenging youth, teachers should know that learning helps them be better professionals. Clinical supervision is one of the vehicles used. In a Re-ED program, those who work directly with youth (called teacher-counselors) are the primary agents of change. This makes it necessary to equip them with the…

The use of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems has grown enormously since 1990, but the failure to completely learn how to use them continues to produce disappointing results. Today's rapidly changing business environment and the integrative applications of ERP systems force users to continuously learn new skills after ERP implementation.…