With the advent of faster and widely accessible information, communication and transportation technologies, people are living in an era where their actions increasingly influence and are influenced by realities in other parts of the world. Truly understanding their own communities, province and country requires gaining a deep understanding of the …

Quality career/technical education and its role in school improvement was a primary theme of the 2008 "High Schools That Work" ("HSTW") Staff Development Conference. This newsletter covers crucial topics in quality CTE (career and technical education), including assessing the quality and effectiveness of CT programs, preparing students to succeed…

In recent years, several large urban districts, including Cincinnati, Cleveland, Milwaukee, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, and Kansas City, Missouri have converted their middle schools (generally grades 6-8) to K-8 schools in the hope of improving student achievement, attendance, and behavior, while also enhancing parental involvement. The…

Tomorrow's workforce is seeking more than a paycheck; they want their work to meet their needs for affiliation, meaning, and self-development. Companies willing to meet these demands will capture the enormous profit potential of a workforce of fully engaged workers. This piece explores what engagement is, why it matters, and how human resource…

This monograph outlines 12 best practices in workplace mentoring. It reflects findings from the New Voices National Fellowship Program, a human rights leadership development initiative funded by the Ford Foundation and administered by AED (Academy for Educational Development). It is hoped that readers will find the ideas developed here and the…

Across the nation, urban school districts struggle to raise often abysmally low high school graduation rates. New York City, with a four-year graduation rate of 57 percent, is no exception. Yet, some high schools in New York, as elsewhere, succeed beyond expectations in bringing students with low academic skills and high needs to graduation in…

The concept of a United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD) has its roots in the Asia-Pacific. Arguably, so far, more countries within the Asia-Pacific have engaged in advancing the DESD agenda than any other region in the world. This paper focuses on regional, sub-regional and national efforts to promote learning for…

Schools have found religion when it comes to solutions designed to deliver critical information to the campus community in a timely fashion. And the vendor community is now offering a multitude of routes to the Promised Land. The question is: Will the "right" technology solution solve all the mass communication problems? Those who have weathered…

This year's E-Learn conference has numerous exciting presentations and keynotes. Many speakers will be discussing how education is changing in the forthcoming years. Among them are Dale Stephens who works with the social movement "Uncollege" that empower students to create their own education, Saul Carliner who talks about Massive Online…

The following paper culminates a year of research conducted by researchers at E[superscript 3] Alliance and Texas State University and sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The following reports on promising practices observed and reported at Manor New Tech High School (MNTH), a Texas Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (T-STEM)…

The purpose of this study was to identify instructional strategies and support services of five learning community programs that focus on the retention of African American students at California Community Colleges. Empirical research indicates that colleges and universities have historically structured their curricula, student services programs,…

One of the greatest challenges that community colleges face in their efforts to increase graduation rates is improving the success of students in their developmental, or remedial, education programs. This literature review seeks to examine research on developmental education strategies and reforms and identify the most promising approaches for…

As the diversity of the students on campus increases, the importance for everyone in authority to understand students' distinct cultures and how they perceive institutions, and equally, to understand their own privilege, and often unconscious cultural assumptions, has never been greater. This book presents a comprehensive set of resources to guide…

The mission of the National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) is to ensure that all higher education students are exposed to cutting edge research in their classrooms, and that students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels are actively engaged in relevant and authentic research in their chosen discipline. To…

This study addresses preservice teachers' perceptions toward online experiences, specifically, their perceptions about utilizing an online science methods curriculum versus a traditional methods curriculum. Thirty-eight senior level preservice teachers at a midwestern U.S. university completed surveys about their experiences during their methods…