Maturity models are successfully used by organizations attempting to improve their processes, products, and delivery. As more faculty include online course design and teaching, a maturity model of online course design may serve as a tool in planning and assessing their courses for improvement based on best practices. This article presents such a…

Results from the survey of faculty who teach in an alternative teacher certification program provided a framework to develop a holistic programmatic assessment of student learning outcomes for a newly developed online program. Research highlights the process of determining student learning outcomes identification and appropriate courses and best…

The purpose of this study is to analyze current trends of design processes and redesign efforts for business programs. A review of the literature suggests business schools are not preparing graduates of their programs with the necessary knowledge, skills and dispositions as deemed appropriate to succeed in the world of work. Some research studies…

The National Indian Education Association (NIEA) has a long-standing commitment to protecting the cultural and linguistic traditions of Native American students. Towards strengthening these outcomes, they are initiating the development of the National Native Cultural Standards for Education project. To provide background support for future phases…

From 1990 to 2006, the number of Hispanic students in U.S. public schools nearly doubled, accounting for 60% of the total growth in public school enrollment. Approximately 10 million Hispanic students are enrolled in the public K-12 system, comprising nearly one-fifth of public school students in the United States. This issue of "The Progress…

The release of the "Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research 2007" by the Australian Government in 2007 was welcomed by Go8 (Group of Eight) institutions, particularly in relation to the improvements and broader scope of the matters covered by Part A of that Code. However, as foreshadowed by the Go8 during the consultation…

Traditional professional development focuses on declarative and procedural knowledge. That is, participants usually learn what to do and how to do it rather than when to do it and why it is important. In McREL's leadership development program, they focus first on providing participants with an overview of research findings found in their…

The American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC) Plus 50 Initiative (2008-2011), funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies, was created to build the capacity of community colleges nationwide to develop programming that engages the plus 50 learner. The Initiative supported a pilot group of 13 two-year institutions to develop or expand college…

This article systematically reviews research on the achievement outcomes of four types of approaches to improving the reading success of children in the elementary grades: reading curricula, instructional technology, instructional process programs, and combinations of curricula and instructional process. Study inclusion criteria included use of…

This project studied four career college and school campuses in Texas that had higher than average graduation rates and lower than average student loan default rates to determine what they did to achieve these positive outcomes. The visits to the campuses found that a conscious, concerted effort to integrate students into the academic and social…

The Illinois Best Practice School Study is part of a national research study to investigate successful practices in schools. This multi-year study (2003-2006) sought to identify and analyze the best practices of schools that are considered to be consistent high performers despite significant poverty levels. The Illinois study (underwritten by the…

The "Getting Down to Facts" (GDTF) studies released in March 2007 offered a clear diagnosis of the issues facing California's education system. Now, as California moves beyond the facts and begins the search for ways to improve the performance of California schools and students, the state faces a critical policy dilemma. On the one hand,…

With the expansion in quantity of full-text content material made available through online database subscriptions, aggregator services, and over the Internet, the need for print materials seems to have diminished over recent years. Growing, too, are the numbers of students taking advantage of distance learning opportunities, scattered miles and…

The purpose of this philosophical paper was to synthesize theoretical and historical foundations of the project method and compare them to modern best-practices. A review of historical and contemporary literature related to the project method yielded six themes: 1) purpose of projects; 2) project classification; 3) the process; 4) the context; 5)…

The Department has developed a Race to the Top program review process that not only addresses the Department's responsibilities for fiscal and programmatic oversight, but is designed to identify areas to differentiate support based on individual State needs, as well as certain topics where States can leverage work with each other and with experts…