Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) refers to a range of learning experiences that are relevant to the world of work and take place in a variety of learning contexts, including in the formal, non-formal and informal sector. A fundamental purpose of TVET is to equip people with capabilities that can broaden their opportunities in…

Involving parents and other family representatives in the Indicator B-14 Post-School Outcomes (PSO) Survey activities can help State Education Agencies (SEAs) develop strategies to increase annual response rates, communicate results to stakeholders, and build support for program improvement and systems change. Perspectives expressed by families of…

This dissertation explored the value and functions of imagination in leading learning in the twenty-first century, a knowledge-based age marked by diversity, change and unpredictability. In such a context, how can imagination enable teachers to be leaders of learning who optimally engage and prepare students for success? Research in cognitive…

Many colleges and universities are starting to work more strategically to educate current students about what is waiting for them in their alumni years after graduation. The idea is to teach students and get them excited that the experience they have with their university is one that will last a lifetime. However and in spite of the success of…

This paper describes a platform for administering questionnaires on smart-phones and tablets. The project arises from the need of acquiring data for monitoring the outcomes of different homecare interventions. First a model has been defined for representing questionnaires, able to support adaptivity in the dialog with the user and enforce some…

The affordability of a degree from a public university is the subject of much heated debate in the halls of many state governments. The taxpayer, as well as the individual paying tuition, is asking the question: What is the return on investment for the millions of dollars used to support public higher education? The taxpayer views public…

We present evidence from an ongoing field experiment in college coaching/mentoring. The experiment is designed to ask whether mentoring plus cash incentives provided to high school students late in their senior year have meaningful impacts on college going and persistence. For women, we find large impacts on the decision to enroll in college and…

This report summarizes the research activities and findings from the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI)-funded project conducted in Year 13, introductory university and workplace classes, entitled "'Bootstrapping' Statistical Inferential Reasoning". The project was a 2-year collaboration among three statisticians, two…

Representatives of five Race to the Top grantees--Delaware, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island--gathered in Providence, Rhode Island on December 12, 2012 under the auspices of the Quality Evaluation Rollout (QER) Working Group to plan strategies for improving communication between teachers and State education agencies (SEAs) on…

Currently, the field of teacher education is undergoing a major shift--a turn away from a predominant focus on specifying the necessary knowledge for teaching toward specifying teaching practices that entail knowledge and doing. In this article, the authors suggest that current work on K-12 core teaching practices has the potential to shift…

Over the last decade, teacher evaluation has moved onto center stage in efforts to strengthen schooling. In this article, we address the question of whether focusing on this administrative process is likely to accomplish what reformers hope. We answer that question by examining the available evidence, both direct and indirect. We deepen the…

Although change can be considered an inevitable part of life, the process itself can be both challenging and confronting. This is no less the case than for early adolescents as they negotiate the transition from primary to secondary school. Whilst this transition can be considered a regular part of the formal school experience, it can represent a…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence of flow experiences among high school music students attending a two-week summer instrumental music camp. Specifically, the study sought to determine if: (1) students do indeed experience flow in summer camp settings; (2) what activities are conducive to flow; (3) what is the relationship…

Fidelity assessment has received renewed attention in recent years, particularly as distinctions have been made in implementation science between intervention fidelity and implementation fidelity. Considering both types of fidelity has been recommended when developing fidelity instruments. In the present article, we describe development of the…

Times are tense for schools. While they want their students to be well prepared for the coming years of the 21st century, there is an almost ceaseless anxiety caused by unrelenting news and data illustrating how children can get hurt--physically or emotionally. Beyond underscoring the challenges of providing physical safety, data also reveal the…