Using semi-structured interviews and focus groups, a study of twelve parents of preschoolers and young adults with disabilities in India revealed the cultural and social barriers to families' access to services and their educational goals for their child. Concerns common to both groups included difficulty of accessing information on services in a…

In this article, the authors synthesize fifteen years of research about campus racial climates and present nine themes that emerged from a multi-institutional qualitative study they conducted. The primary goal is to illuminate trends that persist on many college and university campuses, especially those that are predominantly White. At the end of…

This article describes an effort by principals and university researchers to create student co-research groups at several high schools. The authors describe the student co-research team concept, how it provides principals with ways to actively engage students in ongoing school-reform efforts, and how it assists them in gathering and analyzing data…

By examining American University's Washington Semester Program (AUWSP), this project analyzes the impact of intensive undergraduate experiential and active learning on subsequent student academic performance. In this article, we discuss the differences between traditional, active, and experiential learning methods to better understand the…

This paper explores ways of using culture and cultural practices as an informing principle in ESL teaching. To research culture and ESL teaching, we conducted focus groups with teachers in an urban ethnically diverse school in Toronto, Canada and their student teachers during their month-long practice in the school as a part of a Bachelor of…

This study used qualitative methodology to investigate the self-efficacy beliefs of early adolescents with learning disabilities (LD). We conducted a series of focus group interviews with 28 Grade 8 and 9 students with LD and individual interviews with 7 specialist LD teachers. Content analyses of the student and teacher data resulted in 2 a…

At the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP) at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, we have developed the Electronic Portfolio Encouraging Active Reflective Learning Software (ePEARL) to promote student self-regulation and enhance student core competencies. This paper summarizes the literature on electronic portfolios…

This study describes the effectiveness of a read-aloud cross-age partnership in service learning among students of various age groups (pre K-college sophomore) attending the different schools located on a university campus. Research-based theories of read-aloud to children were used to train the reading volunteers. Multicultural story books aided…

Which factors promote transfer from community colleges to four-year colleges and universities? What can individuals learn about transfer from tracking cohorts of students? What can they learn from studying colleges that have a strong track record of transferring students? These questions are at the center of a study funded in 2007 by the…

The University entrance examination (PAU) is the most important high-stakes exam in the General educational system in Spain. It has 6 sections of which the Foreign Language one is very relevant to the final score. The English section has had almost not significant changes in the last 20 years despite all the research in language learning and…

In 2005, the Stuart Foundation funded two of its grantees--the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning and Mental Health Advocacy Services, Inc.--to both model and achieve greater collaboration between the public education and child welfare sectors. The two organizations share a philosophical commitment to narrowing the profound gaps…

This study is part of national research over the past seven years at the National Center on Educational Outcomes focused on identifying and validating instructional strategies for ELLs with disabilities (Shyyan, Thurlow, & Liu, 2008; Thurlow, Albus, Shyyan, Liu, & Barrera, 2004). In recent work (Barrera, Shyyan, Liu, & Thurlow, 2008),…

For students to compete in the 21st-century global economy, knowledge of and proficiency in mathematics are critical. Whether headed to college or to the workforce, today's high school graduates need solid mathematics skill. The National Mathematics Advisory Panel was created in 2006 and charged with reviewing the best available scientific…

Learning communities are a popular strategy that community colleges nationwide have embraced in support of developmental students. In a learning community, a cohort of students takes two or more courses linked by integrated themes and assignments that are developed through ongoing faculty collaboration. While the number of learning community…

The new public sector community development workers (CDWs) programme was established in 2004 following ineffective service delivery through chronic under-spending on annual budgets in post-apartheid South Africa. CDWs receive training in learnerships within the National Skills Development Strategy to ensure access to and spending of local…