The American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) recently adopted a five-year strategic plan, "Opening Doors through Mathematics" (www.amatyc.org/documents/strategicplans.htm) that describes five priorities. The second of these priorities highlights the need for research on student learning. In this article, the authors propose…

While conducting a content analysis of award-winning, middle school fiction, I indentified a number of episodes and characters that might be used as models for students' writing. Research suggests that teachers can motivate students (Bruning & Horn, 2000; Codling, Gambrell, Kennedy, Palmer, & Graham, 1996) to respond to character-writers (Van…

In this commentary, the author finds the interdisciplinary approach of Roland S. Persson's (2012a) target article refreshing. Persson's (2012a) additional emphases on ethnocentricity, cultural bias and strong threads of influence from the global economy also are helpful. They shed light on some strong contextual influences that shape the…

Roland S. Persson's (2012a) argument is that there is a dominant research culture in the field of gifts and talents, which must of necessity distort research and practice in cultures which are different. He ties this to the dominance of the global economy and points to the need for more cross-cultural studies. In this commentary, the author points…

All students must start learning new literacies skills early if they are to gain the skills they will need as adults. Integrating these skills into classroom instruction at a young age is especially important for economically disadvantaged students. Moreover, the interactive nature of the Internet and other digital tools may hold special learning…

The principal assertion of this article is that Indigenous research methodologies should be used to develop educational policies and practices for Native students. The history of American educational research is marred by a near complete dismissal of Indigenous knowledge, as Western research methodologies continue to define the landscape of P-12…

Few adult second language (L2) learners successfully attain high-level proficiency. Although decades of research on beginning to intermediate stages of L2 learning have identified a number of predictors of the rate of acquisition, little research has examined factors relevant to predicting very high levels of L2 proficiency. The current study,…

This scoping literature review examines the topic of interdisciplinary doctoral research supervision. Interdisciplinary doctoral research programs are expanding in response to encouragement from funding agencies and enthusiasm from faculty and students. In an acknowledgement that the search for creative and innovative solutions to complex problems…

The current review explores the complex paths that can lead to adolescent and young adult males becoming sexually abusive. Because sexual abuse is an ongoing issue in our society that is often oversimplified, this article distinguishes between the various risk factors that predict sexually abusive behavior and types of sex offenders, particularly…

The question for this brief is whether education leaders can use value-added measures as tools for improving schooling and, if so, how to do this. Districts, states, and schools can, at least in theory, generate gains in educational outcomes for students using value-added measures in three ways: creating information on effective programs, making…

The existence of underachievers who are gifted remains an important concern for many educators. As educators work to reverse this phenomenon we believe the underachievement of gifted students needs attention via this research and other studies that contextualize the issues within the North American education system. The authors believed that every…

The American Montessori Society's (AMS) 2014 Living Legacy recipient, John Chattin-McNichols, delivered the keynote address at the Annual Conference in Dallas, TX, on March 27, 2014, In his speech, he described three overall highlights of AMS: (1) AMS is now a world-leading organization; (2) It must become a learning organization; and (3)…

Research on the transition of students with disabilities and their post-school outcomes continues to move the field of special education in the direction of evidence-based practices. As special education professionals work to better recognize the impact of instructional and environmental characteristics to prepare youth for their transition, so…

This article takes a broad view of the evolution of collecting behaviors in a network environment and suggests some future directions based on various simple models. The authors look at the changing dynamics of print collections, at the greater engagement with research and learning behaviors, and at trends in scholarly communication. The goal is…

Within professional learning communities, the processes of shared reflection and critique, or critical transformative dialogues are considered crucial for the maintenance and improvement of professional practice. This paper focuses on the development of the processes of critical transformative dialogues and their application in the professional…