In this era of increased accountability education leaders must respond to the political calls for academic performance with the legal ramifications of IDEA policy implementation within a student's least restrictive environment. This action research study sought to answer how a school system identifies a student's least restrictive environment.…

This dissertation was an exploratory investigation of four institutions STEM endorsement programs. The investigation was done in three separate qualitative studies that explored each institution's staff and faculty views on developing and implementing their STEM endorsement programs, the views of faculty who developed and taught a STEM methods…

This thesis project offers a reflective practice-based learning tool to engage preaching experience--from the hearing side of the event--early in diaconal formation to build connoisseurship of effective preaching as the logical prerequisite to engaging the event as preacher. Chapter One proposes connoisseurship as a fruitful metaphor for building…

Advancements in technology and computer-based testing has allowed for greater flexibility in assessing examinee knowledge on large-scale, high-stakes assessments. Through computer-based delivery, cognitive ability and skills can be effectively assessed cost-efficiently and measure domains that are difficult or even impossible to measure with…

In this conceptual and self-reflective essay, the authors begin from the premise that the contemporary higher educational institutions in Canada and many other parts of the world have increasingly tended to focus on instrumental teaching, rooted in neoliberal and capitalist ideals of societal progress through economic development. The result is…

Education can be transformed if we eradicate our fixation on big data like standardized test scores as the supreme measure of equity and learning. Instead of the focus being on "fixing" and "filling" academic gaps, we must envision and rebuild the system from the "student" up--with classrooms, schools and systems…

This study advances our understanding of the role social studies methods courses can play in supporting pre-service teachers' development of their awareness of civic identities. Specifically, this study examines the use of interactive civic activities in developing preservice teachers' awareness of how their civic identities shape their social…

Language-in-education research can contribute to transformative progress toward educational equity and excellence. Although this assertion is likely uncontroversial within the field of language in education, agreeing on which types of research lead to which transformative progress is much less straightforward. The thought-provoking commentaries on…

Courses: Instructional Communication, Graduate Teaching Assistant Training Programs. Objectives: Students will (1) understand critical communication pedagogy (CCP); (2) evaluate traditional and critical objectives and assessment procedures; and (3) create critical objectives and assessment procedures.

Faculty in higher education strive to prepare students who have mastered discipline specific content, are adept at using "soft skills" required in the workplace, and have the ability and motivation to pursue life-long learning. A variety of methods including problem, case, and team-based learning have been developed to achieve these…

The author created a project aimed to develop and implement the assessment of working scientifically (WS) skills at Victoria Park Primary School. The author had previously identified a gap in the curriculum coverage and assessment of WS skills and his goal was to address the lack of provision for assessing children's WS skills and raise the…

In "Differentiation and the Brain: How Neuroscience Supports the Learner-Friendly Classroom, Second Edition," authors David Sousa and Carol Ann Tomlinson examine the basic principles of differentiation in light of what the current research on educational neuroscience reveals. This research offers information and insights that can help…

Background: There is growing understanding of the potential benefits of a multi-method approach to accurately capture language skills of children on the autism spectrum. Tools such as Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) provide an efficient means of capturing and analysing early child vocalizations (CVs) and the language learning environment.…

We examined intervention programs using an e-book with expansions for promoting story comprehension developed for this study. In program (a), teachers received coaching on how to support the children while activating the e-book with expansions aimed at supporting the story content; in program (b), the children worked independently with the e-book…

In this article, we describe the case of "Keri," a fifth-grade teacher who had completed an Elementary Mathematics Specialist (EMS) certification program. Drawn from a larger study investigating the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of EMSs, Keri's case was unique in that she was teaching mathematics to four classes in a departmentalized…