This case study investigated the job responsibilities of district-level instructional technology specialists that related to curriculum work and the perceptions the specialists had concerning their job responsibilities and their relationship to curriculum work. Data were collected through document analysis, shadowing, interviews, and a focus group. A framework of curriculum themes and categories was created, which was then used to define instructional technology work. Instructional technology...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Focus Groups, Educational Technology, Specialists, Case Studies, School Districts,...
Meeting the requirement for highly qualified teachers as outlined in the No Child Left Behind Act has left school districts in a quandary, especially those that serve a population of students deemed "at-risk" and where attracting and retaining highly qualified teachers is difficult. One professional development program based on recognized strategies for exemplary teaching--the National Board for Professional Teaching Standard's five core propositions--is being tested in one school...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, National Standards, Program Effectiveness, School Districts,...
Over the last year, the number of reported cases of confidential information lost because of stolen laptops, lost USB flash drives, misplaced PDAs, and simple human error has significantly increased. These trends have school districts concerned with issues of violating private information. Laws such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Child Online Protection Act are not new, but the proliferation of technology makes managing privacy more complicated than it was in the past....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Confidentiality, School Districts, Educational Practices, Information Policy,...
Technology incentives are a great way to motivate teachers to learn to use technology. Polk County Schools in Florida has proven that technology incentives work to their advantage. A highlight that motivates Polk County teachers, is that a technology coaching program is in place to assist teachers at different schools. In this article, the author discusses how teachers can be motivated to attend professional development training, so that they can use technology inside the classrooms. (Contains...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Motivation, Counties, Professional Development, Teacher Education, School...
Online learning is the fastest growing segment of educational technology, for both the best and worst of reasons. The promise of delivering student-centered education, anytime, anywhere, at any pace provides the best reason. Online learning certainly has the potential to finally deliver on these promises. The temptation to replace highly skilled professionals with scripted, mass delivered "content" as a means of reducing costs and/or maximizing profits is a contender for the worst...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Online Courses, Educational Technology, Scoring Rubrics, Educational Policy, School...
This article features the Science Leadership Academy, a new public partnership school in Philadelphia that incorporates core values of inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, and reflection. Founded by the School District of Philadelphia and The Franklin Institute, SLA is one of four partnership high schools that opened in September 2006 as part of the Secondary Education Movement--one of school district CEO Paul Vallas' major reform efforts. SLA is built on the notion that inquiry is...
Topics: ERIC Archive, School Districts, Educational Change, Values, Dual Enrollment, Leadership, Career...
In the book, "1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs That Work," author Pamela Livingston begins with an important point for those who are considering a laptop program for the first time: Newcomers are fortunate to be able to learn from the educators who have started down the 1-to-1 road before them. This proved to be true for two neighboring school districts in Oregon (Eugene School District 4J and Springfield School District) that took the time to survey what other schools had been doing....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Computer Uses in Education, Technology Integration, School Districts, Program...
School districts often struggle on how to close the digital divide. Digital divide represents students' equity in learning opportunity and productive participation in society. Some schools have this mistaken notion that the problem on digital divide could only be solved by merely providing students with more access to technology. However, the problem on digital divide could only be solved by providing equitable learning opportunities for all students. In this article, the author relates how his...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Access to Computers, School Districts, Educational Opportunities, Equal Education,...
Adopting policies of decentralization has become more or less a universal fashion among governments. Institutional redesigning as regard to affirmative state is favored by the political left and right in capitalist democracies. However, their arguments revolve around the decision-making powers of ordinary citizens. Some academics argue that the "People's Campaign for Decentralized Planning" (PCDP) introduced in 1996 in Kerala, the south western state of India, is an extended version...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Democracy, Administrative Organization, Elementary Education,...
This study investigated the relationship between professionally and personally inviting behaviors of high school principals in the state of Mississippi and: (a) Teacher Job Satisfaction, (b) Principal Effectiveness, (c) Principal as an Agent of School Improvement, and (d) Principal's Invitational Quotient, and (e) The Computed Accreditation Performance Index of their respective school district. The foundation for this study evolved as an extension of earlier research (Asbill, 1994) that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Change, Job Satisfaction, Principals, Administrator Effectiveness, School...
The average tuition of a four-year public college is $3510 per year (Adriane, 2003). In this study, letters were sent letters to the education departments of fifteen state universities in a southern state by a school level administrator. Each university was asked to help the local education agency (LEA) find prospective teachers from the universities' recent and/or future graduates. This article looks at the response times as well as which universities invite future success of their graduates....
Topics: ERIC Archive, State Universities, Career Information Systems, Career Guidance, Graduates, Schools...
During the fall 2005 semester, an eighth grade teacher in a Laramie, Wyoming, middle school made an urgent plea for more progressive tools for a beginning computers course. Janet Johnson, a veteran teacher returning to the classroom after a hiatus of 10 years, was frustrated with the apparent lack of motivation and engagement by the students. She knew the existing curricular materials were outdated and "mind numbing" and was seeking methods more relevant to this generation. In...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Video Games, Pilot Projects, School Districts, Grade 8, Middle School Students,...
The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT) is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. This special issue of the Journal for the Education of the Gifted highlights a few of the research studies conducted from 1995-2000. These selected studies have a common thread as they all address teaching and learning from the perspective of changing behaviors, strategies, and practices. Each study is also responsive to our commitment to quantitative...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Research, Gifted, State Departments of Education, School Districts, Needs...
The issue of the disproportionate identification and placement of racial/ethnic minorities in special education has been investigated extensively. One of the most useful tools in this research is the risk ratio, which compares one racial/ethnic group's risk of receiving special education and related services to that of all other students. The risk ratio can be used to calculate disproportionality at both the state and school-district-levels. However, analysts often encounter difficulties in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disproportionate Representation, Related Services (Special Education), Special...
The increasing use of school advisory councils for budgetary decision making is an obvious trend in new patterns of school governance. As decision makers, council members are lobbied by groups and individuals desiring funding for their particular interests. Problems that need attention are judiciously considered as competing interests vie for limited resources. A challenge then for the councils is to make spending choices that are most likely to improve learning outcomes for all students....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Interests, Governance, Accountability, Organizational Development, Advisory...
Over the past few years, as part of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) reform on the one hand, and the increased demands for school accountability on the other, more and more schools have launched a school website aimed at enhancing educational activities, supporting student-teacher communication, contributing to school marketing efforts, and fostering accountability to and collaboration with the school's constituency. A large body of research on ICT-based pedagogical and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, School Organization, Web Sites, Internet, Content Analysis, Educational Environment,...
Concern about teacher shortages has been widespread in the last decade. Numerous reports have focused attention on the issue in the United States where the shortage is particularly acute in specific teaching specialties and in urban and rural schools. Attempts to alleviate the shortage have taken place at multiple levels. School districts with teaching vacancies adopt strategies to increase the number of applications they receive for teaching vacancies. Understanding what new teachers seek in a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Teachers, Teacher Shortage, School Districts, Effect Size, Beginning...
Schools employ educational technology to comply with pressures for greater accountability and efficiency in conducting operations. Specifically, schools use "management information systems" designed to automate data collection of student attendance, grades, test scores, and so on. These management information systems (MIS) employed widespread use of technology to enable effective and efficient school operations in order to promote school accountability. In this case study, the authors...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Attendance, Management Information Systems, Educational Technology, Accountability,...
The purpose of this study was to assess a statewide cadre of public school principals in terms of their attraction to the job of district superintendent. Two assumptions underlying the investigation were that (1) participant self-reported capability to become a superintendent impacts participant attraction to the job, and (2) participant satisfaction with facets of their current jobs and their expected satisfaction with those same job facets in the job of superintendent give an indication of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Measurement, Participant Satisfaction, Public Schools, Principals, Career Choice,...
In 1997, the Illinois legislature passed House Bill 542 (Public Act 90-548) which changed teacher tenure requirements to a four-year, multi-tiered system that called for the accumulation of professional development credit for all teachers. The primary purpose of this study was to examine district responses to the 1997 legislation. To what degree, if any, did legislative requirements regarding the professional development of teachers affect the manner and means through which districts provided...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Faculty Development, Professional Development, Human Resources, State School District...
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the district temporarily lost 100% of its students and did not reopen a single school for more than two months. As it became apparent that the district was not prepared to bring the schools back from such a devastating blow, educators began to see a silver lining in Katrina's dark clouds. State School Board member Leslie Jacobs said, "The Diaspora of New Orleans represents the opportunity to rebuild our public school system" (Inskeep, 2005b)....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Urban Schools, State Schools, Public Schools, Boards of Education, Board of Education...
Perhaps one of the worst disasters in United States history, Hurricane Katrina is expected to have a lasting impact on the economies of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida with losses in the billions of dollars. Given that the economic foundation of the approximately 600 schools and libraries affected was far from ideal before the hurricane, the prospect of recovery for technology and media infrastructures seemed dim. The authors set about this research with little or no knowledge of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, School Districts, Natural Disasters, Community Surveys, Mail Surveys, Technology Uses...
This article describes the approach of a five-year initiative, funded by the National Science Foundation, to improve the teaching of mathematics and science in 10 rural school districts of Missouri. Traditional challenges of improving the professional practice of teachers are addressed through a regional partnership. External project evaluation results reveal specific teacher challenges, the change strategy of the Ozark Rural Systemic Initiative (ORSI), and what teachers value most. Continuous,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Change Strategies, Rural Schools, Teacher Effectiveness, Educational Change,...
The Rural Education Bureau of the New Mexico Public Education Department has established a program to address the special needs of schools and communities in the extensive rural areas of the state. High poverty rates, depopulation and a general lack of viable economic opportunity have marked rural New Mexico for decades. The program underway aims at establishing holistic community socioeconomic revitalization at the grass roots level with the schools playing a leading role. Initiatives include...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Economic Progress, Poverty, Foreign Countries, Rural Development, Community...
This article focuses on the challenge of teacher retention in rural schools in relation to the No Child Left Behind mandate, that school districts must attract and retain highly qualified teachers. This case study examines the extent to which a rural school enhanced teacher retention by overcoming the barriers that might otherwise have presented a challenge to teacher retention. Findings from this study suggest that the nurturing the nurturers concept, inherent in teacher resiliency-building...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Schools, Federal Legislation, Teacher Persistence, School Holding Power, Labor...
In rural Oklahoma, the role of the superintendent is often vastly different than that of superintendents in large cities. The superintendent is the leader of the school district, which is typically the community's largest employer. There are a few examples of superintendents who embrace this sometimes overwhelming responsibility and who are often seen as pillars of ethics, leadership and morality in the community. Dale Carter is one example of this type of superintendent. Mr. Carter has been...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Schools, Superintendents, School Districts, Values, Ethics, Professional...
Adequate yearly progress (AYP) on No Child Left Behind criteria was examined for a randomly selected sample of districts that qualify for the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP). The sample involved 10% of districts that were eligible for the Small Rural Schools Achievement (SRSA) program and 10% that were eligible for the Rural and Low-income Schools (RLIS) program. Based on district reports, nearly 80% of SRSA schools made AYP, 11% failed, and 11% did not have adequate data. For...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Schools, Federal Legislation, Educational Improvement, Rural Education,...
The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons 162 rural area high school students participate in the dual enrollment program. Dual enrollment programs allow high school students to enroll in college courses for credit prior to high school graduation with local school districts covering the cost of tuition. Participants in this study were recruited from two rural agricultural counties from Washington State attending a local college. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that dual...
Topics: ERIC Archive, High Schools, Student Participation, Factor Analysis, Rural Areas, Counties, Grade...
Helping schools create environments where all students can learn is a worthwhile mission for schools big and small. Both multi and single site districts agree that providing equitable and meaningful learning opportunities for every student is essential, but find this challenging and difficult. What are the systemic factors that limit educators in considering new educational paradigms that might structure schools differently, increase learning outcomes for a wider spectrum of students, and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Educational Environment, School Size, Change Strategies,...
Following two-failed school bond issues in 1995 and 1998, one mid-sized rural school district organized an effort that led to two successful school bond elections in 2001 and 2003. The school district's strategic plan mirrored many of the recommendations for successful bond referendums published in School Bond Success: A Strategy for Building America's Schools. Findings from this case study, utilizing a Rapid Assessment Process, illustrate many of the reasons why the school district passed two...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Strategic Planning, Rural Schools, Elections, Bond Issues, School Districts,...
The purpose of this study was to describe the transition implementation experienced by rural elementary school district students entering the ninth grade at an independent school district, and to describe the ties to the school that exist among these same ninth grade students. This qualitative research involved interviewing 11 ninth grade students, six rural elementary school district counselors and/or administrators, and one independent school district counselor. Conclusions of the study...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Grade 9, Transitional Programs, Student Mobility, Rural Schools, School Districts,...
For many small rural school districts across America, the effort to attract and retain quality teachers continues to be a major concern. Schools located in what are considered to be "hard to staff" areas experience the most difficult. While not all communities face the problems of inadequate teacher supply, many small and rural school districts recognize this as a continuing critical issue. A variety of factors contribute to the problems of recruiting and retaining teachers in small...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Schools, Teacher Supply and Demand, School Districts, Rural Education, Teacher...
The Appalachian Model Teacher Consortium is a partnership involving Radford University, Wytheville Community College, and the Grayson County (Virginia) School System. Its purpose is to prepare highly qualified teachers for rural southwest Virginia. The model was developed in response to the growing teacher shortage facing school districts in rural southwest Virginia. Poorer, more rural districts often have weaker tax bases that provide limited, and at times inadequate, financial support for...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Salaries, Rural Schools, Teacher Shortage, School Districts, Rural Areas,...
Through administrator and teacher surveys and interviews, this study examined recruiting and interviewing practices of eighty-three rural school districts located in, and between, the rural Ozark Plateau and Mississippi River Delta. Survey results indicated that districts with smaller student populations were far less likely to have an identified protocol in place to recruit and interview teachers. In addition, the study found that critical issues such as student achievement and qualifications...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Schools, Teacher Surveys, School Districts, Employment Interviews, Teacher...
Schools in 47 high-poverty school districts located mostly along the Atlantic Coast of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia may have a head start on new requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, thanks to a $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Begun in April 2000, the five-year Coastal Rural Systemic Initiative (CRSI) is striving to stimulate sustainable systemic improvements in science and mathematics education in school districts with a long...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Schools, Poverty, Federal Legislation, Disadvantaged Youth, School Districts,...
The Principals Excellence Program (PEP), a cohort-based professional development project for administrator-certified practitioners, is one of 24 projects across the United States supported by federal funds from the No Child Left Behind legislation. The three-year program is conducted through a partnership between Pike County School District, a high-need rural system in Central Appalachia, and the University of Kentucky, located 150 miles away. A major goal for PEP is improved school leadership...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mentors, Federal Legislation, Holistic Evaluation, Leadership Effectiveness, School...
Students, faculty, administration, and community members of three Iowa rural school districts were interviewed to identify educational issues in their communities. The results of the Iowa investigation are compared with the results of the Claremont Graduate School investigation published in "Voices from the inside: A report on schooling from inside the classroom" (1992). The Claremont study investigated large urban schools. The Iowa study provides insight into small, rural school...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Urban Schools, Rural Schools, School Districts, Teacher Student Relationship, School...
Few topics evoke more emotion than how to discipline children in public schools. And not many people are neutral in their views toward corporal punishment. Surprisingly, the United States stands almost alone on its position regarding the legality of corporal punishment. Among thirty-five industrialized countries, only the United States and the Outback regions of Australia do not ban this disciplinary technique. And other than its use in public education, corporal punishment is banned in most...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Public Schools, State Legislation, School Districts, Foreign Countries, Punishment,...
As of the 2007 Data Quality Campaign annual survey, 22 states reported having the ability to share P-12 student-level data with higher education systems. With the ability to match student-level records between P-12 and postsecondary systems, policymakers and educators will be able to obtain data for strategic planning, cost-benefit analysis of district and school-level programs and evaluation of course and program effectiveness, and evaluate the effectiveness of its teacher preparation...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Strategic Planning, Higher Education, Program Effectiveness, Teacher Effectiveness,...
Cyber schools, also known as virtual schools, are noteworthy charter school developments that provide viable options for education. Charter schools in general and cyber charter schools in particular are not "revenue neutral" to local school districts. Nationwide, hundreds of millions of dollars allocated for education are being routed into charter schools. As parents opt for cyber schools to augment home-school resources, the funding burden shifts from the family to the taxpayers...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Funding Formulas, Charter Schools, Governance, Virtual Classrooms, Educational...
Educators in senior high schools are used to hearing, "Senior high schools today look the same as they did a hundred years ago." Though the author has heard this and similar comments, she also has heard a great number of high school students talking with excitement about their learning experiences. She has worked with teachers and administrators who are passionately committed to ensuring that secondary-level students receive a high-quality education, and she has reveled in hearing...
Topics: ERIC Archive, High Schools, Educational Quality, Educational Change, Improvement Programs, School...
In 1992, the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) grant program was established to provide funded opportunities for first and second-year teachers having completed a preliminary or professional clear multiple/single subject, credential. Matriculating from a teacher preparation program to the classroom, they were ready to "expand, enrich and deepen their teaching knowledge and skill through collegial reflection as well as continued instruction and study". Collegial...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Secondary Education, Formative Evaluation, Program Effectiveness, School...
This article captures how a web-based course, designed as a part of the School Leadership Grant Program, meets some challenges of leadership training and development. The content, structure and discussion board exercises of the sample course are designed to provide more reflective and practical opportunities for leader-learners to develop expertise. In addition, the article discusses the opportunities and problems that lie in the written form, including the rich information sources and e-mail...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Web Based Instruction, Leadership Training, Grants, Instructional Leadership,...
The U.S. educational system invests heavily, in both time and money, in continuing education for teachers. In this article Heather Hill examines the effectiveness of two forms of teacher learning--graduate coursework and professional development. She focuses first on graduate education. Almost half of all teachers have a master's degree. Many states allow graduate coursework to count toward recertification requirements. Some districts require teachers to complete a master's degree within...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Salaries, Graduate Study, Continuing Education, Program Effectiveness, Faculty...
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a civil rights law that applies to all school districts nationwide. Despite its wide coverage, there is a dearth of research on how the law is implemented. This study presents the results of an exploratory investigation of Section 504 practices with 154 special education directors in one northeastern state. Based upon a response rate of 55% (n = 85) results indicated that while most districts have formal Section 504 policies in place, this is a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Civil Rights Legislation, Federal Regulation, Educational Policy, Disability...
The Pathways to Teaching Careers Program was a national recruitment effort started in 1989 to bring teachers of color into the teaching profession. This effort was instrumental in forging the investment of some $50 million for a series of grants that included 26 programs in 66 colleges and universities, located in 43 cities in 26 states (the Armstrong Atlantic State University Pathways Program began as a grantee in 1992). The grant was targeted to produce, recruit and prepare more than 3,000...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teaching (Occupation), Public Schools, Black Colleges, Talent, Substitute Teachers,...
Without question, the role of business, philanthropy, and other private sector interests in the day-to-day operation of public education has increased significantly over the past 25 years. Pundits of this phenomenon contend that a number of factors have contributed to the increase, such as (1) public dissatisfaction with the performance of school systems; (2) the physical decay of the nation's schools; (3) public dismay over school efforts to eliminate student academic, attendance, and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Urban Schools, School Restructuring, Private Sector, Intervention, School Districts,...
This invited paper explores challenges involved in developing an equity agenda that will create school and district cultures that can effectively address issues of race that are reflected by the achievement gap. Based on a presentation at the Fall 2005 CAPEA conference, the authors explore issues that influence how school systems work and do not work for parents and students of color. The paper also addresses equity and the ways in which educators need to engage with each other and the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Diversity, Principals, Racial Discrimination, Equal Education, Systems...
School university partnerships have become important in the reform efforts to develop the next generation of school leaders. This study examines one university's approach of working with several school districts as partners in the development of school leaders. Findings include benefits and concerns from the perspective of students, faculty, and adjunct instructors.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Administrator Education, Partnerships in Education, College School Cooperation,...
Involving families in their children's education is not only a legal requirement in special education, it also predicts academic achievement, social and emotional development, and a variety of other positive school outcomes for all children. Unfortunately, school-home relationships often have been ignored or underdeveloped. Disconnections between home and school may be especially acute in urban areas where school personnel may not understand the culture of the students and families with whom...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Urban Schools, School Districts, Urban Areas, Conflict Resolution, School Personnel,...