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,...
This article examines the contribution of the No Child Left Behind Act. The authors believe that the "other means" that can substantially advance equal educational opportunity are to provide "meaningful educational opportunities" for all children in each of the schools that they attend. In this article, the authors discuss meaningful educational opportunity and describe the statutory framework for implementing this standard.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Equal Education, Federal Legislation, Educational Opportunities, Federal Programs,...
What David J. Ferrero has called "the Hundred Year's War between "progressives" and "traditionalists"" continues unabated in the twenty-first century. Undoubtedly, current initiatives in public education favor those who support traditional approaches, yet many critics believe inflexible state tests are restricting teachers' flexibility in employing methods other than teacher-centered direct instruction. President Bush's proposal for extending mandatory testing...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Public Education, Teaching Methods, Progressive Education, Politics of Education,...
Although rates of childhood obesity among the general population are alarmingly high, they are higher still in ethnic minority and low-income communities. The disparities pose a major challenge for policymakers and practitioners planning strategies for obesity prevention. In this article Shiriki Kumanyika and Sonya Grier summarize differences in childhood obesity prevalence by race and ethnicity and by socioeconomic status. They show how various environmental factors can have larger effects on...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Neighborhoods, Television Viewing, Obesity, Physical Activities, Income, Prevention,...
Mary Story, Karen Kaphingst, and Simone French argue that researchers and policymakers focused on childhood obesity have paid insufficient attention to child care. Although child care settings can be a major force in shaping children's dietary intake, physical activity, and energy balance--and thus in combating the childhood obesity epidemic--researchers know relatively little about either the nutrition or the physical activity environment in the nation's child care facilities. What research...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Obesity, Physical Activities, Preschool Education, Prevention, State Standards,...
To provide an array of perspectives about policies needed to serve the growing number of children of immigrant families in the U.S., experts across various organizations and backgrounds were asked to respond to this question: "How should policymakers, advocates, stakeholders, and practitioners respond strategically and proactively to demographic change and increasing diversity in order to promote the healthy development, productivity, and well-being of American children into the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Child Health, Immigrants, Helping Relationship, Productivity, Well Being, Federal...
This paper focuses on the challenges of helping children after abuse and neglect has occurred by strengthening the web of supports for children and families in foster care. It examines the current state of the foster care system and finds that it is really not a cohesive system but a combination of many overlapping and interacting agencies, all charged with providing services, financial support, or other assistance to children and their families. It offers policy and practice recommendations...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foster Care, Child Welfare, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Social Services, Delivery...
All across the country, critical educators are fighting on dozens of fronts, searching in both form and content for a coherent pedagogical expression that captures their opposition to what they perceive as major developments of world-historical importance: the pandemic of economic globalization; United States geopolitical imperialism and the rabid manner in which the Bush administration crazed with success is defining and responding to the current war on terrorism; the linking of patriotism to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Critical Theory, Global Approach, Educational Change, Foreign Policy, Politics of...
Justin S. Morrill of Vermont began advocating for the Land Grant Act in the 1850s. The act's passage in 1862 provided a grant of 30,000 acres of public land for each member of a state's congressional delegation, to be sold to raise funds for the creation of agricultural and engineering colleges. While the original Land Grant provided grants of land to used or sold to create endowment for the new colleges, many people believed that the millennial land grant should focus in one way or another on...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Land Grant Universities, Grants, Federal Aid, Federal Programs, Federal Legislation,...
Calls for accountability in America's schools have created increased responsibilities for educational leaders. In this article, we describe and discuss a study of elementary, middle, and high school principals' perceptions of the state-wide educational accountability program in North Carolina. The respondents indicated that the state's accountability program has had its greatest impact on how they monitored student achievement, aligned the curriculum to the testing program, provided student...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Testing Programs, Sanctions, School Safety, Federal Legislation, Educational...
Recent research indicates that social studies is being de-emphasized in the elementary school, particularly in favor of greater attention to reading. Historically, there is evidence that social studies has not been a strong component of the curriculum in elementary classrooms although it often appears in state and local courses of study. In the early grades (K-3) the traditional focus has been on teaching social studies through units on the self, family, and community workers. These topics may...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Strategies, Textbooks, Study Guides, Classrooms, Social Studies,...
In this article, the authors explore whether educational systems have the institutional capacity to implement comprehensive, systemic reform, as envisioned in legislation such as No Child Left Behind. Drawing upon evidence from various state-level reform initiatives, the authors highlight the ways in which systemic reform appears to positively impact organizational change. However, they caution that systemic reform initiatives are uneven across the states and may produce unintended...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Educational Improvement, Federal Programs, Academic Standards,...
As the prevalence of service-learning within higher education institutions grows across the globe there is value to explore, discuss, and describe the similarities and differences between the various expressions that are emerging. Such comparative analysis can deepen understanding of service-learning pedagogy, improve practice, and create a framework for future research. This paper compares service-learning in the United States and South Africa to understand Western-oriented and Africanized...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Educational Theories, Foreign Countries, Comparative Analysis,...
Conversations continue as to whether and how community-based learning and research (CBLR) can be most effectively integrated into the mission and practice of institutions of higher education (IHEs). In 2005, eight District of Columbia- (DC-) area universities affiliated with the Community Research and Learning (CoRAL) Network engaged in a planning and evaluation exercise, applying a "rapid assessment" method to gauge baseline levels of CBLR institutionalization on each campus,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Colleges, Institutional Mission, Service Learning, College Environment, School...
The early childhood program matrix in this article delineates the various requirements of nine publicly funded programs in Illinois that provide services to young children and families. The first section of the matrix addresses the design of each program and logistics, such as funding, payment, eligibility, and amount of services. The second section of the matrix addresses the ways in which the local community is involved with services and the extent to which the programs are required or...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disabilities, Young Children, Human Resources, Early Childhood Education, Evaluation,...
This study explores and begins baseline documentation of state policies governing teachers' voluntary removal of endorsement areas from their licenses. Through a survey of state licensure officers we find that most states allow teachers to remove endorsements, though the specifics of how this can be done vary from state to state. The No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act may help motivate teachers to remove endorsements. By defining teacher qualifications...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Teacher Qualifications, Educational Improvement, Federal...
An ever-increasing reliance on student performance on tests holds schools and educators accountable both to state accountability systems and also to the accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. While each state has constructed its own definition of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements within the confines of NCLB, substantial differences between the accountability requirements of many state systems and NCLB still have resulted in mixed messages regarding...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Federal Programs, Educational Indicators, Accountability,...
As part of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, many states are using confidence intervals to determine a range of scores for evaluating a school system. More specifically, the states are employing confidence intervals to help minimize measurement error in determining a school system's performance. The methodology and techniques employed in these NCLB calculations for confidence intervals have raised several questions with regard to appropriateness, methods, and the transfer to educational...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Computation, Intervals, Error of Measurement, Methods,...
This is a critical review of surveys conducted on the American deaf population since 1990. There is no agreement among the surveys on the number of deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the US. This behooves us to study the question: Why the lack of agreement in estimates and prevalence rates of the American general deaf and the deaf child population across the surveys? Prior studies explained the discrepancies in terms of sampling and probability errors, different survey methodologies,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Deafness, Partial Hearing, Population Groups, Incidence, Surveys, Probability,...
This exploratory study examines the impact of a professional development program where a K-16 networked learning community approach was implemented to provide training and support for technology integration in science education. The study presents findings from a three-year project with five cohort groups that included 17 student teachers, 17 cooperating teachers, 5 university-level faculty, and 3 student teaching supervisors. Data were collected from pre and post surveys, journal entries,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Student Teachers, Science Teachers, Cooperating...
The nation's child protection system (CPS) has historically focused on preventing maltreatment in high-risk families, whose children have already been maltreated. But, as Jane Waldfogel explains, it has also begun developing prevention procedures for children at lower risk--those who are referred to CPS but whose cases do not meet the criteria for ongoing services. Preventive services delivered by CPS to high-risk families, says Waldfogel, typically include case management and supervision. The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Substance Abuse, Family Violence, Child Abuse, Prevention, Parent Education, Home...
Over the past decade, a large body of literature has emerged on professional development, teacher learning, and teacher change. The research literature contains a mix of large- and small-scale studies, including intensive case studies of classroom teaching, evaluations of programs designed to improve teaching and learning, and surveys of teachers about their preservice preparation and inservice professional development experiences. In addition, there is a considerable amount of literature...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Professional Development, Longitudinal Studies, Program Effectiveness, Program...
What are the characteristics of professional development that improve teaching practice? This report addresses this question, using data from the National Evaluation of the Eisenhower Professional Development Program. The Eisenhower program is part of the federal government's efforts to support education reform based on high standards. The success of standards-based reforms depends on teachers' ability to foster both basic knowledge and advanced thinking and problem solving among their...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Professional Development, Longitudinal Studies, Educational Practices, Federal...
State and federal mandates for education reform call for increased accountability and the inclusion of students with disabilities in all accountability efforts. In the rush to implement high-stakes education reforms, particularly those involving tests or assessments, the particular needs of students with severe cognitive disabilities are only now being addressed by policymakers and educators. For students with significant cognitive disabilities, implementation of alternate approaches to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Special Education, Inclusive Schools, Alternative Assessment, Disabilities, Program...
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires that schools make "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) towards the goal of having 100 percent of their students become proficient by year 2013-14. Through simulation analyses of Maine and Kentucky school performance data collected during the 1990s, this study investigates how feasible schools would have met the AYP targets if the mandate had been applied in the past with "uniform averaging (rolling averages)" and "safe...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Simulation, Federal Legislation, Educational Improvement, Federal Programs,...
Purpose: There is limited amount of research that constitutes non-traditional curricula implemented within an institutionalized context of developing countries. An attempt is made in this project to gain a clearer understanding of a non-traditional early learning program within an orphanage campus setting of Ladyville, Belize, Central America. This program is supported through the Belizean Ministry of Education and the University of Belize. In 1996, a comprehensive literacy survey was conducted...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Constructivism (Learning), Student Attitudes, Early Childhood Education, Caregivers,...
The E-School Technology Innovation Challenge Grant of 1996 was the genesis of the Department of Education's (DOE's) efforts to initiate a multi-prong approach to bring standards-based curriculum to the children of Hawai'i and use technology to upgrade professional development for its teachers. In this article, the authors describe how various projects have developed out of the E-School initiative and now form the core of the DOE's efforts in information technology and distance education. The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Distance Education, Online Courses, Information Technology, Telecommunications,...
This article primarily focuses on how one social studies teacher education faculty member incorporated technology into a series of social studies education courses. The integration involved both a technology-related project for students to complete and the modeling of technology use to facilitate learning. The article describes the project and the three forms of modeling that occurred. It then reports on the impact of this integration. Most students reported that the instructor's modeling of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Education Courses, Microteaching, Social Studies, Student Projects, Models, Secondary...
Reporting on a PT[superscript 3] grant-funded technology initiative involving social studies preservice students at Teachers College, Columbia University, this article seeks to illumine the many-faceted "digital divide." Data collected between 2000 and 2003 from preservice students and first-year alumni teaching in metropolitan New York City schools suggest how the digital divide is mirrored, even in a relatively resource-rich urban university. Learning to understand this complex...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Schools of Education, Urban Universities, Educational Technology, Teacher Educators,...
To better prepare preservice candidates for teaching in the information age, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has defined National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) to guide technology integration into teacher education programs. Based on these standards, Brigham Young University (BYU) has implemented strategies for technology integration into their teacher education program by creating curriculum design teams composed of School of Education faculty, public...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Curriculum Design, Teacher Education Programs, Technology Integration, Organizational...
The process of creating and transitioning the storehouse of university research and development to commercial products is by its nature a true partnership of great university innovators, experienced entrepreneurs and adequate funding sources. In the United States, the process of university innovation to commercialization begins deep in university laboratories, where researchers engage in more than $40 billion of cutting edge research and development annually (National Science Foundation, 2006)....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Innovation, Research and Development, Technology Transfer, Small Businesses,...
Making sense of occupational data isn't always easy. But the task is less daunting when the data are well organized. For Federal occupational statistics, the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system establishes that organization. And a recent revision to the SOC means that the data will be current, in addition to being well organized. The SOC assists Federal statistical agencies in organizing the occupational data they collect, tabulate, and analyze. By classifying jobs into...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Classification, Occupational Information, Career Information Systems, Federal...
This article explores the sociopolitical context of education policy, particularly as it relates to Latina/o education. The authors highlight the status of Latinas/os within the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to examine the impact of education policy designed to benefit few and disenfranchise most. They draw attention to the injustices of Latinas/os in CPS and examine this status within a Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Latino Theory (LatCrit) framework. They draw from the lens of LatCrit...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Early Childhood Education, Bilingual Education, Politics of Education, Evaluation,...
To prepare preservice teachers for the technology-rich environment of today's schools, faculty involved with the preparation of teachers must model technology use in their own instruction. The purpose of this PT[superscript 3]-funded project was to design and implement a faculty development program focusing on the effective integration of technology into courses taken by teacher education students. The three-year project involved a series of workshops and guidance for faculty to assist them in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Technology Integration, Workshops, Educational...
Access to higher education in the U.S-affiliated Pacific Islands is limited. The island nations and territories in this Pacific region are geographically dispersed and separated by thousands of miles of ocean. Although local and regional colleges offer undergraduate degrees (associate's and bachelor's levels), islanders who seek graduate-level education have to move away from home or avail themselves of distance education opportunities in order to earn degrees at the master's and doctoral...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Program Evaluation, Distance Education, Adult Learning, Adult Students, Access to...
Teachers are searching for new venues through which they may meet stringent professional development requirements. Under competitive funding from NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Office of Education and the NASA Explorer Schools Project, U.S. Satellite Laboratory, Inc. created a series of live, online, interactive short-courses. In this case study, a mixed methods analysis of a variety of data sources reveals that diverse educators from a variety of classroom contexts view...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Professional Development, Educational Technology, Federal Programs, Communities of...
The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the impact of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) grant programs of 5 federal agencies National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Department of Education (USDE), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Department of Transportation (DOT) on the development of assistive technology (AT) devices using an International Classification of Functioning, Disability...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Awards, Technology Transfer, Disabilities, Program Effectiveness, Classification,...
This study examines teacher diversity in a federally-funded mathematics and science partnership program. Each of the partnerships in the program provided preservice and/or inservice education for teachers in mathematics, science, or both. Researchers used qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the effect of strategies implemented by the partnerships to influence teacher diversity and the relationship of strategy implementation to changes in teacher diversity. There were no significant...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Inservice Education, Diversity (Faculty), Science Teachers, Researchers, Partnerships...
Usually reviews of special education in Canada describe the special education programs, services, policies, and legislation that are provided by the provinces and territories. The reviews consistently ignore the special education programs, services, policies, and legislation that are provided by federal government of Canada. The federal government of Canada is constitutionally responsible for the education, including special education, of First Nations students residing on reserves. This...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Special Education, Canada Natives, Accessibility (for Disabled),...
The purpose of this article is to discuss the misalignment between public school assessment policies and teaching practices in accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), and the human capital, curricula, and soft-skill needs of the global economy. The authors suggest that changes regarding the nature of learning, how it is assessed, and the skills taught are critical to the educational and social success of African American males. This article consists of four sections. The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Global Approach, Educational Change, Males, African Americans,...
The "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act has failed to provide funds and programs envisioned by President George W. Bush. The Act's key tenets promised improved student learning and professional development for teachers, but changes in national priorities have prevented congress from meeting state requests for assistance. Schools are struggling with federal mandates for Adequate Yearly Progress and highly qualified teachers, and the outlook for additional resources is dim.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Educational Improvement, Federal Programs, Educational Change,...
Income-share agreements (ISAs) are an emerging idea for helping students pay for college. Under an ISA, investors provide upfront sums of money toward students' college tuition and other associated costs in exchange for a fixed percentage of the recipients' earnings after graduation. This paper--the first in a series examining private financing in higher education from a number of perspectives--provides an in-depth look at the ISA industry, detailing the potential of ISAs as a new and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Private Financial Support, Paying for College, Student Financial Aid, Income, Student...
Race to the Top (RTT) is a first-of-its kind $4.35 billion competitive grant program designed to spur state-level education innovation to boost student achievement, close achievement gaps, and prepare students for college and careers. Originally authorized in 2009 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, RTT encourages states to develop and implement key reform strategies around four core components: (1) Adopting rigorous college- and career-ready standards and assessments; (2)...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Federal Legislation, Educational Legislation, Federal Programs, Federal Aid,...
Instructional strategies aimed at improving achievement of low performing student subgroups in need of support were selected by the District Improvement Advisory Committee, so that WCPSS could exit District Improvement status. Impact of each initiative, which often included teacher training and coaching is examined in this implementation report. Recommendations are made including setting strategic goals and systematically monitoring implementation; targeting schools or teachers with high...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Program Implementation, Improvement Programs, County School Districts, Educational...
In 2009-10, 92% of WCPSS schools met Expected or High Growth as measured by the North Carolina ABCs program, a 3.5 percentage point increase from 2008-09. Fifty-four percent of the schools made High Growth and 38% made Expected Growth. All subgroups saw their percentages of students meeting growth increase to above 55% in 2009-10; with the "All Students" group above 60% (the state's definition of High Growth for a school). Slightly more than 90% of WCPSS schools were in the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Public Schools, School Districts, Educational Indicators, Federal Programs,...
In a 2012 paper for the Center for American Progress, "The State of Evaluation Reform," Patrick McGuinn (Drew University) identified the opportunities and challenges facing education agencies in Race to the Top (RTTT) grant-winning states as they prepared for the implementation of new teacher evaluation systems. The 2012 study undertook in-depth comparative case studies of six states: Tennessee, Colorado, Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. For this paper the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, State Departments of Education, Teacher Evaluation, Beginning Teachers, Program...
It has been three years since Race to the Top grant-winning states piloted new teacher evaluation systems and many of them have made considerable progress, yet according to media coverage and a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published in April 2015, struggles remain and most grantees have asked to extend the timetables for completing this work. Given the enormous importance and complexity of these reforms--and the fact that states vary widely in the timing, approach, and success...
Topics: ERIC Archive, State Departments of Education, State Policy, Teacher Evaluation, Program...
The main goals of this implementation study were to: (1) examine how the grant recipients were implementing the changes set forth in their grant proposals; (2) identify initial barriers to implementation of grant activities; (3) identify catalysts that aided in goal attainment and/or partnership development; and (4) consider the sustainability of the impact of the grant-related activities. Through structured telephone interviews, a brief description of major activities associated with the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Early Childhood Education, Teacher Education Programs, Grants, Innovation, Program...
Over the course of several years of research, the authors have employed psychophysics, electrophysiological (ERP) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to study the development and neuroplasticity of the human brain. During this time, they observed that different brain systems and related functions display markedly different degrees or "profiles" of neuroplasticity. Most relevant for the application of research in cognitive neuroscience to the design of education...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preschool Children, Brain, Cognitive Development, Cognitive Processes, Child...
Head Start, the largest federally funded early childhood education program in the United States, provides comprehensive services to low-income children and their families. These services historically have a whole child approach, fostering social-emotional well-being, physical and mental health, and cognitive and language development, as well as parent involvement and family social services. In recent years, a number of non-experimental studies have outlined the risk to social-emotional...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Early Childhood Education, Federal Programs, Low Income Groups, Intervention, Well...