Unlike conventional colleges and universities, Western Governors doesn't require students to spend a set number of hours in a classroom, average out their performance on assignments and tests, then hand out letter grades and credits. Using a complex system of assessments developed over the two decades the university has been operating, WGU's…

This study examined existing K-12 online teacher preparation programs in the United States to ascertain the degree to which teachers are prepared to function in online/blended classroom learning environments. This study used a content analysis approach. Research specifically targeted online teacher preparation programs implemented in institutions…

This article describes the synthesis of the NCATE PDS Standards, the NAPDS Nine Essentials and the CAEP Standards to create a rubric that can be used to help PDS stakeholders develop, refine, and evaluate their partnerships. Implications and future directions on how to use the rubric are also shared.

In the not-too-distant past, using surveys to gauge public opinion was a costly and time-consuming activity that districts generally had to outsource. Today, with the advent of online survey tools such as Survey Monkey and Zoomerang and an increasingly Internet-connected society, surveys have become a useful and accessible tool for school…

Educators from eight institutions engaged in collaborative self-studies of their own practices to gain deeper insight into the significance of narrative-based writing supporting the process of teacher induction. A series of teacher induction institutes based on narrative writing processes provided the context for critical exploration of the lived…

In this paper we analyze the relationship between charter school authorizers and student achievement. We perform this analysis using a 10-year panel dataset from Minnesota, a state that permits four distinct types of authorizers--local school boards, postsecondary institutions, nonprofit organizations, and the Minnesota Department of Education.…

Background/Context: Recently emerged with the implementation of the California's Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999 and the NCLB Act of 2001 is an increase in the number of education production function studies estimating the relationship between educational inputs and APIs. While the majority of past research on California school…

This report is the fifth in a series of annual reports produced by the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) providing descriptive information about the schools participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP). Following a brief history of the MPCP, this year's report contains descriptive statistics about schools participating in…

This report describes a problem-based learning project focusing on superintendent leadership and stakeholder influence of school district culture. Current research findings suggest the importance of superintendent leadership in assessing, influencing, and enhancing school district culture. Multiple scholars wrote literature in the area of…

This article reports research conducted recently into evaluation policy. The research comprises two parts: a questionnaire survey and qualitative interviews. Drawing from data collected in a survey of 65 curriculum leaders and interviews with 12 from the group, the article discusses how school evaluation policy functions to help make schools…

In recent times, higher education institutions have paid increasing attention to the views of students to obtain feedback on their experience of learning and teaching through internal surveys. This article reviews research in the field and reports on practices in other Australian universities. Findings demonstrate that while student feedback is…

Over the past 10 years increasing numbers of charter schools have been considered a viable option for many students seeking to obtain a quality education. Public charter schools and their administrators and teachers are obligated to follow the principles enshrined in federal mandates, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement…

As its major contribution to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UN DESD, 2005-2014), the United Nations University (UNU) has promoted the establishment of Regional Centres of Expertise on education for sustainable development (RCEs) and their net-working to build innovative multistakeholder platforms for ESD…

To celebrate the work of the Association for Science Education (ASE), the Science Masters' Association (SMA) and the Association of Women Science Teachers (AWST) in Yorkshire, the Region Committee invited Edgar Jenkins to write a celebratory history, entitled "75 years and More in Yorkshire". The booklet, locating that work in its wider…

Charters represent an expansion of public school choice, offering free, publicly funded educational alternatives to traditional public schools. One relatively unexplored research question concerning charter schools asks whether charter schools are more efficient suppliers of educational services than are traditional public schools. The potential…