Education & Pedagogy

Two views are presented regarding serving student needs without increasing special education in River Forest, Illinois public schools. A demographic description of the community and school district, school district philosophy regarding the roles of general and special education, and special educational financing undergird the first discussion. Preventive intervention techniques such as the district's collaborative pre-referral process and the use of the teacher/consultant model have effectively reduced special educational referrals and placement by 50 percent, the number of special education teachers by 45 percent, and the cost per special education child according to Wayne Bucholtz, a River Forest administrator. Second, Betty Pruitt, a special education expert, describes the district's pre-referral process. Designed as a support system to help teachers handle day-to-day learning and behavior problems in the classroom, the pre-referral process relies on team problem solving among teachers, administrators, and parents. (JAM)

This document is a complete list of Syracuse University Publications in Continuing Education (SUPCE). Publications are categorized under 16 headings: Notes and Essays and Reports Series in Continuing Education for Adults; Occasional Papers Series; Landmark and New Horizons Series; William Pearson Tolley Medal Series; Papers on Adult Education, University College Publications (Blue Books); American Foundation for Continuing Education; Fund for Adult Education Series; ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult Education; Single Publications; MSS Series; Clearinghouse of Resources for Educators of Adults (CREA); Syracuse University Related Publications; Library of Continuing Education at Syracuse University; Syracuse University Centennial Series; Distributing Agent; and Reprints (CSLEA). The title and author of each publication is followed by four columns. These columns represent the following as applicable: Syracuse University Archives call number; Library of Congress call number as denoted in the Ernest S. Bird Library at Syracuse University; ERIC Document Reproduction Service number; and holdings in the collection of Alexander N. Charters. (YLB)

This background paper focuses on the end point of educational preparation for science and engineering careers--undergraduate and graduate study. It places the issue of the supply of scientists and engineers in the broad cultural context of changing demographics, labor market adjustments, and intervention policies. The first chapter discusses the diversity of students and institutions. The second chapter focuses on undergraduate education, including its importance, students' characteristics, federal roles, and institutional settings. Graduate education is discussed in the next chapter. The nature of graduate study, markets for doctorates, finance, federal support trends, and the future of graduate education are described. The final chapter focuses on engineering education, including the areas of supply and demand, quality issues, use and upgrade of the work force, and roles of the Federal Government. Appendices include: (1) a mathematics intervention project; (2) productivity ratios for 100 undergraduate institutions; (3) graduate education in foreign countries; (4) reports on engineering education; and (5) contractor reports. (YP)

In 1986 Bemidji State University (BSU), located in rural northern Minnesota, began an outreach distance learning program for the preservice education of elementary teachers. This college program delivers junior and senior year education courses to students 100 miles plus from the main campus. Junior and senior year requirements are completed in a 3-year cycle, with most courses provided in the evening or on weekends. Generally, students are graduates of community colleges in Minnesota's economically depressed "Iron Range," are older than average and hampered by family responsibilities, and are experiencing economic hardship and career change due to labor force restructuring. This presentation provides background on (1) BSU, (2) recent economic problems in northern Minnesota, (3) student characteristics, (4) arrangements with education faculty members to integrate the distance learning aspect of the department, (5) student processing and orientation, and (6) program design. A proposed course schedule and a map of BSU's Center for Extended Learning service area are included. (SV)

This report represents the work of the Teacher Education Assessment Committee (TEAC) at Central Missouri State University (CMSU), Warrensburg, Missouri. The TEAC is a multifaceted system that conducts and publishes results of periodic assessments and evaluations of CMSU's Teacher Education Programs by soliciting input from: (1) CMSU teacher education faculty; (2) preservice teacher education candidates; (3) inservice teachers and other graduates of the teacher education program; and (4) employers of educators prepared by CMSU. The results of all assessments and evaluations are then applied to the current teacher education program and shared with school districts that employ CMSU graduates. A description is provided of each of the four surveys: how it was conducted, the number of individuals responding, and the opinions it elicited. Seventeen conclusions drawn from the survey results are listed. Appendices include the TEAC charge; database elements; and results of faculty, graduate, employer, student teacher, and foundations surveys. (JD)

An overview of the philosophy and methodology of experiential education in higher education is presented, with attention to definitions, characteristics, models, processes, and purposes of this approach. Experiential education involves a guided process of questioning, investigating, reflecting, and conceptualizing based on direct experience. The learner is actively engaged in the process of learning, has freedom to choose, and directly experiences the consequences. The following models and processes of experiential education are considered: Dewey's three-stage process of learning, Kolb's cyclical learning process, Joplin's action-reflection cycle, Williamson's format for designing an experiential curriculum in school settings, and Kesselheim's learning process. A number of practical experiential education programs and activities are described, including cooperative education, internships, and cross-cultural field study. Other types of programming include: the University without Walls concept and experiential techniques incorporated into a course or program, such as simulations and case studies. Wilderness/outdoor experiential programs are another alternative. Recommendations for faculty and colleges are included. (SW)

Gender, and especially the status of women, is certainly one of the most salient identities in all corners of the world. For some countries, the issues begin with the right to education at even the earliest ages. In the United States, there is a prevailing assumption, because women are a majority of the undergraduate and graduate populations in higher education that a threshold concerning access and equity has been reached. The story of gender, however, is a more complex one. This article will focus on the parallel notions of significant progress in some domains for women in higher education and the paradox that depending on the level, and depending on which women, progress and in some cases lack of progress is clear. The article will review changes over the last decades and address the deeper issues of institutional transformation and the emerging issues for policy including conceptualizations of gender.

Since the early 1990s, notions about the purpose of physical education (PE) in the United States have increasingly aligned with a public health agenda driven by concerns that youth accrue too little physical activity (PA). In tandem with the shifting tides of thought about PE's purpose, authors have proposed numerous public health-aligned recommendations for physical educators in schools and teacher education. These ideologies and recommendations can be conceptually organized using the comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP) model, which includes five components: (1) physical education, (2) PA during school, (3) PA before and after school, (4) staff involvement, and (5) family and community engagement. This article discusses the expanded professional roles of the PE teacher within each CSPAP component, identifies specific strategies for performing these roles, and suggests learning tasks that physical education teacher education faculty can incorporate into their programs to help teacher candidates adopt each strategy.

In 2013, the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (Pre-school to Post-Secondary Education) was launched. Section 3 focussed on ensuring that, in Islamic Education for Muslim students and Moral Education (ME) for non-Muslims, students will be strengthened through understanding values that promote unity and foster good relations among students. Both subjects are said to complement each other in the school curriculum and are aimed at making students holistic individuals, who will help the nation progress. By means of an analysis of the dynamics of the history and politics of education, it is argued that ME in Malaysia has been moulded in an Islamic setting and is permeated by fundamental Islamic values. ME in a multicultural society should go beyond the indoctrination of prescribed values. Some alternative strategies are offered to bridge ME and Islamic Education in the challenging setting of an overtly Islamic nation with a multicultural population.

Through a study of a privately funded and ambitious inquiry into the education system of the United States, the relations between the development of comparative education as an activity and the governing of education systems in the early 20th century can be illuminated. The relations and interests of early comparativists were mobilized and enhanced by private funding and significant numbers of public actors in education were involved in comparative inquiry. The 1903 Mosely Commission was a philanthropic intervention to reengineer the patchwork of English education, and an attempt to modernize it and influence its government on a large scale. Its innovation was in its methods of influence as well as its scientific reports. The Commission was a hybrid, transnational institution, using comparison to modernize the government of education, mainly involving policy actors and finally, claimed neither by the history or comparative study of education. Consequently, its significance has been lost.

This article addresses the inclusion of students with disabilities into the Education for All and Sustainable Development Goals agenda through a case study of Ethiopia, a country aiming to promote inclusive education amidst rapidly rising school enrolments. The article begins with a review of debates concerning inclusive education in the Global South and the strategy taken by Ethiopia. It then examines how inclusive education is currently being implemented drawing on recent fieldwork at rural and urban schools in Tigray province. Through interviews, participant observation, and focus groups, we found that teachers and school administrators are generally in favour of mainstreaming children with disabilities into 'normal' schools. However, insufficient training of teachers and itinerant teachers along with shortages of teaching materials and resources present major challenges to addressing special education needs.

The author draws on the voices of beginning teachers in a particular teacher education program and his own experiences as a teacher educator in several different settings to account for preservice teacher reflection and resistance to rationale-based social studies teacher education. Twelve categories represent the perspectives of beginning social studies student teachers. Some are directly related to larger explanatory frameworks offered by teacher education research. Others reflect commonplace tensions in the university classroom. These twelve categories of reflection and resistance in rationale-based teacher education may serve as starting points for thinking about more effective approaches to helping beginning teachers answer the powerful question--what are you teaching for? If the philosopher George Santayana was correct when he claimed, "Fanaticism consists of redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim," then what is it called when you never knew your aim in the first place?

The principal is the key element in shaping and sustaining educational programs that provide children with disabilities the opportunity to be educated in the general education setting. Federal mandates require compliance in educational services for children with disabilities. This has changed the role of principals in education. As schools strive to meet the challenge of implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements, the principals' role is essential for the success of these programs. Principals must personally lead the implementation of the inclusion process. Principals must be effective leaders in regard to curriculum, resources, staffing, professional development, and instructional practices. They must be knowledgeable about special education history, laws and policies, and services pertaining to special education. The purpose of the article is to emphasize the importance of the principals' special education understanding, knowledge, and attitude toward successfully implementing inclusion schools.

Despite compelling qualitative arguments for scale and scope economies in university-level distance education, as distinct from traditional class-based face-to-face instruction, there is little rigorous quantitative evidence in support. In this paper, we explore the scale and scope economies of distance education using a multiplicatively separable cost function and a sample of 37 Australian public universities over the 10-year period from 2003 to 2012. The results suggest strong overall scale and scope economies and product-specific scale economies for distance education. Further, the economies of scope for distance education are increasing with mean output, suggesting an increasing cost benefit of producing distance education in conjunction with traditional class-based face-to-face teaching. This provides an important implication: when allocating places for different modes of attendance or considering further expansion of student numbers, there should be a priority on distance education as a means of achieving significant cost savings.

This paper outlines a theory of radical democratic education by addressing a key concept in Laclau and Mouffe's Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: articulation. Through their concept of articulation, Laclau and Mouffe attempt to liberate Gramsci's theory of hegemony from Marxist economism, and adapt it to a political sphere inhabited by a plurality of struggles and agents none of which is predominant. However, while for Gramsci the political process of hegemony formation has an explicit educational dimension, Laclau and Mouffe ignore this dimension altogether. My discussion starts with elaborating the concept of articulation and analysing it in terms of three dimensions: performance, connection and transformation. I then address the role of education in Gramsci's politics, in which the figure of the intellectual is central, and argue that radical democratic education requires renouncing that figure. In the final section, I offer a theory of such education, in which both teacher and students articulate their political differences and identities.