Education & Pedagogy

This report summarises findings from inspections and other evaluative activities carried out by Education Scotland over the period January 2012 to June 2016. It seeks to draw out some of the key features and trends that we have seen as education providers have sought to develop and improve their services over that period of time. During the period covered by this report, Scottish education has gone through a period of very significant reform impacting on every part of the system. Across all sectors, establishments and services have focused strongly on developing their provision to take account of key national policies and their associated strategies. All these changes have taken place in a context of continuing constraints on public spending. This report reflects the distance that Scottish education has travelled since 2012, capitalising on the range of reforms that have been underway. It also shows clearly that there is still further to travel on that journey to realise the collective national ambition of achieving excellence and equity for all Scottish learners. [For "Quality and Improvement in Scottish Education: Trends in Inspection Findings 2008-2011," see ED535359.]

Public education is different than it was 40 years ago when U.S. schools educated only one in five children with disabilities. Many states had laws excluding certain students from attending public schools, including children who were deaf, blind, or had emotional or intellectual disabilities. In 1974, Arizona students with certain disabilities were either not allowed in schools because they were viewed as unable to be educated, were schooled in separate facilities, or taught at home. As of October 1, 2015, 127,356 students with disabilities make up 11.3% of the student population in Arizona public schools, pre-K through 12th grade. Among this group, 65% are placed inside a regular class for 80% or more of the day. This positive change was sparked by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), originally titled the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, passed in 1975. The IDEA spells out the requirements to ensure that all children with disabilities have a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) available to them. This report examines the current state of special education in Arizona. It found that one of the biggest barriers to implementing FAPE in Arizona is inadequate funding, which has led to a shortage of well trained and qualified teachers.

A comprehensive study that is also practical and realistic, "New Directions in Special Education" outlines principles for decision-making about special education at every level--from the family to the classroom, school, and district--and for state and federal policy. With this volume, leading scholar and disability advocate Thomas Hehir opens a new round of debate on the future of special education. Extending the conceptual framework developed in his seminal 2002 article in the "Harvard Educational Review," "Eliminating Ableism in Education," Hehir examines the ways that cultural attitudes about disability systematically distort the education of children with special needs and uses this analysis to lay out a fresh approach to special education policy and practice. Hehir traces the roots of "ableism"--the pervasive devaluation of people with disabilities--and shows how negative attitudes continue to shape debates in the field. He assesses recent trends in special education policy, particularly the shift of emphasis from compliance to outcomes, and discusses in depth the successes and limitations of the inclusion movement. He also investigates the impact of standards-based reforms on children with disabilities and critically examines the promise of Universal Design for Learning.

Anyone who has taken the pains to follow educational direction and administrative action during the past two years will recognize that one of the most important current tendencies in higher education is the desire to obliterate the sharp distinction between college life and life thereafter. The educational program is being directed to service continuously throughout the life of the alumnus. Higher institutions are becoming increasingly the source to which the alumnus turns when he discovers that he needs further training to improve his economic condition or to enrich his personal life. This biennial survey on higher education focuses specifically on the following eight topics: (1) Human product of the colleges; (2) High schools and the colleges; (3) College cooperation and consolidation; (4) Special periods and services; (5) College religious and social life; (6) Improvement of instruction; (7) Research and graduate work; and (8) Financing higher education. [Best copy available has been provided.]

Setting the aims for cultural and artistic aspects of general education is the responsibility of the Ministry of National Education. Educational aims specified in the core curriculum refer to arts and culture in the following way: ...As part of its educational activities, the school should ensure in particular that pupils: ...8) learn about the heritage of national culture perceived from the perspective of European culture. As part of their educational activities and supporting parents in their duties, teachers should aim to ensure in particular that pupils: (1) find in their school an environment conducive to their comprehensive personal development (in intellectual, psychological, social, health-related, aesthetic, moral and spiritual terms); and (2) develop their cognitive curiosity geared towards the search of the truth, goodness and beauty in the world. This paper contains the following sections: (1) Responsibility and purpose; (2) Organisation and aims of arts education; (3) Special provision with a focus on art education; (4) Assessment of pupils' progress and monitoring of standards in the arts; (5) Teacher education in the arts; (6) Initiatives; and (7) Ongoing reforms and proposals. (Contains 2 footnotes.)

This summary brings together the relevant key findings for tertiary education providers and school educators from the research program "Vocations: The Link between Post-Compulsory Education and the Labour Market." The program was comprised of three different strands: (1) pathways from VET in Schools, (2) pathways within and between vocational education and training (VET) and higher education, and (3) pathways in the labour market. Current VET qualifications are based on competency-based training, which assumes a direct link between qualifications and jobs. However, past research shows that this is often not the case. This research explores the notion of "vocational streams," which could potentially provide a better frame of reference for shaping the evolution of qualifications and jobs. Education and training in vocational capabilities, rather than in specific occupational tasks, could possibly result in a more sustainable and adaptable workforce. [See the research report "Linking Qualifications and the Labour Market through Capabilities and Vocational Streams. Synthesis Report" at ED561378; and the related summaries for: Government & Policy-Makers at ED561379; Industry at ED561380; and Qualification & Approval-Bodies at ED561381.]

The promise of a public education is that all students will have access to high-quality learning opportunities. Accomplishing this requires collective and coherent action to increase system effectiveness and produce results that are not predictable by race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. On December 10, 2013, education stakeholders from around the Northwest and Pacific gathered at Education Northwest in Portland, Oregon, to participate in a forum to prioritize equity needs in these regions. Sponsored by Education Northwest, the Region X Equity Assistance Center, and the Northwest Comprehensive Center, the event marked the first-ever convening of leaders from across all of these jurisdictions. The forum aimed to identify common equity related issues, establish a regional agenda to collaboratively address the most critical issues, build regional relationships, and engage in ongoing dialogue with other educational leaders. This document captures the rich discussions from that day of learning and sharing, and demonstrates education and community leaders' renewed commitment to collective and coherent action for educational equity across the Pacific and Northwest. The following are appended: (1) Participants; (2) Participating Staff; and (3) Education Statistics in the Northwest and Pacific Regions.

Records of education in Croatia occur very soon after the settlement of Croats in this area. It is tied to 9th century and Duke Trpimir. Initial steps of education were not legally bounded nor the school was obligatory. In the second half of the 19th century, more precisely in 1871, with the First Education Act education becomes obligatory. Using the comparative analysis, the contents of the first three education acts from 1871, 1874 and 1888 will be explored as well as historical development and the legal foundations of obligatoriness of education. The paper compares the first pedagogical documentation i.e. education acts of obligatory civic schools in 18 differently grouped categories. After the analysis of the content of pedagogical documentation--original historical material, it is clear that three education acts regulated many pedagogical elements that enabled proper functioning of the first civic schools. In this legal acts schools and the teachers have become concern of the state and an important institution for further social progress and development. This paper provides an insight into the legal beginnings that have served for foundation and later on for contemporary development of education in Croatia and its development up to the present democratically structured schools.

This manual is designed to assist Colorado personnel in developing and providing adapted physical education, occupational therapy, and physical therapy to Colorado public school students who have needs in the motor area. Guidelines are presented that have been developed to focus on the problems encountered by students with needs in the physical domain. Sections of the manual address: (1) the rational for providing adapted physical education, occupational therapy, and/or physical therapy; (2) educational settings; (3) definitions and qualifications for adapted physical education, physical therapy, occupational therapy, paraprofessionals and certified occupational therapy assistants, and physical therapy assistants and special education assistants; (4) conceptual roles; (5) referral to special education; (6) assessment; (7) development of the Individualized Education Program (IEP); (8) least restrictive environment; (9) IEP meetings; (10) delivery systems; (11) documentation; (12) caseload determination; and (13) functional components of assessment. The last section outlines procedures for neuromotor/developmental assessment of different skills, including the implications, skill necessary to assess this area of function, and evaluator qualifications. The manual closes with answers to common questions about occupational therapy, physical therapy, and adapted physical education. (CR)

This paper summarizes technology standards for teacher education and identifies performance outcomes that correlate with those standards. It also outlines processes and plans for acting on and setting technology standards. Specifically, the work of the ad hoc Committee on Technology for Teacher Education at the University of Southern Mississippi is described. The committee agreed that technology competencies for teacher education should build on the Mississippi State Department of Education's competencies for students at the K-12 level and its Instructional Technology Standards for Professional Development. Options that departments may adopt for assuring that competencies are achieved were recommended. Four goals for insuring the infusion of instructional technology into professional education programs were endorsed by the Professional Education Council: professional education faculty will have skills needed to model the use of teaching with technology in a transparent manner; standards and curriculum of the professional education program will be designed to efficiently use technology to enhance learning; professional education faculty and students will have access to appropriate technology to enhance teaching skills and to model the effective use of technology as a teaching tool; and collaborations will be developed and strengthened among university departments and with outside agencies. An evaluation plan was designed to monitor progress toward meeting project goals. (MES)

To assist in upcoming deliberations on the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Center on Education Policy asked three outstanding experts in special education to write papers advising on whether and how IDEA should be changed. The resulting papers in this publication include: IDEA 2002 Reauthorization; An Opportunity To Improve Educational Results for Students with Disabilities (Thomas Hehir); IDEA Reauthorization: Its Time To Simplify and Focus on Performance (Lawrence C. Gloeckler); and Issues for Consideration in the Reauthorization of Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Margaret J. McLaughlin). The three authors agree on the large issues facing special education and they propose some common solutions. The common problems they have identified are the following three: (1) the need for students with disabilities to improve academically; (2) the need for less paperwork and a less complex system to retain special education teachers; and (3) the need for increased funding for IDEA and for funding provided within general education to support a range of services for children who are having difficulty in school, so that fewer children will need to be referred to special education. Each paper includes references. (CR)

This theme issue contains papers on race and ethnicity in public education: "Introduction" (Philip Hart); "Toward Democratic Education: The Importance of Culturally Responsive Leadership in 21st Century Schools" (Donna M. Davis); "Improving the Selection Process for Identifying Gifted Ethnic Minority Children" (John Dillard and Nettye R. Brazil); "High-Stakes Tests Require High-Stakes Pedagogy" (Randy Lattimore); "Over-Representation of African-American Students in Special Education: The Role of a Developmental Framework in Shaping Teachers' Interpretations of African-American Students' Behavior" (Valerie Maholmes and Fay E. Brown); "Why Malik Can 'Do' Math: Race and Status in Integrated Classrooms" (Jacqueline Leonard and Scott Jackson Dantley); "Race, Ethnicity, Class, and School Dropouts: A Policy Perspective" (Richard Verdugo); "Alternative School Administrators 'At Risk': What Does It Mean for Children?" (Christopher Dunbar, Jr.); "The Impact of a Culturally Responsive School Environment on Pre-Service Teachers' Willingness To Teach in the School" (Delois Maxwell); "Tribute to Dr. Harold Horton" (Trevor L. Clement); and "Commentary" (Tanya Hart). (Papers contain references.) (SM)

This paper discusses the need for collaboration among four-year teacher education institutions and two-year community colleges in order to reduce teacher shortages and increase the number of potential educators who complete a professional education program. Obstacles to a collaborative teacher education program include a possible loss of credits for students who transfer to four-year institutions, a perceived variance in standards and accountability between two- and four-year programs, and the need for four-year institutions to formalize relationships with local public schools or districts before developing relationships with community colleges. However, collaboration in the form of jointly developed programs is critical in developing the standards-based programs needed to produce effective teachers. American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) institutions should promote community college programming as an integral component of teacher preparation, develop agreements between two- and four-year programs, and embrace community colleges into the larger education community, with systems promoting joint faculty development programs. State departments of education should promote activity and agreements between two- and four-year colleges, provide incentives and funding for programs that foster partnerships, and hold two-year teacher education programs to the same standards as four-year institutions. (Contains 16 references.) (CB)

These guidelines are designed to help anyone considering the use of open and distance learning for teachers. They answer eight major questions and identify options available to planners and strategies for choosing them. Eight sections include: (1) "What is Wrong With Teacher Education?" (e.g., what it consists of and who the teachers are); (2) "Is Distance Education Relevant?" (e.g., what distance education is and whether it works); (3) "What Has it Been Used For?" (e.g., why use distance education and how it can help curriculum reform); (4) "How Is It Planned and Managed?" (e.g., what the policy framework is and what models there are for managing it); (5) "What Technologies Can We Use?" (e.g., what choices are available and what they cost); (6) "How Can You Fund It?" (e.g., what the consequences are of each choice and what funds are needed); (7) "How Do Teachers Learn Practical Skills?" (e.g., how and where it can be done); and (8) "How Can You Assess It?" (e.g., how to assess open and distance learning and how to provide for quality control and formative evaluation). (Contains 23 references.) (SM)

Based on a database of over 500 resources, this paper explores the educational alternatives that exist today between the cracks of mainstream education and culture. It presents information about the growing numbers of schools and education centers that call themselves learner-centered, progressive, and/or holistic. Sources of data for this summary report also include over 3 years of informal interviews with and observations of people at alternative schools. The paper begins by examining terminology issues, discussing qualities for distinguishing educational alternatives, and describing eight types of schools (democratic and free schools, folk education, Quaker schools, homeschooling/unschooling/deschooling, Krishnamurti schools, Montessori schools, open schools, and Waldorf schools). It also presents frameworks for education (maps for understanding the territories of alternatives), and it discusses the three orientations of a competency based education: transaction (progressive), self-directed (learner-centered), and transformation (holistic). After looking at political issues around school choice which could impact the growth of the various philosophical alternatives, the paper concludes that in a society where issues of pluralism and diversity are valued as part of creating a more sustainable world and just democracy, the diversity of philosophical perspectives in education needs to be acknowledged. (Contains 41 references.) (SM)