Education & Pedagogy

As advocates for children and youth with exceptionalities, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) believes that strong public education systems are necessary to ensure the promise of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) guaranteed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004. This position statement presents the reasons that the CEC opposes school vouchers and voucher-type programs for all children and youth including those with disabilities. Such programs are contrary to the best interests of all children and youth and their families, the public-school system, local communities, and taxpayers. Further, CEC believes that vouchers and voucher-type programs both contradict and undermine central purposes of civil rights laws designed to protect children and youth with disabilities.

Coping with the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for all families, especially those caring for young children with disabilities. Of the 24 million children under age 6 in the United States, about 5 percent (1.2 million) have a diagnosed disability, which qualifies them for early intervention or special education services through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This fact sheet examines the interrelationship between disability, race, and ethnicity, and how this plays out across the country. Next, it discusses specific impacts of the pandemic on families with young children with disabilities, and, finally, the resource offers considerations for states as early care and education (ECE) programs begin to reopen.

Intentional and early collaboration between state and local leaders and state coordinators for homeless education is vital to developing solutions that ensure success in Career Technical Education (CTE) programs for learners experiencing homelessness. As many states anticipate the growing rates of homelessness to continue in the coming years, the need for partnerships between state and local leaders and state coordinators for homeless education is far greater in order to increase success for these learners. This resource identifies common barriers to high-quality CTE for learners experiencing homelessness and suggests strategies for how CTE and homeless education leaders can work together to build new opportunities for learners experiencing homelessness in their state to access and succeed in CTE programs.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields are considered catalysts for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Yet, particularly for STEM fields, girls and women, for a multitude of social, cultural and psychological reasons, engage and participate at a lower rate than boys and men. This research collection aims to highlight the contextual barriers that girls and women face in STEM education and careers and offer concrete examples of interventions that successfully encourage participation of girls and women in STEM. These eight case studies from across Asia explore both the barriers and the achievements in SDG 4 and SDG 5, and give context-specific analysis of different aspects of gender disparities in the respective countries.

This report presents Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) examination participation and performance results in Texas public schools for the 2017-18 school year. Data are provided by student characteristics, including race/ethnicity; gender; and economic, at-risk, dyslexia, English learner, foster care, homeless, immigrant, migrant, and military-connected statuses. Data also are provided by participation in bilingual education or English as a second language, career and technical education, gifted and talented, special education, and Title I programs. [For "Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Examination Results in Texas Public Schools, 2016-17," see ED599480.]

This report includes the latest information about how investment in early childhood education (ECE) correlates to school success and economic development. Members of state boards of education know that quality experiences have the largest impact on student outcomes. This report outlines quality in ECE, highlighting challenges that every state faces when providing quality early learning experiences, including preparing a qualified workforce, equitable access, financing, and governance. Also included is information on engaging stakeholders about the importance of ECE and several concrete steps state board members can take to communicate with them. Finally, this report recommends policy that may be used to address the outlined challenges of improving ECE in board members' own states.

California does not have a statewide data system that tracks student progress through K-12 and higher education and into the workforce. As a result, educators and policymakers cannot answer critical questions about student progress, which limits their ability to make evidence-based changes to support better and more equitable opportunities for students. The good news is that the state's education systems already collect the data needed to develop a statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) and California has several options for creating such a system. These are the key findings of two years of research by the Education Insights Center (EdInsights). [For Part I of this series, see ED574475; for Part II, see ED584700; for Part III, see ED584699; and for Part IV, see ED584698.]

With provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act, attention to physical education (PE) programs in school will be crucial for developing well-rounded students. We assessed the availability of resources that have the potential to impact PE (staffing, continuing education, annual PE equipment budgets) in a nationally-representative sample of 640 U.S. public elementary schools. Higher student-to-PE teacher ratios were associated with students not receiving adequate instruction. Equipment budgets were minimal (median = $500) and 30% of schools had no budget at all. Additional financial support from federal and state education agencies would help schools to better meet recommendations for PE. [This paper was published in "Teaching and Teacher Education" Nov 2017.]

This paper, commissioned by [National Postsecondary Education Cooperative] NPEC--Sample Surveys, considers issues important to any effort in which the [National Center for Education Statistics] NCES chose to engage the higher education community in a deliberative process that explores the development of data on student learning through a nationally-representative sample survey that can generalize to undergraduate students enrolled in all institutional sectors. It briefly addresses what might be measured, what measurement instruments already exist, potential constructs for measurement, and issues related to study design. Finally, the paper outlines challenges associated with measuring student learning in the postsecondary context, as well as potential limitations associated with such a study. Contains the following appendix: Sample Test Items of Scientific Literacy (Guterbock et al., 2011).

"Science and Engineering Indicators" (SEI) is first and foremost a volume of record comprising high-quality quantitative data on the U.S. and international science and engineering enterprise. SEI includes an overview and seven chapters that follow a generally consistent pattern. The chapter titles are as follows: (1) Elementary and Secondary Mathematics and Science Education; (2) Higher Education in Science and Engineering; (3) Science and Engineering Labor Force; (4) Research and Development: National Trends and International Comparisons; (5) Academic Research and Development; (6) Industry, Technology, and the Global Marketplace; (7) Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding. An appendix, Methodology, is included. Individual chapters contain references.

This study provides empirical data regarding multicultural education within teacher preparation programs. Individual course sections of pre-service teachers (PSTs) completing field-based teaching experiences were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups or a no-treatment control group. Quantitative measures within a pretest-intervention-posttest research design were used to assess the effectiveness of variation in pedagogical approach of multicultural teacher education and to examine how differences in field placement sites might affect PSTs' cultural competence. Sample (n = 86) results indicated treatment group participants experienced significant (p = .001) and meaningful (n2 = .303) change in attitudes and beliefs regarding multiculturalism and diversity. Findings highlight the importance of intentionally designed curriculum and differences between didactic and experiential approaches to multicultural teacher education.

The central focus of this book is the concept of higher education reform in the light of an international and global comparative perspective. After decades of far-reaching reform, higher education around the world has profoundly changed and now has to face the challenges of the present. This volume takes a close look at these changes, the drivers of change, their effects and possible future scenarios. In their contributions the authors discuss a variety of basic concepts: learning and teaching in higher education; financing and quality assurance; governance change; massification vs. equity and equality; internationalization and mobility, the implementation of lifelong structures in higher education.

State postsecondary education governance systems play an important role in the policy and decisionmaking processes that affect a state's ability to pursue its education and workforce goals. In general, postsecondary education governance relates to the responsibilities and authority of entities and leadership positions charged with developing, implementing and overseeing policies and practices. To assist policymakers and the broader education community in expanding their knowledge of the governance systems in their states and others, Education Commission of the States developed a comprehensive set of resources that include a 50-State Comparison, individual state profiles and a data visualization tool. These resources do not reflect changes that states made in 2019. This Policy Guide summarizes these comprehensive resources to describe postsecondary governance models and structures and examine key components of postsecondary governance systems, and also offers questions for further consideration.

Augmented-reality (AR) technology, and its impacts on teaching and learning, have already made their way into elementary, secondary, and higher-education classrooms. The authors discuss why AR matters in the higher-education context, and they describe current examples of AR use that can enhance teaching and learning across multiple fields in higher education, including but not limited to medical education, language learning, and science. They also review AR's pedagogical benefits as well as its challenges and conclude by offering tips for implementing AR in higher education. Although some may be hesitant to adjust their curriculum to accommodate AR, higher-education professionals should at least be aware of how augmented reality can shape teaching and learning, especially as current elementary and secondary students become accustomed to using similar technology in the classroom.

The Eurydice network provides information on and analyses of European education systems and policies. It consists of national units based in 34 countries participating in the EU's Lifelong Learning programme and is co-ordinated and managed by the EU Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency in Brussels, which drafts its publications and databases. The Eurydice network serves mainly those involved in educational policy-making at national, regional and local levels, as well as in the European Union institutions. It focuses primarily on the way education in Europe is structured and organised at all levels. Its publications output may be broadly divided into descriptions of national education systems, comparative studies devoted to specific topics, and indicators and statistics. This comparative report document provides a tabular format representing the duration of compulsory education (full-time and part-time) in Europe for the year 2012-2013.