Education & Pedagogy

The field of teacher education is border and boundary rich. Navigating and attempting to confront the seemingly intractable boundaries between schools and universities, and between research and teacher education goes with the territory. Schools and teacher education may share the broad goal of improved educational outcomes for all students, but how they might practically collaborate to tackle and research teaching and learning issues is less clear. This paper reflects on a university-schools partnership that addresses some of these issues through new practice within a Collaborative Practitioner Research (CPR) framework. The project has generated new knowledge about school-university research partnerships and their potential to support professional collaboration for improved outcomes and school change, thus facilitating the enrichment and re-envisaging of both teacher and preservice teacher education. (Contains 3 figures and 1 footnote.)

Colleges and universities have embraced distance education as a solution to meet challenges brought by demands for access, reduced state and federal funding, and strained institutional resources. Paralleling the growth of distance educational courses, programs, and enrollments, is the need to have increasing numbers of faculty delivering instruction to ensure continuity and quality of the education being delivered. The success for any distance education initiative relies on a critical and core resource, namely participating faculty who provide quality instruction. This study attempts to explore the individual behaviors of faculty by examining their attitudes toward the adoption and application of informational technologies within their institutional environment and academic profession, examine how these attitudes affect their participation in distance education courses, and determine the policy implications of these findings for higher education. (Contains 5 footnotes.)

This issue of "The Progress of Education Reform" provides a brief summary of several recent research studies on the role and value of education in the arts, as well as a look at the results of National Assessment of Educational Progress tests in music, visual arts and theater. A growing body of evidence points to the important role of arts education in improving student achievement, offering positive alternatives to troubled youth, developing America?s creative industries and building a workforce capable of competing in an increasingly knowledge-based global economy. While tight budgets have led to the reduction or elimination of K-12 music, art, drama, dance and creative writing programs in some states and school districts over the past several years, other states and districts have found ways to maintain and, in some cases, even increase funding.

The demand to hold public institutions accountable for their accomplishments did not begin in the field of higher education. However, in the last 10-15 years, the movement for increased accountability in higher education has gained momentum. California, a trailblazing and trend setting state in many areas, has not made performance measuring a priority and, consequently, lags behind most of the nation in developing and implementing an effective statewide accountability framework. The staff of the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) seeks to take an active approach in addressing this problem by collaborating with higher education researchers, university administrators, legislators, statisticians, and accountability experts from other states to develop a framework to measure California's progress in educating its citizenry. This document is a research prospectus that outlines the issues and questions around which the process for developing this framework must be centered.

In the summer of 2012, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) and the Alliance for Excellent Education conducted a survey of State Directors of Career Technical Education (CTE) to gauge state efforts to better connect CTE with a larger college- and career-readiness agenda. Survey questions spanned a range of issues, including whether each state had developed a definition of career readiness, the number of career academies in each state, and what states are doing to formally identify and remove barriers to work-based learning opportunities in policy and practice. This brief includes a short description of efforts from two states--Connecticut and Kentucky--to define work-based learning opportunities for youth participants, educators, and employers, and to create policies that provide greater access to these opportunities. (Contains 1 table and 11 endnotes.)

The Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario (ACAATO) is pleased to present this report. The 2006 Environmental Scan provides an aggregate synopsis of the key trends which will impact on Ontario's Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology in the future and will assist colleges in their advocacy and strategic planning processes. References to detailed studies and useful websites have been provided where possible to enable users to find further, more detailed information on those areas of interest. Individual sections contain figures, tables and endnotes. [For 2005 report, see ED536634.]

Within the policy field of student assessment, the assessment of students for qualification and certification in upper secondary education has special importance since key decisions for the progression of students may be taken on the basis of assessment results. Students in most OECD countries face increased specialisation in upper secondary education and high stakes are associated to their performance when assessment results are used as a criterion for selection, both for access to higher education and other educational programmes and for access to the labour market. On the basis of research findings and country practices, this paper describes key features of assessment for qualification and certification in upper secondary education and discusses issues regarding its design and implementation. (Contains 1 footnote.)

America's higher education system is in dire need of reform. The average college student leaves school with more than $23,000 in debt, and total student loan debt in the United States now exceeds $1 trillion. Furthermore, too many students are leaving college without the skills needed to be successful in the workforce. And yet, despite the dire state of today's higher education system, there is hope on the horizon: By favoring knowledge and skill acquisition over seat time, online options and competency-based learning are disrupting the traditional higher education market and perhaps have laid the foundation for a revitalization of American education. Despite the promise presented by these innovations, however, the antiquated higher education accreditation process remains a considerable obstacle to reform. (Contains 64 footnotes.)

This briefing paper endeavours to highlight the challenges facing refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom in accessing education, training and employment. It does not claim to cover all the issues but is intended as a starting point for providers of adult learning and/or advice. It initially sets out the facts about definitions and differences in immigration status of refugees and asylum seekers, followed by some specific concerns. Then it explores the challenges of learning and education (including status and fee information for students), plus the barriers to work. Finally the paper offers some recommendations for the future and suggests where to obtain further information.

Coverdell education savings accounts (ESAs), created through the federal tax code, allow families to save money tax-free for K-12 and higher education expenses. Lifting the cap on contributions to Coverdell accounts would provide greater access to school choice options by allowing families to invest more money in their children's education. Additionally, existing "529" college savings accounts should be expanded to allow families to save for K-12 education expenses. Both reforms would allow parents to use more of their money for a child's private-school tuition or other education expenses. Since most states offer either tax credits or deductions to encourage saving in a 529 plan, expanding it to make K-12 expenses allowable would effectively create opportunities for millions of American families to open ESAs. (Contains 20 footnotes.)

This paper provides initial reflections on the impact of the economic crisis on education across the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) area by analysing the OECD educationtoday crisis survey responses of June 2009. It first looks at the impact of the crisis on education demand and participation, after which the focus turns to the supply side and education financing. The paper suggests that while the education sector appeared to experience increased demand and benefit from growing governmental financing in several OECD countries in June 2009, the crisis may have hidden negative effects particularly on decentralised service delivery and private involvement in education. (Contains 3 boxes and 1 footnote.)

"What's So Important About Music Education?" addresses the history of rationales provided for music education in the United States. J. Scott Goble explains how certain factors stemming from the nation's constitutional separation of church and state, its embrace of democracy and capitalism, and the rise of recording, broadcast, and computer technologies have brought about changes in the ways music teachers and concerned others have conceptualized music and its importance in education. In demonstrating how many of the personal and societal benefits of musical engagement have come to be obscured in the nation's increasingly diverse public forum, Goble also argues for the importance of musical engagement in human life and for the importance of music in education. The book concludes with recommendations for teaching the musical practices of the nation's constituent cultural communities in schools in terms of their respective cultural meanings.

The objective of this report is to present a design model which will serve as a pattern for the development of a vocational education professional development program to be implemented in a state agency of vocational education. The model delineates the procedural requirements for determination of priorities, assessment of personnel needs, selection of projects, assignment of resources, and management of the program. The data requirements for the establishment of a management information system are enumerated and the procedure for the establishment of a planning-programming-budgeting system described. The role of inquiry in education is elaborated upon in order to provide a theoretical rationale for systems procedures. Major emphasis is devoted to vocational and technical education teachers, since they account for the majority of the developmental efforts. (Author)

The purpose of this publication is to aid elementary teachers in defining and illustrating career education concepts within the framework of the science and social studies curriculums thay are teaching. Behavioral objectives were written to connect the subject areas with career education themes. The Center for Vocational and Technical Education at The Ohio State University developed 8 career education elements, composed of 32 themes, which were used to write the six science and six social studies units presented in this document. The career elements are related (in a 3-column format of themes, objectives, and unit content) to the subject content responsibilities of elementary teachers as outlined by the New York State Education Department syllabuses for social studies and science. The models are tentative and are not intended as teaching units but rather to assist in providing direction to teacher task forces in curriculum development. (MF)

The purpose of the study was to develop a plan of trade and industrial education for Iran to serve secondary school students, dropouts, and adults. The plan is limited to less than baccalaureate degree programs. Analysis of relevant data collected from sources in the United States and Iran revealed that selected procedures and characteristics of trade and industrial education programs in the United States are applicable to a proposed plan for Iran. The background of Iran, its people, and its educational system, are outlined. Iran has always had a shortage of skilled labor, due mainly to its inadequate system of vocational training. A detailed proposed model plan for trade and industrial education involving government and industry is presented as one alternative for solving Iran's manpower shortage. (MF)