ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Soaring Systems: High Flyers All Have Equitable Funding, Shared Curriculum, and Quality Teaching
Author: Darling-Hammond, Linda
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Finance,College Graduates,Educational Quality,Foreign Countries,Developed Nations,Teacher Effectiveness,Access to Education,Educational Change,Achievement Gap,Teacher Education,Comparative Education,Curriculum Development,Problem Solving,Evaluation,High School Students,College Bound Students

Now more than ever, high-quality education for all is a public good that is essential for the good of the public. As the fate of individuals and nations is increasingly interdependent, the quest for access to an equitable, empowering education for all people has become a critical issue for the American nation as a whole. No society can thrive in a technological, knowledge-based economy by depriving large segments of its population of learning. But at a time when three-quarters of the fastest-growing occupations require postsecondary education, just over one-third of young people receive a college degree. Meanwhile, in many European and Asian nations, more than half of young people are becoming college graduates. Although many U.S. educators and civil rights advocates have fought for higher quality and more equitable education over many years--in battles for desegregation, school finance reform, and equitable treatment of students within schools--progress has been stymied in many states over the last two decades as segregation has worsened, and disparities have grown. These disparities have come to appear inevitable in the United States; however, they are &quot;not&quot; the norm in developed nations around the world, which fund their education systems centrally and equally, with additional resources often going to the schools where students' needs are greater. High-performing countries have created coherent education systems in which all students have equally well-resourced schools, learn the same core content, and benefit from uniformly well-prepared teachers. This article briefly looks at three very different nations--Finland, Singapore, and South Korea--that built strong education systems, nearly from the ground up. (Contains 16 endnotes.)
The Spark of Specifics: How a Strong Curriculum Enlivens Classroom and School Culture
Author: Senechal, Diana
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Creativity,School Culture,Teaching Methods,Evaluation,Foreign Countries,Core Curriculum,Curriculum,Elementary School Curriculum,Integrated Curriculum,English Instruction

A strong curriculum brings clarity to a school's endeavor; it has practical, intellectual, and philosophical benefits. It gives shape to the subjects, helps ensure consistency within and among schools, makes room for first-rate books and tests, and leaves teachers room for professional judgment and creativity. In this article, the author explains why a curriculum is essential and describes the benefits of curriculum. Drawing on her experience in schools with and without a shared curriculum, and on scholars' notions of what an education entails, the author concludes that a curriculum detailing what to teach, but not how to teach, provides needed structure while preserving space for creativity and professional judgment. (Contains 16 endnotes.)
Beyond Comprehension: We Have yet to Adopt a Common Core Curriculum that Builds Knowledge Grade by Grade--But We Need to
Author: Hirsch, E. D., Jr.
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reading Comprehension,Core Curriculum,Reading Programs,Reading Achievement,Reading,Decoding (Reading),Reading Ability,Academic Achievement,Reading Skills,Student Mobility

Most of today's reading programs rest on faulty ideas about reading comprehension. The author argues that comprehension is not a general skill; it relies on having relevant vocabulary and knowledge. He explains the need for a fact-filled, knowledge-building curriculum. He suggests that states should adopt a common core curriculum that builds knowledge grade by grade in order to serve all children to the best of one's ability and to increase reading achievement. (Contains 16 endnotes.)
Mathematical Ability Relies on Knowledge, Too
Author: Sweller, John
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mathematics Education,Elementary Secondary Education,Problem Solving,Long Term Memory,Educational Change,Mathematics,Mathematics Curriculum,Mathematics Instruction

Recent "reform" curricula both ignore the absence of supporting data and completely misunderstand the role of problem solving in cognition. If, the argument goes, teachers are not really teaching people mathematics but rather are teaching them some form of general problem solving, then mathematical content can be reduced in importance. According to this argument, educators can teach students how to solve problems in general, and that will make them good mathematicians able to discover novel solutions irrespective of the content. The authors believe this argument ignores all the empirical evidence about mathematics learning. Although some mathematicians, in the absence of adequate instruction, may have learned to solve mathematics problems by discovering solutions without explicit guidance, this approach has never been the most effective or efficient way to learn mathematics. The alternative route to acquiring problem-solving skill in mathematics derives from the work of a Dutch psychologist, Adriaan de Groot, investigating the source of skill in chess. De Groot's results have been replicated in a variety of educationally relevant fields, including mathematics. They show that long-term memory, a critical component of human cognitive architecture, is not used to store random, isolated facts, but rather to store huge complexes of closely integrated information that results in problem-solving skill. That skill is knowledge domain-specific, not domain-general. The authors point out that domain-specific mathematical problem-solving skills can be taught by emphasizing worked examples of problem-solution strategies. Instead of continuing to waste time devising "reform" curricula based on faulty ideas, the authors suggest that mathematicians and math educators should work together to develop a sound K-12 curriculum that builds students' mathematical knowledge through carefully selected and sequenced worked examples. (Contains 11 endnotes.)
Learning to Teach Nothing in Particular: A Uniquely American Educational Dilemma
Author: Cohen, David K.
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Elementary Secondary Education,Education Work Relationship,Public Education,Teaching Methods,Academic Achievement,Teachers,Teacher Education,Teacher Effectiveness,Models,Evaluation,Standards,Tests,Pedagogical Content Knowledge

When inspectors visit construction sites to assess the quality of work, they do so against the building code, which typically is written out in detail and used to guide work and teach apprentices. When attending physicians supervise interns as they take patients' histories or check their blood pressure, they compare the interns' work with established procedures, many of which are written down and used to guide work and teach novices. In these cases and many others, the assessment of quality in workers' performance is framed by and conducted in light of occupational standards. That is not the case for teaching in U.S. K-12 schools. There are no common standards against which teachers' performance could be judged and no inspections of their performance in light of such standards. Because there is no common infrastructure for U.S. public education, it has developed several anomalous features. One of the most important concerns testing: because there is no common curriculum, it is impossible to devise tests that assess the extent of students' mastery of that curriculum. Teacher education is a second anomaly: absent a common curriculum, teachers-in-training could not learn how to teach it, let alone how to teach it well. Lacking an educational infrastructure to rely on, teacher assessment has also been generic, as have standards for the colleges and departments of education that educate teachers. The infrastructure to which the author refers is not radical or unfamiliar for education throughout the world; it is only radical in the United States. The author points out that without a defined K-12 curriculum for teachers to master, education schools tend to offer generic advice, not grounded content and pedagogical knowledge. (Contains 3 endnotes.)
Testing What Has Been Taught: Helpful, High-Quality Assessments Start with a Strong Curriculum
Author: Hamilton, Laura S.
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Evaluation,Elementary Secondary Education,State Standards,Formative Evaluation,Measurement,Educational Change,Academic Achievement,Educational Improvement,Testing,Accountability,Tests,Outcomes of Education

In recent years, standardized, large-scale tests of student achievement have been given a central role in federal, state, and local efforts to improve K-12 education. Despite the widespread enthusiasm for assessment-based reforms, many of the current and proposed uses of large-scale assessments are based on unverified assumptions about the extent to which they will actually lead to improved teaching and learning, and insufficient attention has been paid to the characteristics of assessment programs that are likely to promote desired outcomes. In light of the recently developed Common Core State Standards and the ongoing work to develop assessments aligned to those standards, now is a good time to pause and consider the state and federal assessment policies. If one is to actually improve schools, researchers and policymakers must address a few essential questions: How many purposes can one assessment serve? Can assessments meaningfully be aligned to standards, or is something more detailed, like a curriculum, necessary to guide both teachers and assessment developers? What would the key features of an assessment system designed to increase student learning and improve instruction be? While current assessment knowledge is not sufficient to fully answer these questions, in this article the author offers an overview of what is known and several suggestions for improving one's approach to assessment. (Contains 17 endnotes.)
There's No Such Thing as a Reading Test
Author: Hirsch, E. D., Jr.
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reading Comprehension,Reading Achievement,Reading Tests,Reading Ability,Vocabulary,Core Curriculum,Reading Strategies,Test Preparation

For millions of American schoolchildren, taking a test for which they are completely unprepared is like a nightmare from which they cannot wake. It is a trial visited upon them each year when the law requires them to take reading tests with little preparation. Formally preparing for reading tests has become more than just a ritual for schools. It is practically their raison d'etre! Yet students are not prepared in the way they need to be. Schools and teachers may be making a Herculean effort to raise reading scores, but for the most part these efforts do little to improve reading achievement and prepare children for college, a career, and a lifetime of productive, engaged citizenship. The authors contend that this wasted effort is not because American teachers are of low quality. Rather, they argue that too many of American schools have fundamental misconceptions about reading comprehension--how it works, how to improve it, and how to test it. Today, children's reading ability is tested without regard to whether they have been given the vocabulary and knowledge they need to be successful. The authors point out that teaching skills, vocabulary, and knowledge is what schools are supposed to do.
From Rhetoric to Reality: A Typology of Publically Engaged Scholarship
Author: Doberneck, Diane M.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Faculty,Scholarship,Researchers,Rhetoric,Public Service,Qualitative Research,Higher Education,Classification,Accountability,Identification,Faculty College Relationship

The lack of a language for publicly engaged scholarship poses a problem for institutional leaders, especially in light of public criticism concerning their institutions' contributions to the greater good of society. In this demanding climate of public accountability, institutional leaders are challenged to move beyond the rhetoric of engagement to detail the contributions their faculty members make to better society. Needed is a way of describing publicly engaged scholarship that makes sense both to institutional leaders and to faculty members--a kind of middle ground where different types of publicly engaged scholarship are described in enough detail that faculty members may see their own scholarship reflected in the language, but in a language that is universal and avoids the specificities of disciplinary rhetoric. To address these challenges, the researchers framed this study as an exploratory, qualitative inquiry to discover and name types of publicly engaged scholarship based on empirical data. Instead of analyzing the rhetoric promoted by institutional leaders, the researchers focused on understanding the reality of publicly engaged scholarship as described by faculty members themselves. Through this bottom-up approach, they sought to develop a typology that was both reflective of the faculty experience and useful at the institutional level. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)
PALs: Fostering Student Engagement and Interactive Learning
Author: Hancock, Thomas
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Community Colleges,Vision,Lifelong Learning,Active Learning,Educational Practices,Program Proposals,Community Organizations,Educational Experience,Faculty,Teaching Models,Teaching Methods,School Community Relationship,Outcomes of Education,Literature Reviews

Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) opened its doors in 2006 and accepted its inaugural class of first-year students in 2007. During the 2007-2008 academic year, faculty members and administrators worked together to develop a model for Partners in Active Learning, or PALs--an initiative designed to fit the GGC vision and mission to build an outcomes-based college that offers students an &quot;integrated educational experience&quot; based on continuous learning &quot;in and beyond the confines of the traditional classroom.&quot; PALs is a direct response to the &quot;Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College&quot; report as well as the 2006 Spellings Report calling upon schools to &quot;embrace a culture of continuous innovation and quality improvement by developing new pedagogies, curricula, and technologies to improve learning&quot; and draw upon research of the last few decades regarding authentic learning. Using GGC templates and sample guidelines for its PALs program, interested readers can develop their own flexible and sustainable organizational structure for PALs programs. They can design policies and procedures to support, manage, and scale up a similar program; identify incentives that attract faculty, students, staff, and community organizations to collaborative projects; and create promotional materials, Frequently Asked Question sheets, project proposal templates, and approval forms to educate people about PALs. A PALs program supports a college culture for the 21st century. PALs projects help students take an active role in understanding the issues that concern their community and form relationships between the college and the surrounding community. PALs programs foster the time-honored goals of higher education while moving beyond the traditional confines of the classrooms, using the kinds of high-impact educational practices necessary for students to acquire the intellectual and practical skills employers are looking for and communities need.
We Shared the Same Chapter: Collaboration, Learning, and Transformation from the 2008 Subsistence, the Environment, and Community Well-Being Native Youth Exchange in Old Harbor, Alaska Project
Author: Richmond, Laurie
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Young Adults,American Indians,Indigenous Populations,Community Leaders,Interpersonal Communication,Substance Abuse,Violence,Death,Reflection,Outreach Programs,Nonprofit Organizations,Cultural Relevance,At Risk Persons,Transformative Learning,Group Membership,Perspective Taking,Attitude Change

On a small island belonging to the Alutiiq people of Old Harbor, 11 people sat around a campfire. Two community leaders, a nonprofit organizer, an academic scholar, a native filmmaker, and six young people from the Indian reservation of Taos Pueblo in New Mexico gathered after a day of interacting with Old Harbor residents--fishing, hunting and dressing a deer, and carving and cooking the food we had caught. As the fire burned late into the night, we talked about what brought us to this island and what issues we face in our lives. We discussed substance abuse and the early passing of young people from Old Harbor and Taos Pueblo in substance- or violence-related incidents. We talked about environmental issues that our communities face as well as the significance of cultural practices. We all reflected on the directions we hoped to go in our lives following this program. In this remote and culturally significant location, a transformational dialogue emerged among us in a way that we never could have anticipated. As the fire faded to a few lingering embers, Teacon Simeonoff, the program leader from the community of Old Harbor, looked around the group and said: We all have a story and sometimes we share the same chapters. (Contains 1 endnote.)
A Learning Design for Engaging Academics with Online Professional Development Modules
Author: Doherty, Iain
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Faculty Development,Electronic Publishing,Learning Modules,Instructional Effectiveness,Educational Research,Program Evaluation

Our paper describes the design and development of a set of online professional development modules to support academic staff in improving and enhancing their teaching. We show how we created a learning design to allow staff to quickly and easily develop their teaching in line with University performance expectations whilst also providing staff with a sound basis for documenting their professional development using a newly created ePortfolio tool. We present data from the evaluation of the modules and discuss a research project for evaluating the ultimate impact of this initiative on student learning. (Contains 2 tables and 3 figures.)
Law Graduate Attributes in Australia: Leadership and Collaborative Learning within Communities of Practice
Author: Owen, Susanne
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Legal Education (Professions),Law Schools,College Faculty,Educational Background,Curriculum Development,Cooperative Learning,Change Strategies,Communities of Practice,Ethics,Leadership

University outcomes are increasingly focused on generic skills, as well as ensuring students meet specific professional competencies and knowledge. Many academics have little educational background and training in planning curriculum including learning activities and assessment tasks aligned to explicit criteria in relation to outcomes such as teamwork, communication and ethics. Some research on successful professional development approaches for legal academics has occurred in specific universities (Kift et al., 2006; Kift, 2003), but there has been little research about shared learning across Australian university law schools. Learning within communities of practice involving ongoing joint activity has been shown to be effective in supporting professional learning and sustained change (Wenger, 1998). During 2008-2009, a national project included a focus on law academics building curriculum planning skills in relation to graduate attributes. This paper reports on some cross-institutional collaborative processes and the successful change strategies and materials development which occurred, considering these results within a community of practice framework context. (Contains 2 figures.)
Spiral Learning: An Introductory Course on Reading LOTE Online
Author: Schuetze, Ulf
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Introductory Courses,Reading,Grammar,Online Courses,Reading Strategies,Foreign Countries,Reading Instruction,English (Second Language),Writing Instruction,Learning Strategies,Observation,Feedback (Response),Student Attitudes

In teaching reading, authentic texts with abundant lexical items and complex grammatical structures are typically used (Roche, 1992). Unfortunately, this has been a challenge for students enrolled in reading courses developed for English as a Second Language (ESL) as well as Languages Other Than English (LOTE) students. Students often translate word by word rather than applying learned strategies. To address this, an introductory online course on reading LOTE was developed. Texts and interactive activities in the new course selected words based on frequency lists and applied task-cycling (Levy &amp; Kennedy, 2004) to reading strategies and grammatical structures. The desired outcome was &quot;spiral learning&quot;: while some words, strategies and structures were recycled between chapters, new words and structures were also introduced. The course was taught at the University of Victoria in Canada in 2009. Class observations showed that students responded well and used dictionaries less frequently than in previous courses. (Contains 1 figure.)
The Gang's All Here: Grammar Goes Global for Purdue, Unisa and Adelaide University
Author: Duff, Andrea
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Grammar,Electronic Publishing,Web Sites,Social Networks,Collaborative Writing,Interpersonal Communication,Global Approach,Computer Software,Computer Mediated Communication

The University of South Australia and Purdue University (Indiana) launched the &quot;Grammar Gang Blog&quot; in June 2008, as a collaborative forum for talking about language. The blog reaches a far-flung community of learners from Australia to the United States, Brisbane to Bangalore and Ghana to Germany. The Grammar Gang--where Owls meet Possums--started as a practical way to share knowledge about the function of grammar in academic writing at university. Two years later, the collaboration has grown to include the University of Adelaide. The Grammar Gang demonstrates how social software has given us an easy pathway to interact globally with those who have a common love of language. This paper discusses the way in which social software can be used for learning and global community building between students, university staff and their institutions. (Contains 4 figures.)
Electronic Blending in Virtual Microscopy
Author: Maybury, Terrence S.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Laboratory Equipment,Virtual Classrooms,Computer Assisted Instruction,Interdisciplinary Approach,Blended Learning

Virtual microscopy (VM) is a relatively new technology that transforms the computer into a microscope. In essence, VM allows for the scanning and transfer of glass slides from light microscopy technology to the digital environment of the computer. This transition is also a function of the change from print knowledge to electronic knowledge, or as Gregory Ulmer puts it, a shift &quot;from literacy to electracy.&quot; Blended learning, of course, is capable of including a wide variety of educational protocols in its definition; it is also at the heart of electronically mediated forms of education. Since 2004, VM has been introduced into Dentistry, Medicine, Biomedical Science and Veterinary Science courses at the University of Queensland, a project aimed at consolidating VM techniques and technologies into their curricula. This paper uses some of the evaluative survey data collected from this embedding process to discuss the role blended learning plays in electronic styles of learning, or &quot;electracy&quot;, before finally reflecting on the quantum world represented in VM imagery. (Contains 1 figure.)