Search

Intermediaries are specialised organisations that perform bridging and integrative functions to achieve improved results of social policies. Intermediaries have been most effective in the United States (US) when aligned with education and workforce system improvements and redesign, not as parallel and separate efforts. Intermediaries operate in many US social policy domains, including workforce and education, where they contribute to overcoming fragmented institutions and solving mismatch problems that interfere with hiring, career pathways and educational achievements. Intermediary solutions are especially important for creating better outcomes for low-income students and workers and improving overall racial and ethnic equity. Five mismatches especially prevalent in the US labour market require intermediary solutions: organising business to improve human resources, creating improved pathways from school to work, integrating and focussing multiple education investments, linking workforce and economic development, and improving access and use of data for design, performance management and advocacy. This paper discusses these mismatches and related intermediary solutions in more depth, offers examples of specific intermediaries in action and identifies intermediary challenges and opportunities faced by intermediaries to function better. The paper also points out that, more broadly, intermediaries are only a part of the solution to labour market and education inequalities and that broader changes in the political economy and policies are required to effect wage growth and labour market participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As role plays become increasingly popular in the sales curriculum, the challenge for instructors is how to motivate students to watch--and, ultimately, learn from--them. This paper examines how both students and faculty can benefit from video capture technology. We find that students perform better in their second role play when they watch their first one via video link. Further, the longer students watch, the more they improve. For faculty, it provides a systematic way to monitor individual progress and tailor student feedback. This innovation has implications for student incentive structures, role-play assessments, and classroom technology adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to explain how errors in policymaking contribute to the minimal impact that structural, curricular and cultural changes have made on teaching practice in American schools. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the author's research legacy, the paper extends an historical analysis to explore and explain current dilemmas of change in schools and schooling. Findings – Over the last century, educational reforms have most often led to first order classroom change, represented by the development of hybrids of old and new teaching practices. Second order change at the classroom level has proven elusive. Factors at the policymaking level that explain the minimal impact on classroom practice include a misplaced trust in structural reform, an understanding of schools as complicated rather than complex systems, and the tendency not to distinguish teacher quality from the quality of teaching. Originality/value – The paper proposes that the lack of impact of reform on classroom practice is explained in large part by errors in assumptions and thinking that policymakers commit, a focus seldom explored in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Media4u Magazine is the property of Ing. Jan Chromy, Ph.D. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Students from Taiwan and the USA used visual metaphors - original artistic creations - as a means to increase understanding of key concepts, theories or key management and/or organizational content as well as to develop their creative thinking abilities. In several courses covering management and organizational studies domains, art as a metaphor has been successfully implemented. In this paper, this innovative pedagogical approach is described, detailed with actual student examples, and evaluated by the students. In its description: an introduction of the assignment, explanation of the process, and grading rubric are provided. In its examples: digital images of student samples are shown. In its assessment: a 26-item survey instrument is shared along with the results/insights from the students' point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural communications education has evolved over time, shifting in an effort to meet the needs of students through new approaches, new methods, and new technologies. The purpose of this paper was to examine the influence of educational and communications technologies on agricultural communications education. A literature review related to the history of the processes, methods, and technology uses in education and more specifically in agricultural communications education was conducted. Technology was identified as enhancing learning in settings that included secondary education, university settings, continuing education, Extension programming, and professional development. Only a limited number of articles specifically addressed the use of technology to teach agricultural communications. The high rate of change in communication technologies was identified as a critical reason for considering the role of technology in the agricultural communications education context. A virtual environment to teach crisis communications was shared as an example of successful educational technology use. Continued research focusing on teaching methods and tools related to agricultural communications education is needed. New technologies have the potential to encourage innovative learning experiences; however, the ongoing challenge to educators will be to harness the technology for the good of the learner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many scholars agree that students should be regularly engaged in dialogues that require them to question texts, values, or issues. We observed social studies classrooms in secondary schools serving urban, rural, and suburban students of different socioeconomic backgrounds in New York to learn what kinds of questioning strategies teachers were using and whether their questioning supported dialogue. In this paper we identify and give examples of three patterns of questioning we observed. Then, we explain how frequently these forms of questioning were used in high track and heterogeneous classes and in schools serving different socioeconomic communities. While we found that dialogic questioning can and does occur in classrooms, students in heterogeneous tracks and lower-income schools appear to have few experiences with dialogic questioning that would help them make connections and think critically about course content and texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to consider whether standards-based school reform is an acceptable strategy for achieving a politically legitimate school system according to a principle of personal liberty. First, it briefly describes the purpose and implementation of standards-based school reform in the U.S. It then considers the ramifications of the principle of personal liberty for the conduct of public schooling, arguing that it requires children’s access to and appreciation of a variety of liberty-consistent cultures in their society coupled with the development of children’s ability to think critically about those cultures and their meaning as possibilities for their own lives. Third, it considers whether some standards for public education might be consistent with this purpose of education and finds that certain outcome and process standards may be appropriate. Finally, it considers whether these kinds of standards are included in standards-based reform as it is currently practiced or proposed in the U.S. and concludes that they are not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the crisis facing the high schools in the U.S. According to experts, there would be no crisis in American schools if education in America enjoyed the insulation and isolation from public interest and debate which it once enjoyed. The purpose of education, then, in America would seem to be education to get somewhere, education for useful production, and equally useful and stimulating consumption. This is the education of economic man, and it has long been central to America's philosophy of education.

This article takes a psychoanalytical approach to explore why school systems have adopted so few reform proposals. It gives reasons for these rejections. One of the reasons is that proposals are not based in solid knowledge. This article explores certain local conditions in school systems, particularly unconscious psychological conditions that obstruct consideration and acceptance of new practices and policies. Empirical data for this research was taken from the author's experience working with a community organization on school reforms in Baltimore, Maryland, since 1994. The author examines unconscious anxieties in school systems and the relations to their social and political environments. The paper also shows what happens when school systems take on unrealistic tasks and develop structures and practices unrelated to educational reforms. The article examines paranoid and obsessive-compulsive patterns in school systems' thinking, culture, and structure. These patterns lead systems to avoid relations with other entities and to constrain their own members from acting.

This article provides an overview of the emergence of professional education and academic dentistry, in particular into the comprehensive research university. The development of academic dentistry as a vital member of the academic health center at the research university and beyond is described. Summaries are provided of major studies and innovations in dental education models and curricula, ranging from the Gies report in 1926 to the 1995 Institute of Medicine study Dental Education at the Crossroads, the U.S. surgeon general's report on oral health in 2000, the Macy study report in 2008, and the American Dental Education Association Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education (ADEA CCI) series of articles published from 2005 to 2009. The article also tracks changes in number and institutional affiliation of U.S. dental schools. This article was written as part of the project "Advancing Dental Education in the 21st Century." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on developments related to educational workers in the U.S. It mentions the increasing number of teachers who are living their country in a period between three to five years only. Another is significant developments concerning the unionization within charter schools, with 80% of teachers turning in Pro-union signature cards as a campaign move for the proposal. It also includes the vision of Education secretary Arne Duncan to create The Social Justice High School-Price Campus, which would offer service to LGBT students.

The United States government sought to foster peaceful and stable democracies in Europe following the Second World War, especially in conquered enemy territories. This essay illuminates the tensions underlying that project by examining an important element of American foreign policy during the war era—the reconstruction of educational systems in war‐torn Axis and Allied nations. American educators during the war years, led by Stanford University School of Education Dean Grayson Kefauver, successfully convinced the US State Department that democratic educational systems in Europe were a prerequisite for postwar international security, an idea that led to the founding of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Conceiving of education as a cooperative enterprise, however, Kefauver and his colleagues encountered a significant dilemma while championing their proposals: how to advance educational reforms in foreign nations, particularly fallen totalitarian states, without violating the democratic principles they claimed to promote. It is the author’s contention that educational reconstruction was ultimately undermined by its proponents’ inability to identify and institutionalize an acceptable alternative to coercion, one that would serve the causes of both diplomacy and democratic education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates the implementation of technology-rich science products in real classrooms and the "Biology: Exploring Life" project in the U.S. Participants in the project; Data collection method of the study; Results of the study; Recommendations in implementing technology-rich science products.

The author discusses the evolution of discipline-based art education in the U.S. Selected aspects of discipline-based art education are reviewed. Its two broader education reform movements such as excellence-in-education and multiculturalism are tackled. It observed the changes in thinking concerning discipline-based art education, followed by a brief description of its two translations including interrelated arts and interdisciplinary units. This paper also raised questions about the theoretical integrity and future of discipline-based art education.

This article describes one researcher’s journey as an experimental psycholinguist through changes in practice and policy in the education of English language learners in the United States from the 1970s to the present day. The development of key debates on issues such as bilingualism, language of instruction, and the inclusion of English language learners in reform movements are described from the perspective of a researcher, and future prospects for work are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There has been considerable interest in bridging educational programs in the United States across healthcare, architecture, industrial design, and human computing disciplines to design more effective and safer healthcare environments. New combinations of professionals including those outside the traditional healthcare disciplines are coming together to solve quality and safety problems and to re-envision the physical and social design of healthcare organizations. Little is known about the knowledge and skills essential to integrate these diverse perspectives and pose innovative solutions. A set of seven interprofessional competencies were identified through review of the literature, interviews of faculty and leaders in the field, and experience of the authors teaching interprofessional courses in healthcare design. The relevance and feasibility of these competencies were assessed through expert review by faculty and consultants and implementation in multiple courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the significance of cellular phones in the learning and teaching process in the U.S. It states that several basic educational functions are supported by mobile phones including calculators, digital cameras and dictionaries. It focuses on several science-related applications for the iPhone and iTouch by Apple Inc. including the Assisted-Global Positioning System (A-GPS) for precise locations, built-in accelerometer for motion detection and the eReader for electronic books. It also mentions the Text for Free web site located at www.textforfree.net which offers free online Short Message Service (SMS).

If US education is to be improved a tool is needed that will measure quality. Standardised tests are the only serious contender for the job. This article explores in detail why standardised tests are such a powerful, if limited, tool. It discusses the following three topics: (1) a brief history of tests: the start of the controversy, (3) the purpose of tests: what they tell us and how good they are, (3) the effective use of tests: how to use tests to improve schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the development of distance education in the U.S. According to the author, traditional educators had expressed their concern over distance education because of the issue on quality control. She cited the history of distance education and its progress in the country. Furthermore, she believes that distance learning will have no difficulties in the future because it can adjust to new technologies. Other information related to the development of distance education are also mentioned.

This study examines patterns of literacy instruction in schools adopting three of America's most widely disseminated comprehensive school reform (CSR) programs (the Accelerated Schools Project, America's Choice, and Success for All). Contrary to the view that educational innovations seldom affect teaching practices, the study found large differences in literacy instruction between teachers in America's Choice schools and comparison schools and between teachers in Success for All schools and comparison schools. In contrast, no differences in literacy teaching practices were found between teachers in Accelerated Schools Project schools and comparison schools. On the basis of these findings and our knowledge of the implementation support strategies pursued by the CSR programs understudy, we conclude that well-defined and well-specified instructional improvement programs that are strongly supported by on-site facilitators and local leaders who demand fidelity to program designs can produce large changes in teachers' instructional practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on topics related to coherence in general education in the U.S. It has been noted that coherence is a major focus of general education reform in the country. However, an examination of the history of higher education indicated that interest in maintaining curricular coherence has fluctuated over the past 200 years. Furthermore, it has been described that the situation of higher education in terms to the result of the investigation as a swinging pendulum that alternates between periods of integration and fragmentation.

The article discusses the international competitiveness of national higher education systems in U.S. and Germany in which the two countries are borrowing structures in education reform. The authors point out that the practice of importing selected parts of the U.S. system of higher education into other national systems is widespread, making these transfers a phenomenon of global relevance and importance. The international competitiveness of national higher education systems is an important political issue in many countries in which these politics drive some governments to reform their systems by borrowing elements from societies with systems thought to be superior.

Analyzes the evolution of technology integration in education in the U.S. Development of the three-dimensional information, technology, instructional design integration system; Life cycle of the information technology integration system; Details on the information technology integration design model.

With each passing decade, the U.S. public educational system has been under increasing scrutiny and pressure to change. This pressure has come from many fronts—including, the media, parents, government, and business. In this study, I examine the actions of a group of business leaders representing several multinational corporations as they try to affect education policy in the state of Michigan, I focus special attention on the environments in which the corporations and K- 12 public schools operate and uncover the relationships between the many agents calling for school improvement. The fact that this group took a thoughtful approach and bad a significant impact on education reform is by no means an indication that other business groups will do the same. Given enough good information and time to reflect on the complex issues surrounding schools, it is possible that business leaders and educators can reach consensus on a direction for educational reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which explored the challenges facing the education initiatives in Baltimore Empowerment Zone (EZ) in Baltimore, Maryland. Details on the composition of EZ initiatives; Organizational structure of EZ; Conceptual framework of the study; Episodes for an entity to help manage a complex domain in EZ.

This article explores the perceptions of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) education leaders on the status of STS, their plans for leadership activities, and whether these were sufficient to improve STS movement in U.S. schools. Specifically, leaders were asked to reflect on what had already been achieved in the STS movement in science education, and what remained to be achieved. They were also asked how their own thinking about the STS innovation had matured, what they though leaders should be doing at this stage in the innovation process, and finally, what they personally planned to be doing in the midterm future to advance STS education in schools.

The article examines the vocational education in the Commonwealth Caribbean and the United States. The authors examine the shortcomings of literature pertaining to vocational education in the U.S. They review the vocational education in the Caribbean, a grouping of 15 countries the larger of which are Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. They also look at the historical context for education in the Caribbean and the vocational education research. Legislation supportive of the conduct of vocational education is identified.

Examines the trends in educational reform in the United States. Historical examples of educational reforms; Factors affecting the success and failure of the reform programs; Lessons provided by the reform efforts to educators and authorities.

The article compares the educational system between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Based on the contention and arguments graphically presented in the national weekly magazine, Soviet Union schools produced better scientists and engineers than the U.S. academe. The trend was highly believed and manifested with the launching of the first space satellite, Sputnik 1. On the other hand, as strongly argued by the author, American education must continue to have education under the helm of democracy. The American school must not mimic Soviet Union's orientation in education which produces professionals bounded within a discipline and patterned after a single ideological framework.