Education Commons^™

Student Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of Adaptive Courseware For Learning, Patricia O'Sullivan, Christina Forgette, Stephen Monroe, M. Tyler England

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

Despite the increasing research on the effectiveness of adaptive learning courseware by vendors and academic institutions, there are few published, peer-reviewed studies on adaptive courseware that address the student experience and student perception of this teaching and learning tool. Over the course of two academic years, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019, researchers at the University of Mississippi conducted 16 course-based student focus groups and gathered data from 4 end-of-semester surveys to understand how students are experiencing adaptive courseware and whether or not they find it adds value to their education. Our study found that, although students generally find courseware to be helpful …

Digital Tools In The Classroom: Measuring The Effectiveness, Jeff Carpenter

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

The purpose of the study is to determine if, compared to traditional practice, digital practice increases student measuring accuracy on an authentic task. Therefore the study explores the relative efficacy of digital versus traditional practice for increasing student measurement skills in applied situations. Research tells us that students’ poor performance with measuring skills is directly related to lack of practice. To increase the ability to accurately use a ruler, Junior High, Intermediate and Middle Schools students require more time on task than they typically spend practicing this skill. Since more time is hard to come by in the classroom, educators …

Training Together: State Policy And Collective Participation In Early Educator Professional Development, Anne Douglass, Alice Carter, Frank Smith, Sherri Killins

New England Journal of Public Policy

This study used one state’s early care and education work-force registry and professional development attendance data to examine early educator patterns of professional development participation and the extent of collective participation. The article presents the concept of collective participation in professional development, discusses its potential benefits, and highlights the utility of statewide digital tracking of early educators’ patterns of professional development for informing policy. Results show that collective participation is uncommon in early education and care but can be increased through professional development policy decisions. The article concludes with implications for research and policy.

The Impact Of A Culturally Responsive School Environment On Pre-Service Teachers' Willingness To Teach In A School, Delois Maxwell

Trotter Review

In a climate that acknowledges the need for teacher educators to prepare new teachers for culturally diverse student bodies, the study examines the extent to which selected features of an urban school environment affect a preservice teacher's willingness to teach in the school. A survey was administered to 48 preservice teachers after they completed a 7-week student teaching experience in a large urban school district. The survey sample was drawn from a northeastern university which enrolls 90% Caucasian education students. The study pursues the following research questions: does race/ethnicity, gender, program level, school location and major relate to the preservice …

Enhancing Multicultural Education Through Higher Education Initiatives, Porter L. Troutman Jr.

Trotter Review

This paper describes a comprehensive initiative intended to increase multicultural education and the amount of ethnic diversity among college of education faculty and undergraduate teacher education students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The paper details six components of the on-going initiative: 1) staff development: to enhance the sensitivity of college of education faculty regarding cultural issues, 2) a minority mentoring program: to provide a stronger support system for under-represented populations enrolled in the teacher education program, 3) the multicultural education project (MCE): a collaborative effort with the public school district in multicultural education, 4) the College of …

Preparing White Undergraduate Pre-Service Teachers To Teach African-American Students: What Does It Take?, Frances Y. Lowden

Trotter Review

A strong appreciation and knowledge of diverse cultures is vital in delivering what the Association for Childhood Education International position paper identifies as the curricular areas that should be addressed in a preparation program for teachers of young children. Thus, undergraduates must develop: 1) an acquaintance with great music, art and literature, 2) a knowledge of health, safety and nutrition, 3) an understanding of the physical and biological aspects of the world and the universe 4) a knowledge of mathematical concepts 5) an ability to read with comprehension, then to analyze, interpret, and judge a wide range of written material, …

Introduction, James Jennings

Trotter Review

This issue of the Trotter Institute Review is devoted to a two-part proposition. The first is that institutions, agencies, businesses, and schools must begin to reflect the increasingly diverse ethnic and racial characteristics of American society. America is in the midst of a demographic revolution. It is unfortunate that some educators have chosen to ignore the social, economic, and intellectual implications of this change and that others have even become angry and attacked efforts to create an appreciation of multiculturalism.

This unfortunate resistance to the implications of America's unfolding demography leads to the second proposition reflected in this issue of …

Are Today's Teachers Being Prepared For Diversity? An Analysis Of School Catalogues, James Jennings, Illene Carver

Trotter Review

A recent content analysis study shows that while leading educators in Massachusetts stress the importance of preparing teachers for an increasingly diverse world, most teacher preparation schools virtually ignore the issue of racial and ethnic diversity in catalogues recruiting new students. This not only discourages people from diverse backgrounds from becoming teachers, but could also create a lack of understanding in the classroom of the black, Latino, and Asian students being taught.

A summary of A Content Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Themes in Catalogues Distributed by Teacher Preparation Schools in Massachusetts, 1989 and 1990, a report issued by …

The Faculty Of The Sixties: A Reappraisal, Monroe H. Little

Trotter Review

Between 1967 and 1969 the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education initiated and substantially funded several national surveys of U.S. higher education. One such study of faculty employed a questionnaire that was mailed to approximately 100,000 full-time college and university faculty at 303 schools nationwide. The results of this survey, which solicited more than 300 items of information from each respondent and enjoyed an unusually high response rate of over 60%, contain a wealth of data on a variety of political and social issues that has rarely been subjected to careful analysis by scholars.

This is especially unfortunate in retrospect. The …

The National Congress Of Black Faculty, Ronald W. Walters

Trotter Review

In recent years serious problems have arisen in the field of black higher education that have not been subject to systematic examination and corrective programming. These problems have magnified the necessity for a vehicle through which black faculty might be mobilized to contribute to the enhance ment of their own professional opportunities and thus make a significant impact upon black higher education in general. Some of these problems are discussed below.

A Second Chance: Meeting The Needs Of Adult Learners, Elizabeth F. Fideler

New England Journal of Public Policy

Changing demographics and economic factors are focusing national attention on adult learning as a major resource for solving many of the nation 's social and economic dilemmas. However, adult learners, the poor especially, face obstacles to educational advancement even where tuition is waived or incentive grants are given. Despite the considerable recent growth of adult education, the vast number of those who need it the most are not as yet participating. This article examines adult-education practices and participation in general — in the areas of literacy, occupational education, and higher learning — and conditions in Massachusetts in particular. It explains …

The Next Threshold: Higher Skills And The New England Economy, John C. Hoy

New England Journal of Public Policy

The history of the New England regional economy — its attenuated post-World War II decline and subsequent aggressive renewal — reveals an intensifying relationship between economic resurgence, the supply and continuing demand for professional manpower, and the results of academic research and development. The New England region has "outproduced" the rest of the nation in supplying professionally trained men and women, a leading factor not fully appreciated by those describing the region's robust economic health in the decade since Neal Peirce wrote The New England States. New England's "oversupply" in professional fields has given the high-tech and sophisticated services …

Urban Public Services: What The Future Holds, Robert Morris

New England Journal of Public Policy

Health and welfare are usually considered secondary or peripheral concerns of modern society. The article considers how questions about the provision of social welfare are imbedded in the economic, social, moral, and political fabric of contemporary America and New England. Underlying trends of economic, social, and attitudinal change are outlined, and implications for the future are considered. The article also considers the role of universities in equipping the next generation of citizens to cope more effectively with the complex issues that are forcing a restructuring of urban services.

Teaching--From Occupation To Profession: A Response, Robert S. Peterkin

New England Journal of Public Policy

Educational reform must go beyond a restructuring of the teaching occupation. A realistic approach would include strengthening the principalship, reestablishing the primacy of education as the focus of public schools, improving the physical plant, increasing parental participation in the decision-making process, and aligning schools with the external communities — especially the business and university communities.

Teaching--From Occupation To Profession: The Sine Qua Non Of Educational Reform, Bernard R. Gifford

New England Journal of Public Policy

Many problems have been blamed for the crisis in public education. This article argues that the teaching occupation as it currently exists is one problem whose solution promises to yield significant consequences in terms of pupil learning. That solution, according to the author, is to restructure the teaching occupation to bring about a greater appreciation of and respect for teaching as a high-level activity that supports self-evaluative behavior — a professional consciousness that encourages teachers to see themselves as evolving practitioners capable of learning from errors, rather than as nonreflective paraprofessionals armed with a set of error-proof teaching methods applicable …