Education Commons^™

Thinking Outside The (Bricks-And-Mortar) Box(Es): Using Cyberspace Technology To Reconceptualize Schooling And Community In The Face Of Resegregation, Jonathan D. Becker

Educational Leadership Publications

As the 50th anniversary of the landmark "Brown v. Board of Education" decision arrives, a notably gesellschaftliche (individualist, freedom-oriented, rationalist) paradigm in the education policy agenda prevails. That is to say, in the wake of a series of Supreme Court decisions and the proliferation of publicly funded, ethnocentric charter schools in the past few decades, this country has moved away from "Brown's" celebrated ideals and closer to the old idea of "separate but equal." Furthermore, the disconnect is occurring along racial and cultural lines. Thus, if we are to achieve the benefits of diversity in schooling and create a more …

Using The Internet To Develop Students' Critical Thinking Skills And Build Online Communities Of Teachers: A Review Of Research With Implications For Museum Education, Melanie L. Buffington

The Melanie Buffington Papers

This dissertation presents a Critical Content Meta Analysis of published literature related to using the Internet to develop critical thinking skills in students and to build online communities of teachers. An underlying goal of the research was to work toward the development of stronger connections between museums and public schools. Through analyzing the literature, I developed suggestions for museum personnel to implement when creating educational museum web sites. The analysis of the literature on critical thinking shows that there is no agreement among the authors as to the meaning of the term “critical thinking.” The literature largely endorses the view …

The Student-Centered University: A Survey Of Peer Institutions, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Nancy Buchanan, Mohamed Gad-El-Hak, Mary Ann Hager, Sally Hunnicut, Bridget Lyons, Matt Woolman

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

Virginia Commonwealth University is a public institution of higher education located in a large urban setting. During the last two decades, the university has experienced rapid growth in student enrollment, faculty size, and physical plant. The university's recent successes are in no small part due to a visionary president who now declares that becoming a student-centered is a top priority during the remaining years of his tenure. In the past, VCU was known as a commuter college, where a large portion of the student body lives off campus and may attend school part-time. As VCU aspires to become one of …

Alignment Of Classroom Assessments With The Virginia Standards Of Learning (Sol), Joan A. Rhodes, Valerie J. Robnolt, Susan P. Mckelvey

MERC Publications

Parents, teachers, and school administrators all have one common goal — student success. Teachers have been trusted to impart knowledge to students, while hopefully fostering a love of learning, then assessing how much the students know. Assessment in the classroom, whether informal, formative, or summative, has been the major source of identifying student strengths and weaknesses. Today, many people believe that teachers must be accountable for what they do in the classroom. Within the educational system, students’ success has been measured inconsistently from state-to-state, district-to-district, and even classroom-to-classroom. In this age of accountability, national and state standards have been developed, …

The Vcu Health Careers Pipeline, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Sheryl Garland, Bob Neale, Nancy New, Janis Ober, Seth Sykes

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

The VCU Health Careers Pipeline is a proposal for linking and enhancing existing outreach, academic and mentoring programs on both campuses. The goal of the proposed pipeline is to increase the number of disadvantaged students from the Richmond area who successñllly graduate with a VCU health care degree and obtain employment in the VCU Health System.

We propose the hiring of a filll-time director who will collaborate with VCU programs and community initiatives to ensure the success of the program. This director will coordinate the outreach programs currently conducted by VCU departments that introduce health careers to local elementary, middle …

Promoting Vcu Community Solutions, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Carlos Brown, Jeff Green, Carolyn Henne, Evelyn Reed-Victor, Cynthia Schmidt, Amy Unger

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

This promotional project focuses on VCU Community Solutions — the new interdisciplinary initiative for education, research, and service. Since this initiative demonstrates the synergy that students, faculty, and community members can create by working together, the promotional video captures their perspectives. Through interviews and footage of community programs, the video shows how VCU Community Solutions engages university and community partners in addressing critical social issues — creating more imovative approaches by working together.

Making Connections Through A Virtual Community, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Joe Borzelleca, Joy Bressler, Deborah Brock, Nell Chennault, Jason Noble

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

We feel there is a need for opportunities for clinical and administrative faculties to connect with students in a way that can fit into the very busy schedules of both students and faculty/staff. Our plan is to use the Student Portal currently being developed by the Office of Academic Technology. There, one click would connect students to faculty/staff profiles where the student could query topics of interest and then email selected faculty and staff. To start the process, volunteer faculty and staff would create a profile of their professional and personal interests. The student would access database through a key-word …

Investigating Factors Associated With Low Achievement Early In School: A Pilot Study, Kevin Sutherland

MERC Publications

The purpose of the current study were to (a) examine the relationship between academic achievement and social competence in a sample of kindergarten and first grade students, and (b) investigate the interventions their teachers are using with low achieving students. Sixty kindergarten and first grade students and 15 teachers participated in this study. Results indicated significant differences between low achieving and typically achieving students on reading achievement and teacher reported academic competence. No other significant difference between groups were found. Teachers reported that they most often use explicit instruction with low achieving students; evidence-based practices such as data-based decision making …

Accountability Testing And Students With Learning Disabilities: Factors Of Passing And Failing The Virginia Sol Tests, Paul J. Gerber

MERC Publications

Since the landmark work A Nation At-Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1988), school systems in the United States have been evolving by a myriad of reform efforts, particularly with regard to the “standards movement.” Outcomes of standards-based education are measured by accountability and assessment systems. Currently, all states have some kind of assessment system that (1) provides information about individual student achievement and (2) gauges the success of schools and school systems. Conventional wisdom is if standards are raised all students will benefit through greater student achievement and the efforts of educators will, in essence, be validated.

All …

Research-Based Practices As A Protective Factor For Students At-Risk For Academic Failure, Kevin Sutherland, Donna Jovanovich

MERC Publications

Increasing pressure on teachers and administrators due to high-stakes testing has led to increased risk to our most vulnerable population, those students who arrive at school without the prerequisite skills necessary to successfully participate in the academic climate of the classroom. Unfortunately, given the large range of ability levels often present even in early elementary school, teachers face enormous challenges in meeting the needs of all their students. Further, due to the challenges inherent in teaching low-achieving students, and the ensuing classroom behavior problems often presented by these students, teachers may be conditioned to avoid interacting with these students, particularly …

Facilitating The Transition Into Middle School And High School, Kathleen M. Cauley, Donna Jovanovich

MERC Publications

Making a transition to a new school causes anxiety for students and can challenge the coping skills of many adolescents, especially those at risk. Typically the move to a new school includes changes in school climate, school size, peer relationships, academic expectations, and degree of departmentalization. When adolescents move into middle school or high school, the anxiety is complicated further by other normative changes like puberty, social and emotional changes, the importance of peer relationships, and the development of higher order cognitive skills. Students who experience the stresses of numerous changes often have lower grades and decreased academic motivation, and …