Education Commons^™

The Milwaukee Idea: A Study Of Transformative Change, Jon F. Wergin, Jane Grassadonia

Teaching and Learning Publications

Through an initiative called the “Milwaukee Idea,” the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UW-Milwaukee) is striving to become a scholarly partner with its host city and to have that partnership energize the university’s teaching, research, and service activities. Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher conceived the Milwaukee Idea in 1998 as a way to capture the spirit and potential of the university’s urban location and character. This study assesses the extent to which the university has transformed itself through this recommitment to community engagement and whether UW-Milwaukee’s new urban mission is likely to be institutionalized in the coming years.

Zimpher knew from the start …

Interdisciplinary Honors Module And Sequence: Honors Seminar In Women's Health, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

The proposal includes the development of a pilot involving a sequence of two honors modules (each one-and-a-half credit hours) in the Department of Psychology. Other disciplines involved would include psychiatry, sociology, women's studies, and women's health. During the first module, scheduled during the first half ofthe semester, the course would be seminar in format on alternating course days with independent experiential work and assignments with chosen faculty on interim class days. Students would write a paper on their experiences and work during the course. The responsibility for coordination of the independent study course would rest with a graduate student (or …

Vcu... Making Richmond A Great Place To Work And Live, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Gregory Buck, Maria Curran, Karen Guthrie, John Pierce, Diane Simon, Jean Yerian

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

VCU, established in 1968, is a young, vibrant and rapidly growing institution. Whereas components of VCU are well established, venerable, and well-recognized institutions, VCU suffers from a lack of name recognition and reputation in comparison with our peer institutions. Similarly, there is a general lack of appreciation for the strength of VCU programs at the regional, local and even institutional level. This project is designed to showcase, at the local and institutional level, the special contributions and triumphs of VCU and its staff, including both the cutting edge research and academic accomplishments and the powerful and compelling human interest stories …

Mechanisms For Increasing Federally-Funded Research At Vcu: A Pilot Study Of Forty Faculty In Pursuit Of Nih Funding In Women's Health, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Carolyn Funk, John Guthmiller, Darrell Johnson, Dace Svikis, Christopher Wagner

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

The Strategic Plan for Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) describes research as an integral and essential component of the University. The Plan promotes scholarly activities of VCU faculty and encourages research in all areas that demonstrate potential for faculty growth and development. Specifically, one of the goals in the VCU Strategic Plan is to achieve ranking among the top fifty universities in the United States in terms of external funding for research. The Office of the Vice President for Research has played a lead role in this initiative. Current economic concerns and budget deficits in the State of Virginia have had …

Giving Vcu A Choice... Vcuhs Choicecare, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Kimberly G. Blowe, Cynthia H. Earnhardt, Thomas Mayhew, Jeffrey A. Setien, Grant J. Warren

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

Virginia Commonwealth University has the opportunity to promote the quality health care services being rendered by the VCU Health System and the VCU School of Dentistry to its staff and faculty. Our project proposes that the VCUHS ChoiceCARE Health Plan be made available as an option to the entire University community. The VCUHS ChoiceCARE Health Plan is currently being offered to all employees of the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. This is an exceptional health care plan that encourages employees to utilize the services ofthe MCV Physicians/Hospitals and VCU Dentists/Oral Dentistry practitioners. Through financial incentives of lower or no copays …

Improving Recruitment And Retention Of Honors Students: Multidisciplinary Course Modules, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Kevin Allison, Deborah Brock, David Dubofsky, Donna George, Kathryn Murphy-Judy, Neil Sonenklar

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

The University of the 21st century is in the throes of a paradigm shift, breaking free of the last century's discipline-bound model of education. VCU's Strategic Plan clearly articulates this forward-thinking concept: "....to promote interdisciplinary studies within the University, to bring new perspectives to bear on complex problems, and mobilize creative energies and expertise in meeting the needs of society and individuals through its unique role as Virginia's major urban university." In addition, the Strategic Plan goes on to envision the Honors Program as a "leader for excellence in undergraduate education''. Our project utilizes the Honors Program to create interdisciplinary …

Teachers' Use Of High-Stakes Test Results To Improve Instruction: A Review Of Literature, James H. Mcmillan, Susan P. Mckelvey

MERC Publications

Across the United States many school districts and state departments of education have embraced high-stakes testing for their public schools and students. This has led to widespread school reform since many students have not reached the standards that the states and/or districts have set. Teachers increasingly focus on making sure that their students have enough knowledge to pass these tests, and some states and districts have made passing scores a requirement for graduation. Many states and districts have invested considerable time aligning their standardized tests with the objectives of the curriculum.

One of the consequences of high-stakes testing is that …

Accountability Tests And Assessment Of Students With Disabilities: High-Stakes Are For Tomatoes! A Review Of Literature, Paul J. Gerber

MERC Publications

Since the landmark work A Nation at Risk (1998), a report that warned about “the rising tide of mediocrity in American public education”, school systems in the United States have been evolving by way of myriad of reform efforts, particularly with regard to the “standards movement.” There has been much scrutiny of student achievement by variety of constituencies – policymakers, school boards, and unions; school administrators, teachers, and parents. Each has viewed the metamorphosis of the K-12 system through its own lens. Moreover, each group has been most interested in the “bottom line” of educational efforts. That is, the outcomes …

Using The Internet To Support K-12 Teaching And Learning: A Review Of Literature, Rachel A. Karchmer, Leanne Eberly

MERC Publications

The purpose of this literature review is to examine what research and theory has informed us about using information and communication technologies (ICT), specifically the Internet, to support K-12 instruction. In the fall of 2000, 77% of K-12 classrooms in the United States has at least one computer with Internet access (Cattagni & Farris, 2001). This number has surely risen especially as programs such a E-rate, funded by the federal government, provided billions of dollars to schools for the purpose of establishing Internet connections (see www.fcc.gov/learnet).

When reviewing the existing literature, it becomes clear that while great emphasis has been …

The Effectiveness Of Summer Remediation For High-Stakes Testing, James H. Mcmillan, Angela Snyder

MERC Publications

Summer school has been an integral part of American education for many years. Historically, summer school was used to prevent delinquency, to keep children “off the streets.” While this function is still served, the purposes of summer school now include academic enrichment, summer employment for teachers, supervision for children during the summer months for working parents, the mitigation of summer learning loss, and what can be teamed remediation of student knowledge and skills to meet high academic standards (Hirschman, 200; New York State United Teachers, 1999); the National Assembly of Health and Human Service Organizations, 2000). For some students, summer …

Stories Of Student Success In Title I Elementary Schools, Rachel Mccay, Rachel Savage

MERC Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine factors present in schools with students who performed higher or demonstrated greater improvement on SOL(Standards of Learning) tests that might have been expected based on student demographics. The study identified factors present in these schools that contributed to their success. The study examined four Title I elementary schools, including three designated as high achieving and one as low achieving for purposes of comparison. The study was initially designed to examine equal numbers of schools representing each phenomenon (high and low achieving); however, the perceived pressure associated with state and local reform efforts …