Search

Despite its lengthy history and relatively stable structure, evidence shows that the US system of doctoral education has been in a continual state of change. This change is reflected in disciplinary contexts, student demographics, professional outcomes, and the investment of external stakeholders. While the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted issues of concern and weakness in the system, change elements have existed for some time. First, the cost that some individual students pay for their doctoral degree, resulting in high debt and low salary, requires attention. Second, the importance of international students to the system has not been met by corresponding federal immigration policies and support mechanisms. Third, many doctoral programmes are still designed as if students will secure a permanent faculty role after graduation. The change in the academic labour market has not been matched by a change in the doctoral curriculum. This article considers the issues and related influences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work education faculty are mainly white and female-identified. However, across the United States, they teach a diverse student body, half of whom are students of color. MSW graduates will primarily provide service to communities of color, and we know the lived experience and social location of the teacher affects the experience of students in the classroom. Inspired by an impactful teaching experience, and a school-wide curriculum revision, this paper analyzes whiteness in the social work classroom and applies critical race theory to examine one instructor's teaching practice. Critical race theory (CRT), an understanding of epistemic injustice, and a teacher's reflective process are tools that can help de-center whiteness in our classrooms and propel faculty forward toward providing an inclusive and equitable education for all students. A description of the teaching experience here highlights the challenges of privilege, bias, self-regulation, and judgment for both students and the instructor. Lessons learned are presented, along with an analysis of the instructor's choices and challenges. Implications for social work education and the preparation of critically-centered and antiracist social workers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decades of research conducted worldwide has resulted in a taxonomy for word problems involving additive situations. Research published in the 1980s found that U.S. curricula only exposed first‐grade students to a small subset of the easiest types of word problems. Widely adopted curriculum standards in the United States call for first‐grade students to be exposed to the full set of 11 types of problems in the taxonomy, but research shows that substantive changes to the content of instructional materials can be elusive. We asked whether the U.S. curricula continue to expose students to the same small subset of problems. We coded four widely used first‐grade textbooks from the Common Core era. Comparing our findings with those from the 1980s, we found many more word problems, a wider variety of word problems, and a consistent pattern in relative emphasis of various problems in the current textbooks. These results clearly show that U.S. students' exposure to word problems through curriculum materials has changed. This finding lays the groundwork for further research to determine whether such changes in exposure to different types of word problems have resulted in changes to relative problem difficulty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational attainment is generally a strong predictor of belief in climate change, but prior research indicates that for political conservatives a college education is not always associated with increased belief. Conservatives in several countries, especially those in populist parties, have shown skepticism toward climate-mitigation policies and in some cases toward climate science. The study contributes to theories of environmental belief by examining two mechanisms for the low effect of the college education on climate belief for conservatives: selective exposure bias (students avoid courses that challenge their beliefs) and resistance to belief change (students reject or filter information that is incompatible with their political orientation). Using a survey of college-educated adults in the U.S., the study finds strong evidence for selective exposure bias and mixed evidence for resistance to belief change. Importantly, approximately one-third of conservative students who took a college course with climate-change content shifted from initial skepticism or uncertainty to a more confident belief. Moreover, exposure to an education with a core curriculum is associated with stronger belief. The study provides support for the policy goal of a curricular requirement for climate education, which can overcome selective exposure bias and, for some students, resistance to belief change. • College students with a conservative identity avoided taking climate-change courses. • Some conservative students reported stronger belief after taking a climate-change course. • Students with the highest initial skepticism showed the greatest climate belief change. • Students in programs with a core curriculum showed greater climate belief change. • Survey results support reform efforts to require climate-change topics in college. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I this paper, we survey and focus on developments in the chemistry curriculum in Israel over the past 70 years, as influenced by changes and reforms in the curricula around the world and specifically in the United States, by political, cultural and socio‐economic factors, scientific and technological innovations, and theories and studies in learning and teaching. The mentioned studies refer also to the influence of the learners, the teachers, the content, the pedagogy of teaching and learning both in and out of school, and the assessment of students' achievement on the curriculum changes. Three periods of changes are discussed in the chemistry curriculum in Israel, from the 1960s to the beginning of the 21st century, as influenced by the above factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors discuss the issue of literacy education for immigrants in Australia and the U.S. They mention the need to reform the curriculum for hard-to-reach students, the question of restoring and maintaining the students' identity, and how literacy education can provide hope.

Purpose: This article focuses on the role of school and district leadership in the development and implementation of reform aimed at increasing racial and religious tolerance. It chronicles the rise of intercultural and democratic citizenship curriculum in three North American sites—Springfield, Massachusetts, Kirkland Lake, Ontario, and San Diego, California—during the 1940s. Research Method: Parallel historical case studies were conducted using traditional historical research methods through the analysis of archival documents, school district memos, school board minutes, and contextualization through relevant secondary source literature. Findings: School and district leaders supported curriculum innovation aimed at prejudice reduction and propaganda analysis, networked and collaborated with community organizations, and used foundation funding to support curriculum and professional development for racial and religious inclusion. Implications: These cases highlight the critical role of leadership to support democracy in the development of partnerships between school and district personnel, community activists, and civic foundations; the establishment of advocacy networks across borders; and the “borrowing” of diversity policies from other school districts, which were adapted to their unique community contexts. This historical study has implications for how current school leaders might “lead for democracy” in challenging times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changing times require changes to the ways in which lawyers define, approach, and address complex problems. Legal education reform is needed to properly equip tomorrow's lawyers with the knowledge and skills necessary to address twenty-first century issues. This Article proposes that the legal academy foster the development of competencies in preventive law, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community engagement to prepare lawyers adequately for the practice of law. The Article offers one model for so doing--a law school-based medical-legal partnership clinic--and discusses the benefits, challenges, and lessons learned from the author's own experience teaching in such a program. However, the Article proposes that the clinic model is merely a starting point, and that law schools should integrate instruction in preventive law, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community engagement throughout the curriculum in a carefully designed progression to achieve the curricular reform needed to properly prepare tomorrow's lawyers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As of 2016, 42 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Tens of millions of students across the country completed high school before their schools were able to fully implement the CCSS. As with previous standards- based reforms, the transition to the CCSS-aligned state education standards has been accompanied by curriculum framework revisions, student assessment redesigns, and school accountability and educator evaluation system overhauls. Purpose: Even if the new standards may improve student learning once they are fully implemented, the multitude of changes at the early implementation stage of the reform might disrupt student learning in the short run as teachers, schools, and communities acclimate to the new expectations and demands. The goal of this study is not to evaluate the merits and deficiencies of the CCSS per se, but rather to investigate whether college readiness improved among high school students affected by the early stages of the CCSS implementation, and whether students from different backgrounds and types of high schools were affected differently. Research Design: We focus on three cohorts of 8theighth-grade students in Kentucky and follow them until the end of the 11th -grade, when they took the state mandatory ACT tests. The three successive cohorts - enrolled in the 8theighth -grade between 2008 and 2010 - each experienced different levels of exposure to CCSS transition. Using ACT scores as proxy measures of college readiness, we estimate cohort fixed-effects models to investigate the transitional impact of standards reform on student performance on the ACT. To gauge the extent to which the implementation of CCSS is directly responsible for any estimated cross-cohort differences in student ACT performance, we conduct additional difference-in-differences analyses and a falsification test. Data: Our data include the population of 3 three cohorts of 8theighth -graders enrolled in Kentucky public schools between 2008 and 2010. The total analytic sample size is 100,212. The data include student test scores, student background characteristics, and school characteristics. Findings: In the case of the CCSS transition in Kentucky, our findings suggest that students continued to improve their college -readiness, as measured by ACT scores, during the early stages of CCSS implementation. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the positive gains students made during this period accrue to students in both high- and low-poverty schools. However, it is not conclusive that the progress made in student college -readiness is necessarily attributable to the new content standards. Conclusions: As we seek to improve the education of our children through reforms and innovations, policymakers should be mindful about the potential risks of excessive changes. Transition issues during the early stages of major educational changes sometimes lead to short-term effects that are not necessarily indicative of the longer-term effects of a program or intervention. Nevertheless, standards-based reforms are fairly frequent, and each takes multiple years to be fully implemented, affecting millions of students. Therefore, we encourage researchers and policymakers to pay more attention to the importance of transitional impact of educational reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, teachers’ job-related stress and self-efficacy levels across all grades are influenced in some manner by the demands of high-stakes testing. This sequential mixed-methods study aimed at examining the dynamics among assigned subject matter, teacher job-related stress, and teacher self-efficacy in a large south-eastern Texas school district. Quantitative data were collected via theHigh Stakes Testing on Self-Efficacy and Teacher Stress Surveyfrom a convenience sample of 145 teachers, while qualitative data were gathered during focus-group sessions at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Findings indicated that assigned subject matter did not influence teacher self-efficacy, but did influence teachers’ job-related stress. Additionally, a relationship was found to exist between teacher job-related stress and teacher self-efficacy. Teachers reported lack of time, modifications to curriculum, and testing of special education populations as contributions to their job-related stress, and school leadership and educational triage as impacting their teacher self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, an industry-based and team-oriented education model was established based on a traditional mechanical engineering (ME) senior design class in order to better prepare future engineers and leaders so as to meet the increasing demand for high-quality engineering graduates. In the renovated curriculum, industry-sponsored projects became the most important course component and critical assessment tool, from which problem-solving skills as well as employability skills of the ME students can be fully developed. Hands-on experiences in finite element analysis (FEA) modelling and simulation were also added into the renovated curriculum to promote the application of FEA on engineering design and assessment. Evaluation of the renovated course was conducted using two instruments and the results have shown that the course made the ME senior students more prepared for their future career and a win–win model was created between the industry partner and the ME programme through it. Impact of the renovated syllabus on Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology goals was discussed. Based on the current progress, a more substantial change is being planned to further improve the effectiveness and practicability of this design course. The renovated course was started to offer to the ME senior students at Mississippi State University. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The goal of this study was to investigate how early childhood teachers reported responding to the instructional mandates they received. To answer our research questions, we completed semi-structured interviews with 20 early childhood teachers and coded their responses. The participating teachers were recruited from a large Head Start agency in the United States. We found that Head Start teachers reported feeling caught between two competing priorities: the priority the program placed on compliance with instructional routines and the priority the teachers placed on addressing children's social, emotional, and behavioral needs. Essentially, teachers perceived that they must demonstrate compliance to the program's instructional mandates first and foremost. Furthermore, they perceived that the program's instructional coaches were monitoring their compliance with the mandates. As a result of this workplace context, the Head Start teachers reported that they did not feel permitted to alter the program's required instructional procedures. The implications for policy and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a four-part historical and educational analysis on reparatory justice curriculum for human freedom focusing on African American dispossession. The parts include the importance of heritage knowledge in education for human freedom, the impor­tance of accurate scholarship informed by African epistemology and wisdom, rewriting knowledge within the global movement for reparations, and (mis)representations and distortions regarding African American enslavement found in texts.

Recent changes to Advanced Placement U.S. History have sparked a national debate concerning goals and purposes of college level history courses. Critics suggest that the revisions result in a national curriculum that promotes a revisionist history perspective. Defenders claim that revisions are an important step in preparing students for 21st century citizenship. This document analysis identifies key differences between the 2010 and 2014 AP U.S. History frameworks and considers changes made in 2015 by College Board in response to the national debate. The challenges of applying a social justice lens to curriculum are discussed, and suggestions are made concerning the application of procedural social justice to stimulate voluntary cooperative behavior on the part of members of groups, thereby enhancing true social justice for all members of society. A procedural justice lens is suggested to enhance commitment and cooperation among individuals, groups, and societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this article is to review and discuss the varied ways computer programming is introduced to schools and families as a new form of learning. The paper examines the rhetoric around coding within academic journals and popular media articles over the past three decades. This article argues that despite the best intentions of media researchers and enthusiasts, if the rhetoric around computer science (CS) in all K-12 schools is to become a reality, there first needs to be a greater focus on monitoring such rhetoric and better understanding exactly how programming is presented to the wider public.Design/methodology/approach This paper represents an analysis of 67 peer-reviewed books and journal articles as well as news articles and editorials related to students’ learning (or needing to learn) computer programming on the K-12 level. In terms of criteria for inclusion, in addition to publication date and article readership, there were three considerations: the article needed to focus on CS on the K-12 grade levels; the article needed to focus on introductory computer programming initiatives, rather than more advanced courses/topics); the article needed to specifically focus on school-based learning environments.Findings Findings point to three distinct ways in which introductory coding initiatives have been portrayed (and been perceived): new literacy, “grounded” math and technical skill. Ultimately, the paper does not propose a single defining metaphor. Rather it argues that the metaphors one selects matter considerably in determining programming’s future in entering (or not entering) schools, and that educators need to make a conscientious effort to consider multiple metaphors without choosing just one.Research limitations/implications In terms of research limitations, the article does not purport to be an exhaustive analysis of all the metaphors that have been used to introduce CS to K-12 schools over the past 30 years. Rather it only identifies the leading metaphors from the literature, and in doing so, makes an important first step in examining the role of metaphor in the presentation of CS as a “new” course of study.Practical implications The article is intended for educators, researchers and administrators to gain a better understanding of what CS is (and could be) for K-12 schooling.Social implications The article is intended for educators, researchers and administrators to likewise understand how they, themselves, can present CS to students and families as a potential course of study.Originality/value There is currently considerable discussion about teaching CS in all US high schools, middle schools and even elementary schools. There is however little examination of past attempts to bring CS into K-12 schools and what these attempts may inform current advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to share a discussion with Dr Barry Fishman, University of Michigan, concerning how to use technology to improve the learning experience of students in higher education.Design/methodology/approach This article summarizes an interview with Dr Fishman conducted in December 2015.Findings Massive open online courses, personalized learning and changes in how we assess student learning are all opportunities that Fishman believes can improve both student outcomes and intrinsic motivation.Originality/value Changes in technology can enable researchers and educators easier access to implementing various learning environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay traces how a group of young African American men from socioeconomically diverse backgrounds took political action to change the curriculum of Amherst College. Topics covered include their call to reform the curriculum through the institutionalization of black studies, their aim to expand Amherst's course offerings and diversify its faculty, and their tactics which involved civil disobedience rather than takeovers or sit-ins.

The article discusses the five reasons why the author claims that history professors in America are not competent in terms of their ability to assess and measure what what people learn over time, and it mentions faculty members' roles as experts at assessing certain kinds of college student learning in individual classrooms. College curriculum changes and student grade averages are examined, along with evaluations of college teachers' processes for teaching U.S. history at American colleges.

This paper provides a comparative analysis of national curriculum reforms in Australia and the USA, set against the backdrop of global trends since the 1980s. The analysis is driven by an interest in the reconstitution of national policy spaces in global times, and draws particularly upon Stephen Carney’s notion ofglobal policy-scapesas a way of understanding the complex and disjunctive flows of transnational policy ideas and practices. The paper begins by arguing that reforms since the early 1980s have been driven by global panics about globalisation, equity and market competitiveness. These global influences have underpinned parallel reform attempts in each country, including the development of national goals in the late 1980s, failed attempts at national standards in the early 1990s and rejuvenated attempts towards national consistency in the 2000s. Building on this, we argue that despite shared global drivers and broad historical similarities, reforms in each country remain distinct in scope and form, due to several unique features that inform the national policy space of each country. These distinctive national policy spaces provide differentconditions of possibilityfor reform, reminding us that despite global commonalities, policy reforms are relational and locally negotiated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article inquires into discourses of globalisation as they are put to use to accelerate higher education’s seemingly ready acquiescence to the demands of the market. We maintain that globalisation operates as a way to reason about space that produces images and narratives of universities, knowledge and students. We focus our analysis on curriculum reform as a way universities materialise the seemingly abstract economic logic of the so-called ‘knowledge society’ at the level of student-citizens, who are to be educated to become economic globalisation’s next agents. In order to locate curriculum’s productive role within university respatialisation, we offer a discourse analysis of the circulation of ideas about globalisation and higher education through intergovernmental and national documents, which take material form in a US state university system’s attempted curricular reform of its general education core. We inquire into the ways space, as a rationality, acts to create systems of reasoning about institutions, knowledges and subjects that furthers the production of a neoliberal global imaginary. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author offers a commentary on the impact of new sciences, technologies and media on library education with an emphasis on information science. Topics covered include the interface between librarianship and information sciences, the change in curriculum of library education, and openings for information science faculty at library schools across the U.S.

The article discusses the attitudes of Millennialists (Generation Y members) in relation to skills instruction in U.S. legal education programs and the labor market for law school graduates and attorneys in America as of 2015. Student loan debt problems and the efforts to produce practice-ready law school graduates are examined, along with changes involving legal technology. Client-based fees for lawyers are assessed, along with law school curricular reform.

Legal education in the United States is at a crisis point. Simultaneously confronting scathing critiques and mounting market forces, legal education must change to survive. Experiential education offers the hope of increasing the relevance of legal education to the practice of law, and many law schools have adopted new programs where students learn through experience. This article provides an overview of legal education and describes the rise of experiential legal education. The article concludes with a description of an innovative program that integrates the practice in the joint enterprise of educating tomorrow's lawyers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the curriculum reform debates at Saint Joseph's College, Rensselaer, Indiana between the years 1966 and 1986. Topics include the views of professor Malcolm Parlett on the college's reformed general education curriculum, Saint Joseph's new curriculum which included interdisciplinary studies and non-Western requirements and redefining of the philosophy and purpose of higher education by the U.S. federal government after the Second World War.

This article examines what the author calls "the great disconnect" between law schools and the profession. After a discussion of the purpose of law school and the current status of the academy and articling, the article traces the history of the relationship between law faculties and the profession over the past century. This relationship has, for the past 50years, resulted in little connection between the academy and the profession. Recent efforts by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to regulate curriculum have now made the relationship more important than ever. The author looks at the effect the great disconnect has had on Canadian law schools and makes a number of recommendations on their future relationship with the profession, including institutional links with law societies and the Canadian Bar Association. Curriculum reform can also help bridge the great disconnect by implementing an integrated approach to legal education proposed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, an approach that is being implemented in many law schools across the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health disparities related to food choices, nutrition behaviours and smoking habits in urban communities in the United States signal the importance of health education (HE) in schools, yet educators in urban communities face unique cultural challenges often unaddressed in professional development (PD). The purpose of this study was to use a cultural competence framework to examine urban HE teachers’ perspectives of culturally competent PD. Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted at PD planning and training sessions, and 23 HE teachers were observed teaching and interviewed over two school years as they experienced PD and implemented revised curriculum with their middle-school students. Four themes regarding issues of cultural competence in PD interventions emerged during the study. These included: the need for diverse and credible PD staff; culturally competent curricula; flexible implementation expectations; and follow-up support beyond PD workshops. The findings of this study highlight the teachers’ perceptions of PD efforts that would align best with the complex teaching situations of urban schools, demonstrating a rich understanding of and participation in urban school communities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

During the last decade of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century, curricular reform has been a popular theme. In fact, reform on the current scale has not occurred since the early 1900s, when Abraham Flexner released his landmark report ' Medical Education in the United States and Canada'. His report, suggesting major changes in how physicians were educated, became the norm and few changes occurred until the last quarter of the 20th century. During this period increased demands on medical school curriculums due to the explosion of knowledge in biomedical sciences and the pressure to add additional clinical experiences increased the momentum for curriculum reform. In 1984 an Association of American Medical Colleges ( AAMC) report, ' Physicians for the Twenty- First Century: The Report of the Panel on the General Professional Education of the Physician ( GPEP) and College Preparation for Medicine', discussed many items related to reforming medical education including the value of integration, increased use of active learning formats, more self-directed learning, improved communication skills and increased problem-solving activities. This was followed by a report released in 1993 entitled ' Educating Medical Students: Assessing Change in Medical Education - The Road to Implementation' ( ACME- TRI), which identified educational problems by surveying medical school deans, suggested ways to deal with these issues and presented a plan of action. Recently, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching released ' Education Physicians: A Call for Reform of Medical School and Residency' with additional suggestions. At this point the question that might be asked is - Where is all this going and how is it going to affect anatomy education? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the need for writing competence in and out of school, writing has been deemed the neglected 'R' in educational practice. Moreover, many students do not meet expected standards of writing performance. The Common Core State Standards ( CCSS), adopted by 45 states, provides an opportunity to change the state of writing instruction on a national scale. This study evaluated the content coverage of the CCSS for writing and language ( CCSS- WL). Results indicated that CCSS- WL cover some aspects of writing well, but others deemed important in research not well or not at all. Evidenced-based practices for improving student writing performance to supplement the CCSS- WL are provided. It is hoped that the appropriate curricular and instructional changes targeted toward the content of the CCSS- WL and effective evidence-based instructional practices can elevate writing from the neglected 'R' in this time of Common Core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document-based historical study focuses on history/social studies teacher education in the decades immediately preceding and following the National Education Association's landmark report, The Social Studies in Secondary Education, which commonly is credited with establishing social studies as a school subject. The article interrogates how teacher preparation programs contributed and/or responded (or not) to this curriculum reform and to what effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher professional development (PD) is a complex, ongoing challenge as educational systems attempt to deliver excellent programming in pursuit of increased student achievement (Opfer and Pedder 2011). This article examines Idaho Total Instructional Alignment (TIA), a model for teacher PD that is currently being utilized in secondary schools throughout the state of Idaho. The implications of this model for effective guidance and support with implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), as well as the factors that indicate readiness of secondary teachers for implementation of the CCSS, are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers’ social networks can play an important role in teacher learning and organizational change. But what influences teachers’ networks? Why do some teachers have networks that are likely to support individual and organizational change, while others do not? This study is a first step in answering this question. We focus on how district policy influences the quality and configuration of teachers’ social networks. We draw on a longitudinal, qualitative study of implementation of a mathematics curriculum in four schools. We show that district policy (1) shaped the tie formation process, influencing the structure of networks; (2) mobilized resources that teachers subsequently accessed via their networks, influencing the benefits accrued through network exchanges; and (3) introduced interaction routines that interrupted conventional ways that teachers talked together. We thus uncover heretofore unexplored facets of network formation and change. We also provide insight into dimensions of social networks that are amenable to outside intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purposes: This study investigates the role of formal and informal leaders in the diffusion of external reforms into schools and to teachers’ practices. Formal leaders are designated by their roles in the formal organization of the school (e.g., principals, department chairs, and instructional coaches) and informal leaders refer to those who do not have any formal leadership roles but are nominated by other colleagues as influences on their instructional practices. In the context of implementing reading policies associated with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) 2001 legislation, this study aims to examine (a) how formal and informal leaders promote instructional changes through professional interactions with teachers and (b) which types of instructional practices are most responsive to which types of leaders. Research Methods: The authors analyze longitudinal data concerning both professional interactions about teaching reading and instructional practices of teachers and leaders in nine K-8 schools in a single state. Findings and Implications: Formal leaders convey influence on general teaching practices such as setting standards, selecting materials, and assessing students while informal leaders convey influence on specific pedagogical practices (e.g., the use of particular strategies for teaching basic reading skills). Findings contribute to the theoretical and methodological development of both distributed leadership and policy implementation within schools. Moreover, this study suggests the importance of and several strategies for developing a strong instructional leadership team that recognizes and supports the complementary influences of formal and informal leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A major curriculum redesign effort at the University of Maryland is infusing all levels of our undergraduate biological sciences curriculum with increased emphasis on interdisciplinary connections and quantitative approaches. The curriculum development efforts have largely been guided by recommendations in the National Research Council'sBio 2010report and have resulted in revisions to courses in biology, mathematics, and physics over a period of 10 years. Important components of this effort included (1) developing online modules to infuse more mathematical content into six biology courses taken by biological sciences majors during their first 2 years of study; (2) strengthening the interdisciplinary connections of ancillary courses in mathematics and physics to support the development of quantitative skills in biological contexts; and (3) creating more quantitatively intensive courses for the final 2 years of the bachelors of science programme. These efforts, carried out by a large, multidisciplinary team of faculty, have resulted in increased coherence in the undergraduate biological sciences curriculum, increased quantitative skills in first- and second-year students, and a greater appreciation among graduates for the essential relationship between mathematics and modern biology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The current emphasis on national standards in core content areas works against 3 laudable goals of 21st-century education: cooperation, critical thinking, and creativity. I focus on creativity as a critical 21st-century skill and argue that the preoccupation with curriculum standards that are overly prescriptive undermines efforts at facilitating creative processes and outcomes. I propose that, rather than abandoning standards, policy makers must embrace their role and purposes in more creative ways. I also argue that to inspire creativity in curriculum, it is important that society foster creativity among teachers and their teaching practice. Teachers do not need to find a method or theory that they will follow slavishly. Rather, they need to analyze a multiplicity of ideas and put their creative powers to work in answering questions such as: Where could I use this? For what purpose? With whom? In what context? If people want to promote creativity in students, they should also encourage it in teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The authors comment on the move by schools of medicine in the U.S. of revising or completing major revisions of their medical school curricula. They incorporate the perspectives of a surgeon general, the dean of the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences' School of Medicine, an educational scholar and a senior physician who were charged with coordinating the design and implementation of the first major revision of the University's medical school curriculum in over 30 years.

The article presents a case study of the information literacy assessment used by Savage Library at Western State College of Colorado (WSC), particularly noting its use of collaboration between library and academic staff to incorporate information literacy into the sophomore year curriculum. It addresses the teaching of information literacy content in college writing courses, faculty perspectives of the embedded curriculum, and issues with random selection of students for the assessment.

The author reflects on changes in the scripted and narrowed curriculum of urban schools in the U.S. He mentions that teachers in the said schools are anticipated to depend on predetermined and scripted syllabus materials to form their instructional practices instead of personal professional judgment. He notes that the educational institutions are populated with underprepared educators who are trained through education programs and nonprofit organizations such as Teach for America Inc. (TFA).

Journalism as an academic field in the United States has frequently changed and grown through new professions and new industries coming under its umbrella (sometimes but not always driven by technological and/or economic changes) and academic developments such as cultural studies and media studies. But journalism is still rooted in good storytelling, and social scientific and other academic approaches are, and should be, oriented toward developing, testing, and refining theory. Educators, researchers, and practitioners must collaborate more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Potemkin schools’ is used as the phrase to capture what a US science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) public speciality high school becomes as a result of its institutional branding. By way of an examination of the efforts of one teacher drawn into school branding through his ‘inquiry-based reform’ of an Advanced Chemistry course, this paper illuminates the tensions between the rhetorical intentions to engage in curriculum innovation and the reality of constraints and conflicting goals. The teacher, unable to resolve the tensions, was pushed into formalizing and routinizing his ideas into a reform project without understanding what was behind the rhetoric of the school’s self-image statements. The need to find and develop a ‘language’ to talk and think about ‘inquiry-based’ reform and its processes in meaningful terms and not in slogans is discussed. The irrationality and complexity of the reform which emerged from the findings contrast with the rationality of building Potemkin villages, hence illuminating the complexity in curriculum reform in STEM schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the historical mission of career academies to expand opportunities and engagement of minority students, particularly African American students, more recent curricular changes in the career academy model have increased the rigor of these types of programs. These new initiatives have undoubtedly resulted in a demographic shift with more White and Asian students participating in career academies while African American and Hispanic student enrollment is drastically decreasing. To that end, the purpose of this study was to explore the meaning African American students ascribed to their participation (or lack thereof) in career academies and the challenges they encountered. As such, the experiences of 15 African American high school students were explored using a phenomenological approach. The following themes were revealed: (a) Preparation for the Next Level; (b) Less Time for School Activities; (c) Not Just Going Through the Motions; and (d) An Unrealized Connection with Core Academic Subjects. Implications for administrators, guidance counselors, parents, and teachers are articulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we report the results of a survey that accessed the perceptions of family studies and family therapy international master's and doctoral students across the United States. Our goals included giving collective voice to the experience of international students and gathering their suggestions for improving programs. Themes that emerged from responses to open- and closed-ended questions included feeling (mis)understood and (de)valued; forming personal connections and experiencing marginalization; the importance of including international perspectives in curricula; considering the relevance/transferability of knowledge; and attending to barriers to learning. Based on the results, we share suggestions for improving family studies and family therapy graduate programs relative to program planning, curricula revision, teaching strategies, and faculty development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the U.S. Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) for kindergarten through second grade and strategies for teachers on how to implement the curriculum changes. Operations and algebraic thinking, number and operations in base ten, measurement and data, and geometry are required U.S. educational domains. The article makes suggestions for teachers, including identifying resources, collaborating with other teachers and reflecting on effective instructional methods.

In this article, the author offers information on the law school curriculum and associated professionalism required for delivering legal education in the U.S. He focuses on addressing the legal courses which deals with the cultural dimensions of law and the transnational dimensions of law. He discusses the Wooddruff Curriculum which was reviewed by the Mercer University School of Law.