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White, female, middle-class teachers dominate the education field. As a result, Black female teachers are underrepresented in the teaching field. Statistically, Black female teachers represent 7.7% of the United States teaching force, while White female teachers make up over 60% of the American teaching workforce. With the aim of diversifying the teaching pool, this phenomenological study explored the lived K-12 and collegiate educational experiences of Black female in-service teachers in order to gain insight about their vocational choices to become educators. Constant comparative data analysis revealed four major themes. The results of this study have implications for teacher education programs and educational policy.

Preparing faculty to meet the needs of the increasing number of students with disabilities is a critical need in higher education, particularly in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. Quality preparation is an emerging problem as the number of higher education students with disabilities is on the rise. In this study, researchers used a qualitative methodology to examine STEM faculty members' experiences with students with disabilities at a land grant institution in the southeastern United States. The study was conducted to answer the following questions: (a) What experiences, positive and negative, have STEM faculty members had working with students with disabilities?(b) How do STEM faculty members describe students with disabilities?, and (c) What resources do faculty members need to adequately serve students with disabilities? Five researchers conducted individual interviews with STEM faculty members. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed, with the following themes emerging from the data: Challenges, Support, Knowledge, Awareness/Visibility, and Formal versus Informal Accommodations. Implications from this study relate to the improvement of services for students with disabilities at higher education institutions and to the preparation of STEM faculty to accommodate their students.

The need for a practical and applicable model for entrepreneurial learning is becoming critical. In this study, we aimed to collect data related to entrepreneurship education practices by all institutes of higher learning (IHLs) in Malaysia as well as challenges faced, facilities, and supports offered by the universities. Given the important role of IHLs to nurture and to create future entrepreneurs, the government via public IHLs aspires to produce "job creators" rather than "job seekers." The findings of the study are significant as they provide practical insight into the entrepreneurship education practiced by the local public universities. In addition, the study also contributes to the present literature on the entrepreneurship education in Malaysia, particularly in presenting the practical issues and challenges faced by the universities in conducting entrepreneurship education programs.

Foundations across the country engage in grantmaking to eliminate the opportunity and achievement gaps in K-12 public schools. Many of the strategies and investments that funders have supported in recent years focus not only on "more time" but also on "better use of time" in schools. This better use of time centers on outcomes for students but also has substantial benefits to educators and staff who work with students. This better use of time centers on outcomes for students but also has substantial benefits to educators and staff who work with students. Specifically, two funders, from the California Community Foundation in Los Angeles and the Rose Community Foundation in Denver, share their perspectives on how they support an equity agenda in K-12 public schools in their cities, with an eye to a more and better learning time agenda.

This paper reports on a qualitative evaluation of the postgraduate courses offered by distance in one university department. The types and amount of support provided to students was evaluated and compared with Simpson's (2008a) Proactive Motivational Support model (PaMS). While students were largely satisfied with the support they received during their studies, their perceptions of the levels and effectiveness of that support varied. They also perceived a variation in the levels of support between individual courses. A number of areas where support could be improved were identified, including those that met the characteristics of the PaMS model.

Institutions of higher education are faced with challenges when implementing an assessment initiative. These challenges include constraints on time and resources, the demands of specialized accreditation, and faculty motivation to comply. In addition, the communication of the expectations around assessment must be clear to all constituents in order for such initiatives to be successful. Communication begins with defining what the institution envisions to be the core elements that must be seen in a plan regardless of disciplinary uniqueness or specialized accreditation. When these core elements are developed and evaluated in a systematic and generalizable manner, institutions can move beyond the collection of quantitative data regarding the number of programs that are in compliance with the assessment mandate--i.e., merely counting the number of programs that report outcomes, measures, results, and action plans. Institutions can begin to conduct qualitative reviews of program-based assessment plans, identifying the clarity and value of plan components with regard to their usefulness for the improvement of student learning. Using the work of one regional comprehensive public university, this case study will demonstrate guiding principles for institutional success in both developing a generalizable assessment initiative and communicating this important work to institutional constituents.

The internationalization of higher education has been the subject of a substantial body of research. However, few studies have examined how faculty members, significant implementers of internationalization, think about internationalization priorities. This article presents the results of a questionnaire which was sent to faculty members at three institutions of higher education, two in the United States and one in Canada. Three hundred and seventy-five faculty members responded to an open ended question asking how they would prioritize international initiatives at their institution. These comments were coded and categorized based on patterns that emerged from the data. Additionally, the top five topics were examined more in depth to reveal faculty rationale for each. Two findings emerged from this study. First, respondents overwhelmingly support internationalization. Second, they expect the institution to shoulder the burden for the implementation of institutional directives. These findings inform institutional internationalization administrators.

This action research study examined the effectiveness of one model for supporting candidates in their work in preparing and submitting their edTPA portfolios. Surveys of student teachers and their cooperating teachers were administered and analyzed to determine how the model impacted their experiences with the edTPA. This data can inform implementation efforts at other campuses.

This study investigated stress levels of pre-service teachers (PSTs) across three categories of teaching context: early childhood, primary and secondary. This paper focused on exploring the stressors in the completion of tasks in teaching practicum in the three categories of teaching context and an awareness of and access to support systems. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and an online questionnaire were used to measure the nature and level of stress. Significant results were found in relation to the school climate and the stress levels of PSTs across the three different teaching contexts. These findings have implications in terms of understanding different PSTs' stress levels across the three teaching contexts and ways they could be supported to reduce their stress level and achieve better study outcomes.

This article documents an ongoing study of educational policy enactment in a Chinese university. Drawing upon data collected through document analysis, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations, this paper argues that the enactment of China's systemic College English curriculum reform is not a matter of simple implementation but the result of a more complex process which may change the original reform intention. It suggests that the enactment of centralised reform is mediated through an interplay of forces and challenges and that the major impetus for how teachers make sense of and enact reform relates more to the strength of their current values and practices and students' feedback, rather than the power of external initiatives. Without localised management, curriculum reform itself is, therefore, insufficient to ensure change in practice.

Given the design of Portland State University's (PSU) undergraduate curriculum culminating in a capstone experience, the dramatic growth in online courses and online enrollments required a re-thinking of the capstone model to ensure all students could participate in this effective learning model and have a powerful learning experience. In recent years, a number of capstone courses have been developed that are offered fully online. This article examines PSU's development of and institutional support for community-based learning (CBL) capstone courses in a fully online format. Emerging best practices and lessons learned may be useful for other institutions seeking to integrate experiential elements into online learning at any level, including capstones.

This study reports teachers' views and experiences about the support they receive for their teaching in inclusive classrooms focusing on support from families, resource teachers, and school leaders and administration. The results are based on 16 individual and focus group teacher interviews that were conducted in four different schools in Beijing municipality. The teachers identified the lack of family support as a major challenge for their work. Several teachers reported collaboration with resource teachers bur the scope of that cooperation was quite limited. The teachers expressed satisfaction with the support from school leaders both directly and indirectly through opportunities for professional development. Despite receiving different forms of support the teachers expressed that it did not adequately address to the challenges they face when teaching inclusive class of learners.

A clear, well defined policy can help empower school personnel to make informed decisions on how to handle cases of suspected child abuse. This article presents an analysis of (N = 64) school board child abuse reporting policies and procedures in Ontario and explored what training, resources, and support school boards state they will provide to help teachers recognize and report cases where a child may be in need of protection. The results showed that, while most boards had documentation, the amount of information provided by each school board varied greatly, with documents ranging from 1 page to 155 pages long. An analysis of the documents revealed a lack of clear expectations around training and support to assist teachers in reporting child abuse. Policy recommendations are proposed based on the results of the online search.

This paper compares and contrasts higher education in Canada and Greece. An overview of the systems in place is followed by an analysis centred on the triad of funding, access and quality. Similarities and differences are highlighted, and the current challenges and issues faced by both nations will be examined, especially in terms of world competitiveness and the pressures of globalization. I conclude that Canada currently has postsecondary systems in place that make it more competitive in world markets than Greece has at the moment.

There are 1.2 million school-age children with military parents in the United States, and approximately 90% attend public schools. On average, military children move three times more often than their civilian peers. Tensions at home, enrollment issues, adapting to new schools, and a lack of familiarity with military culture by public school professionals may adversely impact the academic, social and emotional growth of these students. Public school faculty and staff need to understand the challenges that multiple school transitions impose on military children in order to effectively meet the needs of this student population. In this article, the authors review the literature concerning obstacles and challenges mobile military children face, and discuss positive interventions that professional school counselors can employ to ease these transitions.

This mixed-methods study investigated the relationship between burnout and performing noncounseling duties among a national sample of professional school counselors, while identifying school factors that could attenuate this relationship. Results of regression analyses indicate that performing noncounseling duties significantly predicted burnout (e.g., exhaustion, negative work environment and deterioration in personal life), and that school factors such as caseload, Adequate Yearly Progress status and level of principal support significantly added to the prediction of burnout over and above noncounseling duties. Moderation tests revealed that Adequate Yearly Progress and caseload moderated the effect of noncounseling duties as related to several burnout dimensions. Participants related their burnout experience to emotional exhaustion, reduced effectiveness, performing noncounseling duties, job dissatisfaction and other school factors. Participants conceptualized noncounseling duties in terms of adverse effects and as a reality of the job, while also reframing them within the context of being a school counselor.

A logic model was developed based on an analysis of the 2012 American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model in order to provide direction for program evaluation initiatives. The logic model identified three outcomes (increased student achievement/gap reduction, increased school counseling program resources, and systemic change and school improvement), seven outputs (student change, parent involvement, teacher competence, school policies and processes, competence of the school counselors, improvements in the school counseling program, and administrator support), six major clusters of activities (direct services, indirect services, school counselor personnel evaluation, program management processes, program evaluation processes and program advocacy) and two inputs (foundational elements and program resources). The identification of these logic model components and linkages among these components was used to identify a number of necessary and important evaluation studies of the ASCA National Model.

Principals and teachers do not use large-scale assessment results because the lack of distinct and reliable subtests prevents identifying strengths and weaknesses of students and instruction, the results arrive too late to be used, and principals and teachers need assistance to use the results to improve instruction so as to improve student learning. Therefore, it is recommended that the first assessment activity should be to clearly establish that the domain to be assessed is multidimensional. Given this, the assessment schedule should be changed so that a given subject area is assessed in non-consecutive years but the number of sittings remains the same each year. Assistance should be provided to principals and teachers so as to increase their understanding of how to use large-scale assessment results. Three suggested assessment cycles are presented, each of which increases the reliability of subtests and provides principals and teachers with at least two years to make changes in instruction.

In order to foster educational resilience in children who face adversity, adults need a clear grasp of which factors are most relevant and motivating for these children. This study asked 50 children (ages eight to 12) who face serious life difficulties to share their perspectives on which factors support academic performance and how those factors operate in their lives. Participants identified eight factors (intelligence, feelings, behaviours, home environment, family assistance, school support, community connections, organized programs) that improve academic performance and described three mechanisms (facilitating work, increasing understanding, preventing negative behaviour) by which the factors function. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in philosophies and perceptions of inclusive education between teachers in Brazil and teachers in the United States. As part of a study abroad program, a team of university faculty and graduate students from Tennessee traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in order to investigate their inclusive educational practices. Mixed-methodology approach was used including analyzing classroom and school observations, teacher and administrator interviews, and analysis of survey questionnaire. The participants were teachers from both private and public schools in the United States and Brazil. Results demonstrated that the Brazilian philosophy of inclusion is not exclusively related to special education and students with disabilities, but encompasses a more democratic ideal for all students, including those with disabilities and those from extreme poverty. Of all the teachers surveyed, the private school teachers in Brazil had the most positive perception of the overall role of inclusive education compared to their public school and American counterparts.

This article provides insights from a 2-year, cross-site evaluation of state funded developmental education sites and serves as a focus article for response by those sites. Receiving grants from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), nine sites (5 community colleges and 4 universities) implemented innovative developmental education programs in Texas. The Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University was charged with evaluating the nine sites. A cross-site program evaluation collected quantitative data from the sites to determine success rates for students enrolled in their programs. Qualitative methods were used primarily to interpret the quality indicators present across sites. Data in the form of interviews, focus groups, and self-reports were applied. The successes and challenges were organized into four thematic categories: Curriculum Design and Instructional Strategies, Faculty and Staff Supports, Structures Supporting Learning, and Policy Issues. Findings show that accelerated approaches via redesigned curriculum for shortened, completely or partially self-paced, corequisite, and blended courses helped accelerate student completion or transition to credit bearing courses for the motivated students. Alternative instructional strategies provided a high level of interaction between students and instructors and on-line, on-demand tutoring at the sites. Focused professional development for the DE instructors and administrators was found to be useful in learning to deal with specific student problems.

In many higher education systems around the world increasing retention is vital if institutions are to produce the number of graduates identified through government projections to meet industry needs. Taking Australia as an example, the analysis uses results from a large-scale survey of undergraduate students to review rates and rationales for students giving serious consideration to departing before graduation. Demographic, educational and contextual concomitants of departure intention are explored. From there, the analysis looks at the role played by student support in mitigating departure intentions, showing that effective provision and use of support is strongly correlated with retention. Yet there are major disjunctions between the support used by students and the support they need, disjunctions that evidence-based practice can do much to resolve. In closing, the paper makes research-driven suggestions about how institutions can increase student support and retention.

Despite the paradigm shift globally regarding the adoption of inclusive education, teachers still have varying preconceived misconceptions about its successful implementation and practices in the general education classroom. This qualitative study focused on teachers' perception of adapting inclusive education policies and procedures in The Bahamas and its implication for adult education. The participants of the study were teachers (n-18) in the K-12 educational system in The Bahamas. The findings from this study revealed that there was a vast misconception of the definition of inclusive education. Secondly, five overarching factors that influenced teachers' perception of inclusive education were (a) lack of training, (b) insufficient resources and (c) administrative support, (d) teachers' attitudes and (e) inadequate /misconception of information regarding inclusive education. The study further provides an overview for implications for education and training of general education teachers charged with the resp

The study explored Western Cape primary and secondary school learners' experiences regarding the provision and utilization of support services for improving learning. A qualitative interpretive approach was adopted and data gathered through focus group interviews involving 90 learners. Results revealed that learners received and utilized various forms of learning support from their schools, teachers, and peers. The learning support assisted in meeting learners' academic, social and emotional needs by addressing barriers to learning, creating conducive learning environments, enhancing learners' self-esteem and improving learners' academic performance.

After a short historical introduction, the article provides an overview of the current talent support trends in Hungary. It gives an insight into the legislation, guidelines and institutional system associated with the national talent support strategy, and presents the main NGO initiatives present in the early 21st century, in particular the organisations brought to life by the Hungarian Talent Support Council and their effect on current education policy. At the same time, the article seeks to present the strengths and weaknesses of the national talent support strategy and the Hungarian talent support cooperation model.

The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers attempt to understand the various ethnic groups, cultural backgrounds, languages, customs, values, ceremonies and symbols of the children and families in the community in which they teach. Sixty practicing teachers in the Midwestern United States were interviewed to examine their understanding of diversity. Teachers report numerous methods; however, they demonstrate a lack of true understanding of diversity. Teachers reported a reliance on outside sources such as guest speakers and children around the world unit but failed to utilize their colleagues, parents, and their own experiences.

Purpose: This article examined the relevance of teacher autonomy support [TAS] among Thai students. It is based on a study conducted to compare the effects of TAS on motivation among Thai students. The issue of motivation among Asian students has invited controversy as few cross-cultural relativists have claimed that Asian students get motivated when teachers use controlling strategies. Methodology: The study collected data through a quasi-experimental study with an appended ABA withdrawal design. The subjects were 105 Thai students who completed self-reported questionnaires that assessed perceived autonomy support, intrinsic motivation and self-regulation, before, after and on withdrawal of experiment intervention. Findings: MANOVA results revealed that students in the experimental group who were in the autonomy supportive teaching-learning environment reported greater interest, effort, relatedness and integrated regulation compared to the control group taught using a traditional approach. Furthermore, students in the experimental group experienced less pressure and reported less external regulation compared to the control group. Significance: The findings support the claim in Self-determination theory (SDT) that autonomy is not a culturally bound value, and is a pedagogical concept equally relevant to Thai students as it facilitates motivation. The findings will encourage Thai educators to adopt autonomy as a pedagogical concept that will help facilitate motivation among their students.

The study is framed by critical race theory to explore the intersection of cultural and institutional factors that influence Latino students' completion of high school. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which factors related to students' background, culture, socioeconomic status, and institutional-support such as participation in mentoring and/or dropout-prevention programs, can predict Latino students' successful completion of high school. The overarching research question is: To what extent do family background, students' educational aspirations, and institutional support programs predict whether Latino students' complete high school? Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002), from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) with 2,217 Hispanic participants, the study used a logistic linear regression model for the analysis. The findings identified students' gender, socioeconomic status, first language, educational aspirations as well as the aspirations of their parents, school poverty concentration, and school support programs to be significant predictors of high school completion. The logistic regression model correctly classified between 78%, 85%, and 81% of the cases included in the group for timely completion according to first-, second-, and third-generation respectively. A similar classification was found for high school completion-within-two-years. The discussion highlights marked differences between the effect of dropout-prevention programs and that of mentoring programs on Latinos' high school completion. In addition, that the factors represented by individual and institutional variables might not operate in isolation but instead might intersect with socioeconomic and cultural factors that ultimately create barriers for this minority group.

Researchers examined the potential of Presidents' Councils on Diversity (PCDs) to position advancing diversity and inclusion agendas at 11 higher education institutions. Researchers investigated strategies and the degree that PCDs set up agendas through the mobilization (i.e., creating vision and setting priorities), implementation (i.e., creating systems to support change), and institutionalization (i.e., embedding initiatives in the culture and practices of the institution) phases as outlined by Kezar's Phased Leadership Strategies for Institutionalizing Diversity Agendas.

Schools in the areas afflicted by an earthquake disaster of unprecedented scale, already faced with the challenge of simply carrying out regular school education, also struggled with the problem of how to ensure the necessary psychological care for the damaged children. With regard to this, I undertook school support based on the following policies: 1. to enrich class management so as to provide a "safe-feeling environment" through overall support of the class group; 2. to grasp the support level of individual students in the class through regular assessments including survey methods, and adjust the support level as needed. In classes in good condition, results showed a significant decrease in students' stress, and it was considered that an effect similar to the group approach took place through life and activity experiences in the Japanese class group. (Contains 2 charts, 3 figures and 4 notes.)

Higher education campus leaders face a complex state of affairs regarding the documentation of evidence of student learning. There is no shortage of technical guidance for conducting assessment (e.g. Allen, 2006; Bresciani, 2007; Bresciani, Zelna, & Anderson, 2004; Lui, 2011; Maki, 2010; Suskie, 2009; Walvrood & Anderson, 2010), and a great deal of energy and resources are expended gathering, analyzing, interpreting, disseminating, and using data generated through this methodological advice. Yet, the advancement of assessment methods has outpaced explorations of assessment's philosophy and discourses of how assessment and campus cultures are changed have been slow to emerge. In essence, the art and science of assessment are divided and, as Snow (1959) cautions, "when those two senses have grown apart, then no society is going to be able to think with wisdom" (p. 29). As higher education places greater emphasis on empirical data from standardized learning, research regarding why assessment is conducted, how it is leveraged for change, and the ramifications of assessment's purposes must be elevated to a more meaningful level. To this end a new instrument--"The Survey of Assessment Culture"©--was developed to explore factors and strategies influencing the cultivation of cultures of assessment. The Survey supports research and dialogue into cultures of assessment and how assessment emerges as an accepted institutional way of existence. This article reviews the methodological approaches used in the study, shares basic descriptive statistics, and concludes by discussing various implications for the study of assessment cultures and for administrative practice in higher education and educational administration preparation programs.

This study examined teachers' knowledge and support when working with students with terminal illness or having experienced a student death. One hundred and ninety teachers of students with physical or multiple disabilities responded to a 40 item questionnaire that was distributed nationally. Results indicated that teachers have greater knowledge and support in this area than 21 years ago, although there continues to be deficits. For teachers receiving support, the school nurse was identified as their primary source of support, as well as the primary source to answer questions, and discuss the teachers' role. School counselors were identified as the primary support for classmates (in addition to receiving support from their teacher). Teachers identified several areas in which they wanted assistance and support which have implications for future research and training.

Research writing confidence and organizational support toward research activities are two essential factors that may affect research productivity among higher educational institutions. This study investigated the possible relationships of these two factors to research productivity among faculty members of the College of Dentistry at Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas. The study used descriptive survey using percentage, weighted mean and Chi square to test the relationship of the selected variables. The findings indicate that Dentistry faculty members have low research productivity as evidenced by its research production, with only five of them having completed a research paper as main author and only one as co-author (but, not the main author) from SY 2008-2009 to 2012-2013. Respondents agreed that, in average, institutional support is higher than the departmental support for conducting research paper. Meanwhile, respondents are most confident with the technical part in research writing, but least confident in writing the methodology. Organizational support given by the university itself and the Department of College of Dentistry towards research activities and faculty members' confidence in writing the paper particularly the technical and major parts were not indicators associated with research productivity. However, they are confident with the other parts of the research process including writing the abstract and references as associated with developing research findings.

Educators and student affairs professionals are responding to the call for internationalizing education to keep pace with social, political, and economic globalization. This article provides a qualitative description of the transformation and globalization of an undergraduate college. Successful implementation of a college-wide international initiative is derived from the congruence between an academic agenda, student personal goals, and an institutional priority of globalization. Ultimately, an international experience benefits students academically and in personal growth and maturity.