TALIS Teachers Getting the Best out of Their Students From Primary to Upper Secondary Education


Book Description

Developing, promoting and maintaining a good professional teaching workforce from primary to upper secondary education is a policy imperative for education systems around the world. The data drawn from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) can help policy makers and education practitioners design policies and practices that enhance teaching across education levels.




Fostering Understanding of Complex Systems in Biology Education


Book Description

This book synthesizes a wealth of international research on the critical topic of ‘fostering understanding of complex systems in biology education’. Complex systems are prevalent in many scientific fields, and at all scales, from the micro scale of a single cell or molecule to complex systems at the macro scale such as ecosystems. Understanding the complexity of natural systems can be extremely challenging, though crucial for an adequate understanding of what they are and how they work. The term “systems thinking” has become synonymous with developing a coherent understanding of complex biological processes and phenomena. For researchers and educators alike, understanding how students’ systems thinking develops is an essential prerequisite to develop and maintain pedagogical scaffolding that facilitates students’ ability to fully understand the system’s complexity. To that end, this book provides researchers and teachers with key insights from the current research community on how to support learners systems thinking in secondary and higher education. Each chapter in the book elaborates on different theoretical and methodological frameworks pertaining to complexity in biology education and a variety of biological topics are included from genetics, photosynthesis, and the carbon cycle to ecology and climate change. Specific attention is paid to design elements of computer-based learning environments to understand complexity in biology education.




Does Four Equal Five?


Book Description

The authors provide information on the implementation and outcomes of the four-day school week using quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of sources, including surveys of parents and students in 36 districts in three states.







Understanding and Interpreting Educational Research


Book Description

This user-friendly text takes a learn-by-doing approach to exploring research design issues in education and psychology, offering evenhanded coverage of quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, and single-case designs. Readers learn the basics of different methods and steps for critically examining any study's design, data, and conclusions, using sample peer-reviewed journal articles as practice opportunities. The text is unique in featuring full chapters on survey methods, evaluation, reliability and validity, action research, and research syntheses. Pedagogical Features *An exemplar journal article at the end of each methods chapter, together with questions and activities for critiquing it (including, where applicable, checklist forms to identify threats to internal and external validity), plus lists of additional research examples. *Research example boxes showing how studies are designed to address particular research questions. *In every chapter: numbered chapter objectives, bulleted summaries, subheadings written as questions, a running glossary, and end-of-chapter discussion questions. * Electronic Instructor's Resource Manual with Test Bank, provided separately--includes chapter outlines; answers to exercises, discussion questions, and illustrative example questions; and PowerPoints.




Rural School Busing


Book Description




The Future of Nursing 2020-2030


Book Description

The decade ahead will test the nation's nearly 4 million nurses in new and complex ways. Nurses live and work at the intersection of health, education, and communities. Nurses work in a wide array of settings and practice at a range of professional levels. They are often the first and most frequent line of contact with people of all backgrounds and experiences seeking care and they represent the largest of the health care professions. A nation cannot fully thrive until everyone - no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they make - can live their healthiest possible life, and helping people live their healthiest life is and has always been the essential role of nurses. Nurses have a critical role to play in achieving the goal of health equity, but they need robust education, supportive work environments, and autonomy. Accordingly, at the request of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, on behalf of the National Academy of Medicine, an ad hoc committee under the auspices of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conducted a study aimed at envisioning and charting a path forward for the nursing profession to help reduce inequities in people's ability to achieve their full health potential. The ultimate goal is the achievement of health equity in the United States built on strengthened nursing capacity and expertise. By leveraging these attributes, nursing will help to create and contribute comprehensively to equitable public health and health care systems that are designed to work for everyone. The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity explores how nurses can work to reduce health disparities and promote equity, while keeping costs at bay, utilizing technology, and maintaining patient and family-focused care into 2030. This work builds on the foundation set out by The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health (2011) report.




The Future of Nursing


Book Description

The Future of Nursing explores how nurses' roles, responsibilities, and education should change significantly to meet the increased demand for care that will be created by health care reform and to advance improvements in America's increasingly complex health system. At more than 3 million in number, nurses make up the single largest segment of the health care work force. They also spend the greatest amount of time in delivering patient care as a profession. Nurses therefore have valuable insights and unique abilities to contribute as partners with other health care professionals in improving the quality and safety of care as envisioned in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enacted this year. Nurses should be fully engaged with other health professionals and assume leadership roles in redesigning care in the United States. To ensure its members are well-prepared, the profession should institute residency training for nurses, increase the percentage of nurses who attain a bachelor's degree to 80 percent by 2020, and double the number who pursue doctorates. Furthermore, regulatory and institutional obstacles-including limits on nurses' scope of practice-should be removed so that the health system can reap the full benefit of nurses' training, skills, and knowledge in patient care. In this book, the Institute of Medicine makes recommendations for an action-oriented blueprint for the future of nursing.




Handbook of Research on K-12 Online and Blended Learning


Book Description

"The Handbook of Research on K-12 Online and Blended Learning is an edited collection of chapters that sets out to present the current state of research in K-12 online and blended learning. The beginning chapters lay the groundwork of the historical, international, and political landscape as well as present the scope of research methodologies used. Subsequent sections share a synthesis of theoretical and empirical work describing where we have been, what we currently know, and where we hope to go with research in the areas of learning and learners, content domains, teaching, the role of the other, and technological innovations."--Book home page.




Balanced Leadership


Book Description

Alarmed by mounting evidence of a national shortage of qualified and willing principals, the authors surveyed or interviewed over 200 school principals from across the country to find out why so many are leaving the profession and how those who stay manage their work. They discovered that regardless of a principal's race, gender, school level, geographic region, or tenure, there was a remarkable consistency in the challenges identified and suggestions given for revamping the role of the American principal. Featuring stories shared by practicing principals, this timely volume: offers fresh insights on ways to both attract and retain good principals; shows how successful principals reconcile their expectations and hopes with the realities and disappointments encountered in their work; examines issues common to all principals, such as time management, staff evaluations, keeping the focus on instruction, community expectations, and pursuing a balanced life; presents strategies that principals have used to make their role more effective and more attractive; and provides practical ideas for coping with the present and envisioning the future, including alternative principal models.