U.S. Demographic Diversity and the Achievement Gap: Grappling with Nuances

In this article, the authors examine various nuances relating to demographics on race, ethnicity, gender and income in the United States, and ways in which they relate to educational access, participation and achievement. These nuances persistently remain below the surface of our national consciousness, schooling experiences at all levels, and everyday discourse. Thus, it is necessary to make them explicit and, depending on their positive or negative influence, integrate them into our policies and practices or challenge and discard them. This obligatory culling of the wheat from the chaff is required if our attempts to move forward progressively and steadily in educational, societal and national reforms—meant to refine and strengthen our democracy, character, unity, capital and global competitive standing—are to have any hope of becoming a reality

Professional Development of EFL Teachers in Mexico: Examining Cross-Cultural and Global Linkages, Influences, and Outcomes

During the past twenty years, the paradigm of professional development in U.S. education has shifted from an analyitco-incremental model to an integrative-systematic model. The integrative-systematic model focuses on the whole-scale improvement of general student performance through the articulation, implementation, and assessment of standards that apply to teachers and teacher preparation institutions as well as to students. This article addresses the basis for this paradigm shift in the U.S. and the global expansion of the professional development mandate. The authors describe the first phase of a three-year, cross-cultural professional development program involving English-as-a-Foreign Language (EFL) teachers at a private school in Mexico

U.S. Student Teachers in Belize, China and Mexico: Patterns of Cultural, Professional, and Character Development

The United States mainstream populace has been notably deficient in its exposure, sensitivity and understanding relative to cultures, languages and people it considers different, whether within or outside its national borders. This general deficiency extends to the professional realm, and includes U.S. teachers, who, as adults and as a group, engage with students in a long-term, planned, structural and developmental manner that exceeds by far that of any other adult group. Teachers, therefore, have a critical responsibility with respect to accumulating and effectively expressing knowledge, skills and dispositions that will inform whom, what and how they teach in their classrooms, across the panoply of courses offered throughout the preK-12 curriculum. This requirement imperative is especially salient as student diversity continues its accelerated trajectory to become the norm in U.S. schools. Thus, future teachers must be comprehensively prepared to work with the increasingly diverse student population through application of informed instruction that enhances general and individual student learning and outcomes. Teacher Education programs increasingly promote student teaching in international settings as a substantive step in serving to develop teachers who embody these new competencies and instructional practices. This paper presentation offers a framework and analysis highlighting similarities and differences among three student teaching abroad settings, Belize, Mexico and China, associated with a state university in the southeastern United States. Findings relate to cultural, professional and character development influences on participating student teachers and the overall development patterns associated with the particular country contexts, singly and comparatively

Professional Development of EFL Teachers in Mexico: Examining Cross-Cultural and Global Linkages, Influences, and Outcomes

During the past twenty years, the paradigm of professional development in U.S. education has shifted from an analyitco-incremental model to an integrative-systematic model. The integrative-systematic model focuses on the whole-scale improvement of general student performance through the articulation, implementation, and assessment of standards that apply to teachers and teacher preparation institutions as well as to students. This article addresses the basis for this paradigm shift in the U.S. and the global expansion of the professional development mandate. The authors describe the first phase of a three-year, cross-cultural professional development program involving English-as-a-Foreign Language (EFL) teachers at a private school in Mexico

Two-Dimensional Numerical Modelling of a Moored Floating Body under Sloping Seabed Conditions

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Educational Leadership Program Effectiveness: Evaluation From Graduates and Their Principals

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational leadership program through the perceptions of its recent graduates and their school principals. Graduates who obtained leadership positions after graduation were surveyed and interviewed regarding their perception of their program preparation. Principals of these graduates were also interviewed by the researchers to solicit their feedback regarding essential program components of an educational leadership program to meet future challenges. Findings of this study highlighted program areas that met the educational demands and identified program areas that needed improvement