Fall 2004
President's Letter — In our field of education—and more specifically, distance education and e-learning—“quality” has been a consistent theme of conferences organized by NUTN, and WCET has been seeking the same holy grail, especially in its work with accrediting agencies. See complete story.
Join us in Benchmarking for e-Learning Quality — Please join Hezel Associates in a benchmarking study of distance learning. We want to find out how education institutions measure quality in distance and e-learning. See complete story.
State Accountability Systems: The Role of Needs Assessment — Education leaders in K-12 settings face a series of challenges as they respond to current imperatives to improve the education conditions that affect student performance. More than ever, state education leaders are being urged to fashion and implement broad accountability systems that go beyond single scores on standardized tests to describe the academic health of a school, school district, and state education system. See complete story.
Understanding the Link: Teacher Professional Development And Student Achievement — 2,500 students to participate in Experimental Study of PBS Teacherline’s Impact in Selected School Districts Nationwide. “No Classroom Left Unstudied,” read the headline of a May 28, 2004 article appearing in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Fueled by NCLB requirements, schools are being pressed to base their improvement plans on research-based evidence of student learning. Such evidence, ideally, comes from studies of learning that take place in classrooms (as opposed to laboratory settings) and, as the Chronicle article points out, seeks to establish how the expenditure of “federal dollars impact on student scores." See complete story.
“WOW!” Evaluation of NOAA’s Ocean Explorer Expeditions Receives Thumbs Up From Teachers and Students — Teacher professional development is a critical element in any effort to improve education, but not all professional development approaches and programs result in transformed practice and student gains. More than ever, sponsors of teacher professional development activities must prove the connection between teacher participation in their programs and related student outcomes. See complete story.
Conforming to Standards: New Designs for Evaluation — Incorporating experimental research into an external evaluation of school-based technology initiatives presents challenges, most notably in logistics, recruitment, and method according to conference panelists at the American Education Research Association (AERA). The tasks are made even more difficult when an intervention is already underway and must reconform to the US Department of Education’s Gold Standards for research and evaluation. See complete story.
Hezel Associates Digest — Nicholls is published, Mitchell joins the firm, Hezel Associates completes projects for GSU and McDougal Littell plus tips on how to build your brand. See complete story.
Conferences in the Spotlight — ACHE, WCET, Sloan-C, Education Industry Finance & Investment Summit, eAgenda and LEARNTEC 2005. See complete story.