New report examines alignment of high school, college and work

Closing the Expectations Gap 2006: An Annual 50-State Progress Report on the Alignment of High School Policies with the Demands of College and Work is a recently published report from Achieve.org, a "a bipartisan, non-profit organization that helps states raise academic standards, improve assessments and strengthen accountability to prepare all young people for postsecondary education, work and citizenship." Achieve's Board Members include Michigan's Governor, Jennifer Granholm.

This report examines progress states are making in closing the gaps between high school standards and requirements and postsecondary and workplace expectations, which were identified through a 50 State survey done by Achieve.org in December 2005.

The issue of K-12 and postsecondary/workplace gaps was also recently discussed in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (Powerful Forces Draw Academe Into the Fray 3/10/2006), which referenced the following additional reports on the topic.

A Nation at Risk (1983)
The Governance Divide: A Report on a Four-State Study on Improving College Readiness and Success (2005)
Betraying the College Dream (2003, Stanford)
School & College (Special Report, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2006)

Copyright law impede progress in Educational Technology

A recent report from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society explored the impact that copyright law provisions have on the use of digitial technology in education.

"Drawing on research, interviews, two participatory workshops with experts in the field, and the lessons drawn from four detailed case studies, the white paper identifies four obstacles as particularly serious ones:
* Unclear or inadequate copyright law relating to crucial provisions such as fair use and educational use;
* Extensive adoption of digital rights management technology to lock up content;
* Practical difficulties obtaining rights to use content when licenses are necessary;
* Undue caution by gatekeepers such as publishers or educational administrators.

The report is available online, and it titled The Digital Learning Challenge: Obstacles to Educational Uses of Copyrighted Material in the Digital Age

2005 Digest of Education Statistics Available

Announcement from the NCES Newsflash Service:
The 41st in a series of publications initiated in 1962, the Digest of Education Statistics provides a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest contains data on a variety of topics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, in addition to educational attainment, finances, and federal funds for education, libraries, and international comparisons. Some examples of highlights from the report include the following items.

--> Enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools rose 22 percent between 1985 and 2005. The fastest public school growth occurred in the elementary grades (prekindergarten through grade 8)
-->Public secondary school enrollment declined 8 percent from 1985 to 1990, but then rose 31 percent from 1990 to 2005, for a net increase of 20 percent.
-->The number of public school teachers has risen faster than the number of students over the past 10 years, resulting in declines in the pupil/teacher ratio.
-->Between 1994 and 2004, the number of full-time college students increased by 30 percent compared to an 8 percent increase in part-time students. During the same time period, the number of men enrolled rose 16 percent, while the number of women enrolled increased by 25 percent.

New Journal: Journal of evidence-based practices for schools

We have recently added a subscription to the Journal of evidence-based practices for schools. Please note that this journal is available in print only, it has not been made available online from the publisher. We currently have volume 6 (issues 1 & 2)in our collection in the Kresge Wing of Purdy/Kresge Library. (We are missing the most current issue, v.7 (1) Winter 2006, but have a request into the publisher for a replacement).

Fellowships in Child Development

The Foundation for Child Development is accepting applications for its Young Scholars Program. Eligible researchers will have earned their doctoral degrees within the last 15 years, and be full-time, faculty members of a college or university in the United States. Applicants must hold a Ph.D. or its equivalent in one of the behavioral and social sciences or in an allied professional field (e.g., public policy, public health, education, social work, nursing, medicine). Three to four fellowships of up to $150,000 for use over one to three years (maximum) will be awarded competitively. Please note tenure equivalent positions are not eligible for the fellowship.--Program description from the FCD website.

Search any library easy with WorldCat Online!

From The Chronicle of Education Wired Campus Blog:

The OCLC Online Computer Library Center, a nonprofit group, announced this week that it was making available to the public WorldCat’s search engine of library holdings. WorldCat, which is maintained by the library center, is a database of materials from 10,000 libraries worldwide. Previously, only library patrons could gain access to WorldCat’s search tool. Now available through WorldCat.org, the search tool also helps people locate the library nearest them that has the book, article, or video or audio recording they are looking for. "People are starting their searches on the Web rather than in the library, and that’s where we want to be," said Bob Murphy, a spokesman for the library center.—Andrea L. Foster

APA citation style for Dissertations from the ProQuest Databases

The APA style manual does not have an example of how to cite dissertations in the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. A representative from APA recently posted the following to an inquiry on the EBSS (Educational, Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarians) listserv.


"The ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database appears to include dissertations abstracted in Dissertation Abstracts International. If the reference you are citing was abstracted in DAI but obtained from ProQuest (similar to Examples 54 and 55 in the Publication Manual), I would probably add that information to the reference entry as well:

Gibson, G. (2006). Between voice and silence: Identity development in Black adolescent females (Doctoral dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo). Dissertation Abstracts International, 54, 100. Retrieved August 15, 2006, from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.

If there is no DAI information available, then you could simply skip right to the retrieval information."