For this study we used institutional web sites to examine the mission statements of 80 higher education institutions for messages about diversity. Of the 80 institutions, 59 (75%) referenced diversity in their mission statements; but only 19% defined diversity in racial or ethnic terms. In addition to mission statements, 52 (or 65%) of the 80 institutions had a separate diversity statement; but only 18 of these were an official institutional statement. These treatments of diversity are interesting in light of the changing demographics of the incoming college student population and the recognized need for greater cultural development or awareness on campuses. If mission and diversity statements reflect the priorities of the institution, 35% of the institutions in the sample said nothing about diversity. Key words Higher education institutions . Mission statements . DiversityAs the diversity of the United States population continues to increase, colleges and universities are also seeing a more diverse student population arrive at their doors (Smith 2006). The proportion of minorities, such as Blacks and Hispanics, attending college has grown from 1998 to 2008 by 127% for Blacks and 124% for Hispanics at private four-year colleges while at public two-year colleges the increase was 51% for Blacks and 68% for Hispanics (The Innov High Educ (2012) 37:125-139

Ten experienced online faculty were interviewed to elicit examples of how they improved student learning productivity in their online courses. The ten faculty represented nine different states, 13 different fields or disciplines, and all were tenured or tenure-track at master’s or doctoral level higher education institutions. Based on a thematic analysis of the examples given, improvement in student learning occurred by 1) increasing student access to content, 2) changing the role of faculty (which had two parts: increasing access to and changing faculty roles), 3) increasing interaction with students, 4) emphasizing student effort (including use of experiential learning, group work, learning to learn, and feedback), 5) connecting to the “real world,” and 6) focusing on time. These findings suggest that faculty can and do find ways to use different tools in different ways to improve student learning productivity.

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Multiple elements help to define school climate and its dimensions. The focus of an effective school climate is often on relationships/quality interactions, parental/community involvement, order and discipline, trust and feelings of safety, and classroom overcrowding. However, there is insufficient research on the elements of school resources and the relationship to student academic achievement. There are even fewer studies on teachers' perceptions of this element and its affect student achievement. The researchers used secondary data to analyze teachers' perceptions related indices of school resources and its direct relationship to student academic achievement. According to the data results, there were no significant differences between elementary and middle school teachers' perceptions about access to resources. However, there was a difference in teachers' perceptions who worked in schools with proficient reading and math scores on standardized test.

OverviewThis report summarizes preliminary and exploratory research conducted by the Council of the Great City Schools and the American Institutes for Research on urban school systems participating in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The study is one of the first large-scale analyses of urban NAEP trends, and the first to examine local instructional and organizational practices alongside changes in NAEP scale scores in the participating cities. This report is also preliminary in the sense that it attempts to lay out a framework for how NAEP data on the TUDA districts might be analyzed in the future as the number of participating cities grows and the amount of data expands.The purpose of this project was to identify urban school systems that are making academic progress and to examine possible factors in their improvement. The overarching goal was to identify variables that might be contributing to improvement in urban education across the nation and to explore what might be needed to accelerate those gains. The report also discusses broad lessons for the implementation of the common core state standards.