The aim of this study was to explore the results of and conditions for systemic large-scale school improvement. Through a multi-level analysis and a theoretical framework inspired by organization- and sensemaking-oriented theories, the study examines how a Swedish large-scale school improvement program, "Collaboration for the Best School…

This article offers insights into the challenges and complexities of accredited national professional learning programmes that are collaboratively designed, led, and delivered. The article is framed within theoretical perspectives concerning large-scale system change, highlighting the importance of inter-professional relationships and joint work…

This article investigates how school principals in Sierra Leone interpret and enact a national education reform program. Through a sense-making lens, this qualitative study explores how the principals perceive and enact a reform program while maintaining their leadership role within the schools and communities they serve. In this study, we collect…

The nationally funded Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) programme aimed to design, deliver and evaluate interventions to improve a range of outcomes for children growing up in areas of low socio-economic status (SES). A key focus for many PEI programmes was to improve the oral language abilities of children, recognising its important link to…

We examine the effects of a year-long national-scale professional development (PD) program on mathematics instructional quality. In contrast to previous studies examining the effects of this program on instruction by comparing before and after participation or participants and non-participants, we examine whether instructional quality changed…

Alternative poverty measures have been proposed in response to the emerging insufficiencies of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) eligibility data. The analysis presented here involves seven poverty measures. Using outcome measures as a yardstick, we can assess how poverty measures explain these outcomes and note variations between…

Alternative poverty measures have been proposed in response to the emerging insufficiencies of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) eligibility data. The analysis presented here involves seven poverty measures. Using outcome measures as a yardstick, we can assess how poverty measures explain these outcomes and note variations between…

Housing is a basic need. The National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP), Land Use Planning Community of Practice held a virtual forum in December 2021 on the national housing crisis. The session revealed common challenges communities face when addressing these issues locally. As a follow-up to that session, this…

A growing number of countries has a strong interest in assessing the quality of their talent-support systems. We propose combining two relevant conceptual frameworks -- hemerotopes and the learning and educational capital approach -- to better achieve this end. Hemerotopes provide qualitative categories for assessing the degree to which countries…

The school meal programs provide nutritious meals to millions of students each day. In fiscal year 2023, federal spending for these programs was $21 billion. It is unclear how many charter schools participate in these programs or what factors can affect their participation. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review charter…

While the benefits of short-term study abroad programs are well documented, especially with respect to enhancing cross-cultural competency in the participants, fewer than one percent of college students in the U.S. benefit from this experience. The principal barriers to studying abroad are actual and opportunity costs and its perceived worth. An…

This article examines how dance artists with extensive experience with "The Cultural Schoolbag" (TCS), a national programme for bringing the arts into schools, convey their rationale for working in TCS. Previous research has found that the artists' rationale for doing TCS-art is far from established and agreeing on what TCS-art should be…

Innovations in medicine have allowed children with cancer to attend school more frequently by increasing survival rates and improving access to outpatient therapies. Children with cancer still miss a significant proportion of school attendance and participation during treatment, thereby disrupting their educational experiences. "Monkey in My…

The mathematical knowledge for primary teachers has been guided by policy since the National Strategies Programme was introduced in 1999. Research regarding the National Strategies focussed on the outcomes of the policy rather than in terms of teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT). Teachers respond to policy in a variety of ways…

The letter of recommendation (LOR) is a stylized form of direct sponsorship, a rhetorical appeal that confers favor on a person or object in keeping with the writer's - or sponsor's - character, authority, and expertise. In response to Swales's call to "unveil" the rhetorical features of occluded genres, this research employs a move-step…