Well before President Barack Obama vaulted early childhood learning to the top of the education agenda in his recent State of the Union address, states were taking steps to bolster their own preschool programs. More than a dozen states--including some, such as Hawaii and Mississippi, that have had no state-financed preschool programs in the…

National Education Association (NEA) officials announced last week that they would put a "policy statement" before the union's governing body for approval that, among other changes, would open the door to the use of "valid, reliable, high-quality standardized tests" of student learning, in combination with multiple other measures, for evaluating…

This study was conducted to determine the success for the diffusion of the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (COIA) white paper Framing the Future: Reforming Intercollegiate Athletics. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) and personal interviews were utilized to collect data and purposeful sampling was used to identify one NCAA Division…

This article analyzes challenges states identify in implementing No Child Left Behind (NCLB) with the Obama administration's proposals for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization. Drawing upon information from six states, this study shows that the Obama administration Blueprint for Reauthorization of ESEA responds to a number…

The president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Randi Weingarten, is putting the sensitive issue of due process on the education reform table, with a pledge to work with districts to streamline the often-cumbersome procedures for dismissing teachers who fail to improve their performance after receiving help and support. She has also…

Following a report by a Parliamentary Committee, the Higher Education Funding Council for England is consulting the sector about a strengthened national quality assurance system, with an enhanced role for information about quality and a closer focus on academic standards. This article provides a critical review of the main proposals.

In order to adapt curricula to the new European system of credits, ECTS (European Credit Transfer System), it is necessary to previously elaborate a teaching guide. The teaching guide clarifies the subject syllabus making it easier for learners to understand, sets objectives related to the competencies and skills to be acquired, plans activities…

To clarify the New Jersey State Department of Education's compensatory education requirements, the Instruction Committee of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) submitted a list of 12 questions to the Department's Office of Compensatory Education. This article contains the Department's answers to 7 questions and the Instruction Committee's…

An important subset of issues involved in describing the process of educational globalization emerges when considering the reception, response and/or rejection of international proposals, ideologies and agents by indigenous national and regional educators. This case study describes and discusses how foreign/Western education proposals and policies…

Charges that the National Agenda for Achieving Better Outcomes for Children and Youth with Serious Emotional Disturbance is so general and all encompassing that it is an inadequate guide for action, and urges a clearer direction. Commentaries are offered on following articles in the issue that address the agenda's seven targets. (Author/CR)