States and school districts endeavoring to improve learning outcomes for young children typically focus on literacy, not math. Math is often overlooked in improvement initiatives, and it gets far less instructional time than literacy in preschool and the early grades. While literacy skills are unquestionably critical, so are math skills. Math…

For decades, the achievement gap between low-income Black males and other groups is sufficiently documented and persists. This study calls for a new practical curriculum approach that provides the necessary conditions for how low-income Black males learn, stay engaged, and assist in building the capacity for positive self-efficacy. The…

Canada prides itself for being multi-cultural, valuing diversity, and having educational outcomes that have been identified as excellent and equitable with above average performance and lower than average impact of socio-economic status and immigrant status in PISA. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, plus policies concerning child care,…

Low-resourced communities across the world face chronic and cumulative adversity that often lacks clear solutions. This adversity manifests itself in various institutions including schools. Professional resources to address this adversity, for example, bullying, poor academic performance, teenage pregnancy, inclusivity, in low-resourced…

There is little sign that current attempts to close the "attainment gap" are working. This article argues for a different approach to addressing the "gap," based on a community asset approach. The authors describe ongoing work on community curriculum making in North-East England, in which schools undertake projects using…

With approximately 40 million foreign-born people in the United States, US classrooms are witnessing an intense concentration of newcomer students and a persistent achievement gap between immigrant students and their English-speaking, US-born peers. Yet, some teachers are consistently successful with "those" children typically…

Many countries are in the process of adopting radical changes to the purpose, nature and organisation of the school curriculum as the principles of lifelong learning are transferred to schooling. One of the most fundamental changes lies in the emphasis on learning how to learn as a transferable skill set that underpins the whole curriculum. On…

More than half of U.S. children fail to meet proficiency standards in mathematics and science in fourth grade. Teacher professional development and curriculum improvement are two of the primary levers that school leaders and policymakers use to improve children's science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning, yet until recently,…

The Education Reform -- Joint Agreement published in June 2018 sets out agreed principles and enablers and measures that will support and encourage the empowerment of schools in Scotland. These include the commitment that Education Scotland would carry out three inspections in the 2018-19 academic year looking at the following themes: Readiness…

The demographics in America's K-12 classrooms will continue to shift throughout the 21st century as students become more diverse. However, educators remain predominantly White, presenting issues of cultural disequilibrium. Cultural disequilibrium may result in frustration and a breakdown in the classroom, leading to a lack of achievement amongst…

Leadership is a highly complex activity, as leaders respond to increasing diversity and external accountability. Additionally, there is increased recognition that leadership is deeply contextual, sensitive to macro-politics of systems and micro-politics of individual schools. In Ontario, Canada, the school improvement effort is focused on raising…

In "Why Knowledge Matters," influential scholar E. D. Hirsch, Jr., addresses critical issues in contemporary education reform and shows how cherished truisms about education and child development have led to unintended and negative consequences. Hirsch, author of "The Knowledge Deficit," draws on recent findings in neuroscience…

Public education is at a crossroads. Moving in new directions is imperative. Just tweaking and tinkering with old ideas is a recipe for disaster. Continuing challenges confronting public education highlight why moving school improvement policy and practice in new directions is imperative. With a view to enhancing graduation rates and successful…

In the past several decades, Boston has been a proving ground for new strategies such as mayoral control, charter schools, and expanded access to early childhood education. Located in a state known for rigorous standards and accountability, Boston Public Schools (BPS) has consistently ranked among the top-performing large public school districts…

This new updated fourth edition of "How Good is Our School?" is the result of a wide-ranging consultation through which stakeholders have contributed to the development of a substantially new set of quality indicators and supporting toolkit. This publication is designed to promote effective self-evaluation as the first stage in a process…