Investigates whether the rhetoric of uninterrupted, sustained, silent reading was evident in primary classrooms (in England) where the practice was professed to operate. Finds that, while the value of a quiet reading time was generally acknowledged, many models operated under the guise of "uninterrupted sustained silent reading," models…

Studied the barriers encountered by an urban school principal in implementing reforms within the context of the Kentucky Educational Reform Act. Results show how site-based decision making councils exemplify a policy decision that ignores the practical realities of distressed schools. (SLD)

Discusses implementation effects of a program for training Dutch primary school principals in teacher coaching techniques. Results found a significant treatment effect for coaching skills concerned with developing autonomy (empowerment), feedback, and agreement on teacher-observation goals. Ratings from coached teachers valued coaching skills…

Examines the process of implementing an educational technology innovation in a senior high school. Data was collected through participant observation, interviews, and artifact collection. While the implementation was unsuccessful, results underscore the notion that implementation is a complex process involving the organization, the people, and the…

Analyzed grades for over 8,000 master's students to determine whether or not there were differences in grading patterns between the A, B, C, D, and F grading system and the new plus/minus grading system. Also studied faculty attitudes on the new grading system. Findings included that grade point averages declined slightly, especially in some…

Three important elements of a South African vision for high skills must be spreading skills improvements across the population in general, creating policy coherence and constructing new institutions. This article examines these issues through an investigation of the micro and small enterprise (MSE) sector and, in particular, through an analysis of…

Little empirical research has focused specifically on the process of identifying comprehensive training needs for department chairs and school directors in public universities. A case study is presented to demonstrate the systematic design and implementation of a program to comprehensively assess the training needs of department chairs and school…

The purpose of this study was to investigate Michigan school food service directors' interest in, and opportunities and barriers to, implementing a farm-to-school program. Farm-to-school may be a timely and innovative approach to improving the school food environment and helping food service directors meet their nutrition goals for school meals.…

Policy problems do not exist as social fact awaiting discovery. Rather, they are constructed as policymakers and constituents interpret a particular aspect of the social world as problematic. How a policy problem is framed is important because it assigns responsibility and creates rationales that authorize some policy solutions and not others.…

Given the paucity of information distinguishing the most salient and well-researched guidance curricula and resources, the overall goals of this article were, first, to investigate national trends in the use of curriculum materials within the context of comprehensive guidance and counseling programs and, second, to offer pre-service and in-service…

As prevention programs become disseminated, the most serious threat to effectiveness is maintaining the quality of implementation intended by the developers. This paper proposes a methodology for measuring quality of implementation in school settings and presents data from a pilot study designed to test several of the proposed components. These…

This study is concerned with the particular circumstances, personal rewards and costs, which Irish post-primary principals and physical education (PE) teachers identify as affecting the implementation of the revised junior cycle PE syllabus and in the future revised senior cycle physical education and new Leaving Certificate PE. The concepts of…

School-based management is being increasingly advocated as a shortcut to more efficient management and quality improvement in education. Research, however, has been unable to prove conclusively such a linkage. Especially in developing countries, concerns remain about the possible detrimental impact of school-based management on school quality;…

In 2006, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Early Learning Initiative (ELI) to improve the school readiness of Washington State's children through three main strategies: (1) development of high-quality, community-wide early learning initiatives in two communities; (2) enhancement of statewide systems that support early…

This study, a naturalistic inquiry conducted between 2002 and 2005, presents an integrated portrayal of issues and concerns of twenty-seven directors of postsecondary distributed/distance learning programs as well as the results of a survey that examined technology utilization and methods in 316 postsecondary schools. The major issues and concerns…