See how the iSTEP Institute has transformed teacher preparation around the world. The contributors to this volume document and analyze the evolution of an international, organic network of collaborating teacher educators. Educators at the Stanford Teacher Education Program launched the iSTEP Institute, a professional learning and development…

This qualitative study examined how educators' relationships with businesses impacts the nature of and access to work-based learning opportunities for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The study used the social network constructs of tie strength, density, reciprocity, and trust to explore relationship structures between…

Background: Knowledge brokering by intermediary organizations includes knowledge distillation processes (e.g., synthesis, translation). Aims and objectives: This article explores how an educational intermediary performs research distillation when creating virtual knowledge reservoirs for educators. Methods: The authors use qualitative data from…

Turnaround schools had gained attention since the Bush Administration and No Child Left Behind. Studies were published frequently on the blueprints of turnaround and sustainability in which leadership was a focal point. However, embedded in the research of turnaround schools was the emphasis on interpersonal relationships that evolved into being…

This article explores how teacher education operates within market-organized environments. We argue that the forces of the market have acted "against institutional isomorphism" in teacher education, as evidenced by the emergence of new graduate schools of education (nGSEs), which are a new population of teacher preparation providers. We…

This paper charts the recent history of the STEM Learning UK contracts with local Science Learning Partnerships (SLPs) and identifies what leadership has been made available to support the Early Years and Primary school sector. A case study approach is taken using 'Super SLP' hubs in England. Curriculum Hubs exist in core subject areas such as…

Good alumni relations are key to universities and colleges winning support from their graduates. With reference to social capital theory, an important problem in establishing strong alumni relations is how to turn alumni resources, an important university social network, into productive, public, and abundant capital. Based on the established…

Youth entrepreneurship has gained prominence in recent years, but there are few studies which investigate the characteristics of companies created by students in the university environment (also known as "student spin-off companies") or the "ecosystem" in which these companies are incubated and "hatched". In parallel,…

Schools throughout the United States apply comprehensive community partnership strategies to address students' in- and out-of-school needs. Drawing from models like the Harlem Children's Zone, Promise Neighborhoods, and full-service community schools, such strategies call for diverse professionals to reach beyond their own organizations to…

This book explores how peer reviews are used in school improvement, accountability and education system reform. Importantly, these issues are studied through numerous international cases and new empirical evidence. This volume also identifies and describes barriers and facilitators to the development, use, sustainability and expansion of school…

This action research project examined a rural band director's attrition/retention and possible reasons for staying or leaving a position. The purpose of this case study was to describe a rural band director's experience with content-related professional development and support networks, providing access to and a process for collaboration in…

In this paper, I present a design case of the problem-identification process prior to the initiation of a Networked Improvement Community (NIC). A NIC is a type of research-practice partnership (RPP) that brings together researchers and practitioners to tackle complex problems of practice, and in doing so, proposes a social reorganization of the…

Entrepreneurship has a tremendous impact on the economic development of a country, so much that entrepreneurship is seen as a solution for the fast changing economic demands worldwide and has been recognized as a path to sustainable economic development. Despite recognition of entrepreneurship on the road to global economic development, a large…

This essay proposes a model of university-community partnership called "an engaged swarm" that mobilizes networks of students from across classes and disciplines to work with off-campus partners such as nonprofits. Based on theories that translate the distributed, adaptive, and flexible activity of actors in biological systems to…

Background: The importance of "evidence-informed practice" has risen dramatically in education and in other public policy areas. This article focuses on the importance of knowledge mobilisation strategies, processes and outputs. It is concerned with how these can support the adaptation and implementation of evidence from research and…