This paper reports on a rigorous literature review of research into medium of instruction in Ghana and India, whose language-in-education policies represent two contrasting models of use of local languages and the development of competence in English. The paper begins by briefly overviewing the language-in-education policy in these two countries…

This study demonstrates the ways in which discourses in a state-sponsored volunteer program incited transformations of individual subjectivities, focusing on a group of Japanese language teacher volunteers training in Japan to become teachers of Japanese as a heritage language for the country's diaspora (Nikkei) population in South America. As…

This paper examines the key aspects of stakeholder engagement that can strengthen the design, implementation and sustainability of outcomes-based funding policies. We seek to help policymakers understand the prevailing starting-point attitudes of institutional stakeholders, primarily college and university administrators, faculty and staff, and…

This is the second in a series of six papers from the Center on Education Policy exploring issues related to students' motivation to learn. As noted in the first paper of this series, motivation to learn is one of the most important factors in a student's educational journey, but a robust discussion about students' motivation may be the "missing…

Within the framework of the strategic journey undertaken between 2005 and 2010, this paper seeks to examine how the University of Melbourne sought to differentiate itself through the introduction and reconceptualisation of a "third stream" of academic work. Specifically, this paper seeks to investigate, through qualitative methods, how…

Sparked by the Common Core State Standards, teachers and literacy experts are arguing about the role of a time-honored pillar of English/language arts instruction: classroom activities designed to help students understand what they are about to read. The attacks on--and defenses of--"prereading" are unfolding largely in cyberspace, through online…

The importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has gained national attention in recent years, with educators, policymakers, and others advocating for greater participation and enhanced performance in STEM in order to bolster the U.S. economy and provide greater national security. This brief summarizes several pieces of…

This is a case study of the implementation of state STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) policy over the period of the first 18 months of building a regional STEM partnership. Fullan's change theory is the framework used to determine progress and associated challenges with building a regional STEM educational partnership and…

The push for centralized control over what every child should learn has never had more momentum. The Obama Administration has pressured states to adopt the Common Core State Standards Initiative, conditioning more than $4 billion in Race to the Top grants on its adoption. The Administration's blueprint for the rewrite of No Child Left Behind also…

In the present study, an examination is conducted in three school districts of how data are used to improve classroom practice. In doing so, we explore the effects that attitudes toward data, principal leadership, and computer data systems have on how data are used to affect classroom practice. Findings indicate that educators are ambivalent about…

This article explores teaching assistants' (TAs) perceptions of suggestions that English schools should encourage large numbers of "low-achieving" school leavers to become apprentice teaching assistants. It reports on a piece of qualitative research that aimed to capture teaching assistants' views of these proposals. Semi-structured…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the stimulus package, appropriated $100 billion for education and included $3 billion for school improvement grants (SIGs) to help reform low-performing schools. This amount was in addition to the $546 million provided by the regular fiscal year 2009 appropriations bill for…

An examination of oral communication education in the United States (U.S.) and United Kingdom (U.K.) identified four critical concerns: (1) Today's college students are not getting adequate oral communication education; (2) Oral communication education is being relegated to a "module" in another discipline-specific course; (3) When an…

Employing data from three encounters, during 1996, 2001, and 2010, with students and teachers in Huining, gansu, China's "Gaokao county," known for its striking contrast between poverty and the remarkable achievements of its College Entrance Examination (CEE) candidates, we explore the lived experiences of Huining students and teachers…

This article reports some findings of study regarding practices and procedures of internal instructional supervision in public secondary schools in Kenya. The findings are part of a large-scale project undertaken in Kenya to determine the perceptions of headteachers, teachers and senior government education officers regarding the practices of…