Institutions of higher education ultimately aim to deliver a quality education to students and help their students succeed while at their institution, and beyond. However, despite the emphasis academic administrators place on student success, the foundational elements of running an institution--academic operations--are often overlooked. While…

The major challenge with time is finding it. Current school-day schedules and school-year calendars are leaner than ever because of budget reductions. States and districts have implemented furlough days to balance lean-and-mean budgets that show no sign of improving. Few are willing to take the leap toward reducing instructional time to improve…

The shift to the Common Core at the Lazaro Cardenas Elementary School, a pre-K to third grade school in a predominantly Latino area in southwest Chicago, rested on instructional improvement efforts Jeremy Feiwell initiated five years earlier in 2006, when he became Cardenas's principal. Feiwell knew from his years as a teacher at Cardenas that…

This study investigated leadership supports provided by an elementary principal of 15 years in a high performing diverse school. Employing document analysis and interviews, the researcher gathered and analyzed data in an effort to identify those leadership strategies that could be replicated at other school sites. The study identified the…

This study explores the question of how Boston Public Schools (BPS) can strengthen and support autonomy and accountability across its portfolio to promote innovation and expand access to equity and high performance. Some of the specific questions guiding this work are: (1) Should all schools within BPS operate within autonomous structures? (2) Is…

College professors often regard their time in the classroom fulfilling and rewarding; the chance to affect the academic and professional development of their students is most likely a key reason why they chose to be professional educators. Unfortunately, with college courses come college credits, which necessitate a course grade for each student,…

This report summarizes how school and district leaders and academic coaches in two Texas school districts used assessment and other types of data to assess the quality of teaching and learning, to coach and supervise teachers, and to guide management decisions. The report also describes how district and school leaders supported teachers' use of…

Discussed are the contributions of the Regional Educational Laboratory for the Carolinas and Virginia (RELCV) to fourteen junior colleges. Most attention is given to the implementation of the idea of "performance agreements, a contract between the college and a faculty member tying his salary increases to the performance of his students. (LS)

This progress report of a 2-year project (ending April 30, 1968) offers a random sampling of course schedule configurations and specific course performance criteria submitted to the Stanford project staff for evaluation and comment, and a brief statement of the project's data collection and data evaluation objectives. The project seeks to…

A model of the teaching-learning process identifies and describes varied behavioral dimensions of the classroom and how they relate to pupil achievement. The model is based on the assumption that the total amount of engaged time on a particular topic is the most important determinant of achievement and has the components of: (1) quantity of…

Problem areas with the curriculum at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Rutgers Medical School were identified: imbalance in class hours in the academic schedule, excessive number of lectures, and need for more small group sessions during the basic science education. (MLW)

Presents a case study of the use of computers to improve student reading scores at a rural southern junior high school. Student achievement, cost effectiveness, scheduling, curriculum, time constraints, and student needs are discussed, and results are reported that show a definite improvement in reading scores after two years. (LRW)

The visible claims of the current accountability movement are examined critically, and an alternative philosophy and a developing system are offered. Areas examined include the psychological implications of accountability philosophies for teaching staff, certain educational measurement problems, and the availability or adequacy of operating…

A preliminary, descriptive overview of the students and their progress in the first year of a new French immersion program looks at the 1982-83 grade 8 cohort of 40 students, most of whom had come from the standard core French program in grades 6 and 7, and compares their progress in other subjects with two grade 8 classes in another school. Data…

The effectiveness of the Block Plan, developed and implemented by the seventh grade students at Edith Rogers Junior High School in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) was investigated. The Block Plan uses the concept of a pair of teachers assigned to two classes of students for the homeroom period plus a pair of teachers assigned for each of four academic…