This article provides commentary on the five articles in this issue on large-scale interventions in science education for diverse student groups in varied educational settings. Using these articles as a point of departure, I discuss three challenges to science education research and practice. The first concerns the changed meaning of science…

Despite constraints on federal resources and authority in education policy, the federal government has a pivotal role to play in identifying a compelling, high-impact focal point that aligns policy priorities at the federal, state, and local levels. The federal government could play a critical role in expanding students' access to excellent…

In recent years, national policymakers have placed new emphasis on "school turnarounds" as a strategy for rapid, dramatic improvement in chronically failing schools, calling on education leaders to turn around performance in the 5,000 lowest-achieving schools nationwide. This goal may seem daunting, given the dismal success rates of…

In the 21st century, the rapid pace and complexity of economic, technological and cultural changes require women and men to adapt and re-adapt throughout their lives--all the more so in the context of globalisation. In this era of the knowledge society--where production structure is shifting towards greater knowledge use and away from reliance on…

In preparation for the 1990 Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act reauthorization, the Department of Education established the National Assessment of Vocational Education (NAVE). The plan of study examined five broad research areas: (1) implementation of the Perkins Act; (2) access of special populations to vocational education; (3) status of…

The history and structure of education in the Netherlands, the relationship of that structure to educational systems in selected other countries, and the current status of educational innovation in the Netherlands are the major topics of this paper. The author discusses briefly the development of national educational policy, the place of private…

This document contains 18 policy, synthesis, and analysis papers and foreign experts' contributions examining the following topics: challenges facing vocational education and training (VET) in the Czech Republic; the main aims and strategies of reforming the country's VET system; the role of VET in transforming the republic into a learning society…