Precipitated by a surge in enrollment, authors describe the three-phase revision (2017-2021) of a first-year peer mentoring program in honors. Grounded in student input and leadership, large-scale programmatic changes involve curriculum expansion, student leadership development, and co-curricular experiential support. Program objectives,…

Contemporary pedagogical experts have stressed the importance of context in education as a critical determinant of the success of learning outcomes. These recent arguments stem from earlier scholars who claimed that the context of education is often taken for granted, although its influence on teaching and learning is crucial. Perhaps the main…

Approximately 450 community colleges nationally are part of formal statewide or national initiatives to implement guided pathways reforms to improve student success, and many other colleges are implementing guided pathways practices on their own. Because guided pathways is a whole-college reform--and because it takes several years to fully…

This study delves into the transformations within the Islamic Boarding School (Pesantren) education system over time and their implications for the learning methods employed by students. Guided by a case study research design with a descriptive qualitative approach, this research focuses on two of the oldest Islamic boarding schools: Tegalsari…

Context: Faced with deep challenges with access to formal education, many West African countries are increasingly taking steps to reform their informal apprenticeship systems to make them a quality skills development alternative for their teeming youth. A review of the literature shows that although different countries in the region are deploying…

Background: Instructional coaching has gained popularity as a reform instrument, yet it varies widely across contexts. This variability plays a role in weak implementation or even rejection of coaching within schools. Further, there are gaps in our understanding of how coaching is adopted and accepted in different educational systems. Purpose:…

The mixed-method sequential explanatory research study examined the impact of implementing a block schedule in two Missouri high schools. Previously, other studies had investigated the influence of school reform on educational programming, the implementation of professional learning communities, development of project-based learning models, and…

Indian education system has faced many reforms and changes right from Gurukula education system in Vedic age to the present outcome-based education system. There lies a wide gap between industries and institutions in India due to the lagging of quality graduates. To bridge the gap, the outcome-based education system has been implemented widely in…

This brief explains how four important system design initiatives frequently promoted by state and local education agencies for school improvement can be implemented through an intentional systematic approach for a powerful, positive impact on student outcomes. As technical assistance providers with expertise in four specific frameworks for…

Operationalizing practices for equity has eluded the educational community for some time. This exploratory, mixed methods study examined the practices, operationalized by 29 competencies, of ten school leadership teams in one urban, US school district engaged in the initial stages of equity systems change (ICS for Equity™). ICS for Equity is a…

In 2015, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) announced the AACC Pathways Project, a national initiative designed to support a cohort of community colleges to implement and scale whole-college guided pathways reforms. When the project launched, guided pathways was still a new idea. Yet, momentum was building around a set of…

Concern about the state of literacy instruction in America's classrooms has recently exploded. As a result, policymakers, school system leaders, and teachers have increasingly sought to remake how children learn to read in order to improve literacy outcomes--a pursuit that has gained heightened urgency in the aftermath of the pandemic. This work,…

The tsunami of global educational reform in the past decade has led to national, regional and school-based policy redevelopment to elevate teaching standards, enrich student learning and improve results. Consequently, principals are frequently charged with leading mandated pedagogical reform in their schools. Building on earlier research…

Due to the "wicked problem" of the Academy's resistance to innovation, new teaching and learning programs struggle to become integrated into the fabric of the Academy, which slows the uptake of evidence-based practices. This wicked problem is rooted in the lack of slow, intentional mechanisms for cultural change in the Academy. In this…

School leadership is a critical factor in school improvement. The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) and Region 4 Comprehensive Center (R4CC) have strengthened school leadership through implementation of the Delaware Leadership Network and the Delaware Principal Supervisor Leadership Program. These two major efforts, collaboratively designed…