Getting it Right from the Start (GIRFTS) is a research study that aims to implement a response to intervention (RTI) framework in early primary school (Foundation and Grade 1) to improve oral language and reading. RTI is a multi-tiered conceptual framework that supports student learning through delivery of high-quality classroom instruction, early…

In June 2010, the Illinois General Assembly passed Public Act 96-0903, a sweeping restructuring of the preparation of school principals and assistant principals that represented 10 years of effort from a broad coalition of stakeholders. The restructuring in Illinois was part of a movement nationwide to provide stronger training for principals in…

In October 2005, the Maltese Government embarked on a new phase of its national educational reform, which focuses on state compulsory primary and secondary schooling. A central part of this reform was the creation of state-maintained colleges. By February 2008 all state primary and secondary schools on the Maltese Islands were clustered into ten…

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…

What is transformative professional development for educators? Ideally, teachers and school leaders are given multiple opportunities to revisit schemas about themselves and their learning communities, with the intent to transform practice, the school environment, and even themselves. In practice, three cohorts of teachers and school leaders…

This policy brief reviews the recent experience of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) with the development and approval of Proposition A. Proposition A (also known as the Quality Teacher and Education Act, or QTEA) included a parcel tax mainly dedicated to increasing teachers' salaries, along with a variety of measures introducing…

The Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) is a province-wide partnership program whose goal is to improve student learning and performance by fostering initiatives that reflect the unique needs and circumstances of each school authority. It is currently ending its third cycle and ninth year of implementation. "The Colloquium on…

The aim of this paper is to present a better picture of the acceptability now enjoyed by the Ten-Year Programme on Education and Training (PDEF), the degree of involvement of the partners, who are both beneficiaries and actors of the school system, and the relationship between them. It presents a survey of the acceptability of the PDEF and of…

In 2003, with funding from The Wallace Foundation, a national team of researchers organized by Stanford University and The Finance Project set out to find and examine a set of exemplary pre- and in-service professional development programs for principals, along with the policy contexts in which they operate. The purpose of the study was to…