This paper explores Rizvi and Lingard's (2010) idea of the "local vernacular" of the global education policy trend of using high-stakes testing to increase accountability and transparency, and by extension quality, within schools and education systems in Australia. In the first part of the paper a brief context of the policy trajectory…

Sustained school-university partnerships are recognized as a means by which school physical education can move forward and sustain itself. Yet, these partnerships have been more the exception than the rule. There is little public knowledge about the benefits of sustained partnerships or of the process to achieve them. This article summarizes the…

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…

Purpose: The focus of this research is to understand the role of the district superintendent, the building principal, and the school leadership team of classroom teachers as catalysts for innovation in instruction and classroom assessment. School characteristics and structures designed to specifically support professional learning communities are…

Written by the director and staff of the first, and one of the largest, teaching centers in American higher education--the University of Michigan's Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT)--this book offers a unique perspective on the strategies for making a teaching center integral to an institution's educational mission. It presents a…

Recently, federal legislation has been implemented requiring that public school students meet a specified performance level of academic proficiency by the 2013/2014 school year. This reform movement, known as "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB), was passed by Congress and incorporates many of President Bush's educational reform proposals…

This article explores the social and professional dynamics "when teachers face teachers" seeking to impact colleagues' instructional practices to improve student learning. Specifically, it examines a group of 40 teachers leading staff development sessions at their schools in an effort to bring more literacy strategies into the pedagogies of…

The Boston (Massachusetts) Institute for Health Improvement formed an Interdisciplinary Professional Education Cooperative linking four local interdisciplinary teams (in Cleveland; Washington, DC; Pennsylvania; and South Carolina) and a coordinating committee. The organization offers health professions students opportunities to work on…