As the nation has embraced the need to graduate every student ready for college and careers, high school reform has emerged at the top of the education agenda. Many local and state leaders are implementing strategies to address low performance and close achievement gaps. As federal policymakers look ahead to opportunities to support this…

This paper explores some key findings from the recent two-year evaluation of a national pilot to introduce Restorative Practices (RP) in Scottish schools. A Restorative approach emphasises the human wish to feel safe, to belong, to be respected and to understand and have positive relationships with others. It recognises the fundamental importance…

One of the conundrums of free primary education (FPE) policy in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa is the "mushrooming" of fee-paying private schools. Several researchers have become interested in studying this phenomenon and have raised the question--does free primary education meet the needs of the poor? Emerging voices among this…

A literacy intervention is designed to produce accelerated change, moving student achievement rapidly and providing for sustained performance over time. Adopting a complex intervention is a problem-solving process that requires understanding of the conceptual congruity of all aspects of the theory, intervention, and training underlying the…

A study of school improvement found that successful implementation of new practices is occurring at a high rate and is due mainly to teachers' efforts. The development of teacher commitment after change implementation is important in the process. (MD)

Roger Seckington is chairman of RiCE, The Right to Comprehensive Education. He writes on his experiences over the last 20 years of the comprehensive movement. (Part of a theme issue on comprehensive education in Britain.) (Editor/SJL)

Focuses on the redefinition of South Africa's Colleges for Advanced Technical Education into research organizations in higher learning. Discusses inconsistencies between different policy documents, practical problems emerging at the implementation stage, and views of the technikon umbrella organization on the progress so far. (EV)

Develops a cognitive framework to characterize sense-making in the educational policy implementation process that is especially relevant in the context of initiatives such as standards-based reform. Reviews the contribution of cognitive science to implementation research and identifies areas in which cognitive science can make additional…

Discussion of teacher participation in the implementation of school reform initiatives focuses on a study of New Jersey schools that used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to identify teacher participation variables as possible predictors of buy-in. Suggests that other factors were stronger predictors of teacher buy-in and discusses implications…

Explored classroom assessment reform from four perspectives: technological, cultural, political, and postmodern. Interviewed teachers about their understandings of alternative assessment. Responses of 29 teachers in Ontario, Canada, show how teachers integrated changes into their practices and the successes and obstacles they encountered during…

Although the education reform movement has had limited effect on technology teacher education, teacher education reform has the potential to change technology teacher education in the future. Changes likely to occur will have an impact on programs, faculty, and students. (JOW)

Summarizes a study examining the high school principal's role in providing the leadership needed to explore and implement Project Re:Learning. The 4-phase study initially included 15 schools and involved questionnaires, interviews, and shadowing. Identifies six types of administrators: the absent administrator, the pawn, the pragmatic principal,…

This article describes how The Language Center at the Espirito Santo Federal University changed from using traditional pencil-andpaper tests to performance testing, based on authentic tasks. The change was prompted because people thought that their testing did not reflect a communicative approach to language teaching. The Assessment Project lasted…

This report takes a partial look at the emerging European Higher Education Area (EHEA). It is partial in two ways--the selection of topics for consideration, and the type of information gathered for analysis. Rather than attempting to cover the full range of issues and challenges that need to be addressed to ensure the success of the EHEA, the…

This research focuses on change processes. It considers how components of a change framework--namely, the concerns-based adoption model--can be used as diagnostic evaluation tools to examine how participants' attitudes and levels of participation affect the implementation of the professional development school model. This article demonstrates how…