Viewpoints on different assessment systems used in many educational bureaucracies are diverse and continually evolving. Schools are tasked with translating those reforms' philosophies and principles into school-based assessment practices. However, it is unclear from research evidence what approach and factors best support the implementation of…

Pacific education is an area of priority in Aotearoa New Zealand. It involves the teaching of Pacific students by a workforce that is largely of European origin. Pacific communities value education and have the capability to contribute to the understandings of teachers as they seek to provide the kinds of service that communities want to see. This…

Amidst ongoing calls for teaching improvement, there has been growing interest in the work of middle leaders in leading school-based curriculum and professional development. Research and policy initiatives have acknowledged that these leaders in schools are well placed to successfully drive educational change that leads to improved educational…

Capacity-building has been promoted by the central level in Chile, through a reform that resembles school districts, where the intermediate level is intended to provide pedagogical support for schools. However, this has proven to be challenging due to different visions about what capacity-building looks like and how it relates to school…

Adaptive leadership theory places a strong emphasis on overcoming challenges to achieve success in an organization. For school leaders, this means helping stakeholders navigate new and challenging situations that occur in the context of school improvement efforts. School leaders who strive to adopt an adaptive approach should consider the…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the impact of transformational educational leaders on improving the public school system in Saudi Arabia, in relation to the dimensions of transformational leadership that include school improvement, inspirational motivation, and empowerment. The Saudi Arabian government's Vision 2030 aims…

Leadership at the school level is vital for creating a positive learning environment, guiding transformative practices, and fostering collaboration among staff, students, and the community to achieve success and overall school improvement.

Promoting equity and improvement science have seen increased attention over the last several years as educators seek to expand the experiences, opportunities, and outcomes for marginalized students. This book shows school and district leaders how to create the conditions needed to use improvement science--with its robust collection of tools,…

In the face of persistent challenges within Aotearoa New Zealand's education system, "Building on our Strengths" offers a fresh perspective on ways of improving the system by focusing on what we are good at. With the OECD highlighting our system's high quality but low equity, this book shifts focus from mere problems to uncovering what…

This paper analyzes some of the causes of low diversity in school settings and the benefits of working to create more diverse and inclusive environments. The goal is to offer all children an equal opportunity for educational experiences. Included is an analysis of the challenges schools are faced with when it comes to building diverse school…

School reform and improvement are driven by individuals, often working alongside each other. Drawing on in-depth interviews with researchers, philanthropists, and school improvement staff in Chicago, Philadelphia, and NYC, I found that education reformers employed varying logics and strategies even as they worked toward similar goals:…

In this systematic review, we examine research from 2009 to 2022 to identify and classify the unintended effects of turnaround in the United States. We develop a conceptual framework classifying three types of side effects--spillover effects, systemic side effects, and internal side effects--and differentiate these side effects from unintended…

While overall graduation rates are improving, persistent disparities in graduation rates among groups of students remain, and must be addressed. High school reform is a viable approach to addressing these disparities. Early College High Schools, Small Schools of Choice, and Career Academies are all secondary school reform models that have been…

Improvement networks are a relatively recent phenomenon in US education that create interorganizational networks of educators working together to improve specific educational problems. A shared emphasis of these networks is the use of data to support the improvement process, but little is known about their data use in practice. This study takes an…

School systems are increasingly working to foster more ambitious learning environments and disrupt institutionalized educational inequities. But such efforts are complicated by a number of uncertainties--about the aims of schooling and how they might be achieved or measured--that suffuse educational organizations. Although there is general…