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…

As interest increases in the educational quality of higher education institutions (HEIs), less is known about how the mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of these HEIs affect educational quality. In this study, we investigate the association of M&As on the educational quality of HEIs and the role of institutional incentives in this relation.…

This study proposes an empirically grounded theory of how school reform implementation relates to effectiveness, useful for developing and studying many approaches to school reform both in the U.S. and abroad, and also for assessing how policymakers and implementers might leverage various aspects of implementation to create effective school…

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…

A case study was implemented in one rural district as it transitioned to a trauma-informed environment. A theoretical framework based on the literature framed the data collection around the seven themes of awareness, positive culture, intentional instruction, restorative practice, self-care, mental health support services, and professional…

Districts and schools often count on coaching to promote student learning and organizational change. Across the United States, a wide variety of coaches engage in various types of work with teachers as well as school leaders. But coaching is often loosely defined, weakly supported, and ultimately underutilized, and as a consequence, its promise…

The Latino and Adult Student Success (LASS) Academy is a multi-year initiative administered by CAEL (the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning) focused on supporting Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in their efforts to improve outcomes for adult and Latino adult learners. In its first phase, from 2018 through 2021, the LASS Academy…

Existing literature points to skilled facilitation as a key factor in enabling a team's success in the context of inquiry-based reform. There is little understanding, however, of "how" precisely facilitators make the needed difference. This study analyzes the moves of expert facilitators in a team-based reform found to be successful…

Middle leaders in schools are increasingly recognised as playing pivotal roles in school improvement. Although some school systems provide formal professional development for middle leaders, many middle leaders express a preference for job-embedded learning. Yet, international research has documented difficulties in providing intensive support…

This chapter will focus on the historical and cultural evolution of educational leadership in China. Based on the construction of the connotation of leadership in China, this paper analyzes especially educational leadership in governance, from macro- meso- and micro perspectives. China is considered as a traditional centralized country. But after…

This philosophical study aims to inform improvements to teacher professional development by introducing and integrating principles from the Theory of Margin. Specifically, a critique of existing professional development norms illuminates traditional offerings increase teacher load without consistent increases in teacher power, leading to the…

In chemistry, a catalyst accelerates change without being depleted. As we seek school improvement, we need sustainable, scalable changes, and therefore catalytic structures are ideal. From communities of practice to professional learning communities to Networked Improvement Communities (NICs) much has been made in the scholarly and consultancy…

"Agents of Change" is a compilation of thought-provoking insights, opinions, personal stories, and suggested actions for change in the K-12 education system in Pakistan. It validates how good schooling can alleviate poverty and advance societal development through equitable opportunity for quality education. Clear and precise proposals…

In this study, we adopted a Teacher Research Group model, a collaborative approach to teacher education that draws on the principles of numerous action research models of enquiry. More specifically, a teacher educator worked alongside an experienced physical education teacher over a three-month period to plan, teach and evaluate a series of…

A capability maturity model provides a thorough understanding of where the organization is and, perhaps more importantly, where the organization needs to grow. The purpose of this report is to describe the development of the ADL Initiative Distributed Learning Capability Maturity Model (DL-CMM), illustrate its major components, and explain how it…