The paper contributes to the debate on the implementation of policy reforms developing a typology for implementation based on the initial agreement on means and goals at the time of reform design. It is argued that the volume and nature of knowledge gathering and stakeholder involvement required to gain approval of a policy and avoid the…

This article outlines policies from multilateral organisations that advocate sharing best practices between developing nations. The article discusses the degree to which these best practices are implemented by small states as indicated by teachers, academics and policymakers in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. For the purpose of this article, a…

Hong Kong is traditionally an examination-oriented culture, a legacy of its Confucian heritage. Since the 1990s, the Hong Kong government has shown its determination to make a change to this deep-rooted examination-oriented culture with assessment for learning highlighted as an important aspect in the reform agenda. Although many initiatives have…

Objective: To investigate the attitudes of the main stakeholders towards the introduction of sex education in schools in Russia. Design: Qualitative semi-structured interview study. Setting: Altai Krai, Volgograd Oblast, Moscow, Russian Federation. Participants: One hundred and fifty-three interviews with Intersectoral HIV/AIDS Committee members,…

The renewal of IDEA (2004) produced a number of changes in the identification process for children with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs). The requirement that students must present a severe discrepancy between IQ and academic performance has been modified to allow for a more flexible problem-solving approach commonly labeled "Response to…

This document is a synthesis of the key points provided in the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Early Childhood Transition FAQs: SPP/APR indicators C-8 and B-12 released on December 1, 2009. It was developed to assist states with the implementation of effective transition policies and practices. The following is included: (1) Transition…

For many years, there have been efforts to promote the development of national standards for education in the United States. In the Spring of 2010, the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) completed a project to develop Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Leading education organizations, such…

California's Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 established transitional kindergarten (TK), the first year of a two-year kindergarten program for students affected by the change in the birthdate cutoff for entry into kindergarten from December 2 to September 1. This fifth short report in a series highlighting findings from the Study of…

In 2011, Indiana's legislature reshaped the state's education policy landscape with a package of laws that enabled local leaders to make swift and potentially sweeping changes to district and school operations. The Hoosier State's reforms, dubbed by supporters as the "Putting Students First" agenda, provide a valuable case study of the…

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a federal program to provide additional assistance to academically struggling students in high-poverty areas, has long contained a provision called the "supplement-not-supplant" requirement. This provision was designed to ensure Title I funds were spent on extra educational services…

Whether and to what extent we are in the process of reconstructing higher education following the Bologna Process orientation is the issue underpinning this article. To address this issue, the authors consider data from an exploratory survey conducted in a Portuguese university, focusing on the field of education. They take into account the…

This article examines school removals and transitions among nine special education students. First, the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the local school discipline policy and special education contexts are discussed. Next, drawing from participants' narrative accounts, the ways in which policy mandates and contextual…

This article proposes an applied theoretical framework that could assist education reformers in Confucian heritage culture (CHC) countries to adopt Western-developed learning practices successfully. This framework is needed because the literature has recently documented a large number of failures in educational reforms at CHC colleges. The main…

Nearly every state has signed on to use the Common Core State Standards as a framework for teaching English/language arts and mathematics to students. Translating them for the classroom, however, requires schools, teachers, and students to change the way they approach teaching and learning. This report examines the progress some states have made…

While the literature on professional learning communities (PLCs) has proliferated, much of it derived from and contextualised in Anglo-American settings, the concept and practice of PLCs in Asian contexts of strong hierarchies have largely been ignored. Based on literature and documentary analysis, this paper investigates the systemic…