Professional development (PD) has generally been associated with the learning opportunities teachers avail externally. However, the latest trends propagate grounding PD activities in the work place with the assumption that such shift will not only enable teachers to be engaged in ongoing learning but also help them to find contextual solutions for…

This critical narrative study examined the disconnect between special education law and practice in the rural Desert/Mountain region of Southern California. The Desert/Mountain region encompasses over 18,000 square miles, creating a geographic isolation that impacts special education service delivery and implementation of Individualized Education…

This article examines how a small, regional comprehensive university located in a geographically isolated context reinvigorated its master's degree in reading. The process began with articulating a vision for the program that was centered in understanding the unique geographic context of the region. Coherent program goals were then developed to…

This paper discusses human relationships with the natural world in Japanese educational policy. Based on two case studies, we argue that policy must recognize the cultural and spiritual ties that people in Japan have fostered in order to live well, which this paper considers to be part of "re-wilding education policy." We briefly review…

Geographically isolated in the south-west Pacific but intellectually and culturally connected to Western Europe, Aotearoa New Zealand's early childhood education sector is a unique mix of influences. The imprint of progressive education is evident in a legacy of "free play" programmes, yet its national curriculum is built on the…

In 2008, Western North Dakota experienced an extraordinary energy boom, creating waves of new residents seeking employment in the lucrative oil fields. Resultantly, many communities in the area, which were almost exclusively isolated and rural, dramatically changed. The purpose of this qualitative single-case study was to investigate the…

This article outlines a research study into the perceptions of a small sample of New Zealand school leaders about the nature of leading in a high-needs school environment. Reflective data collected from leaders indicated that a broad-based concept of high needs centred on the socially disadvantaged world of families, student-related factors both…

This article draws on the outcomes of a 4-year project where complex instruction was used as the basis for a reform in mathematics teaching in remote Aboriginal communities in Australia. The article describes the overall project in terms of the goals and aspirations for learning mathematics among remote Indigenous Australians. Knowing that the…

This study focuses on a professional development program for science teachers near or on American Indian reservations in Montana. This program was framed by culturally relevant pedagogy premises and was characterized by instructional strategies and content foci resulting from the intersection between three cultures: tribal, science teaching, and…

This article describes how teachers who were once isolated by distance and the nature of their jobs are connecting across schools in online professional learning communities. While riding the wave of technology, St. Mary's County Public Schools in Leonardtown, Maryland, is providing a connection for teachers that extends beyond school walls.…

Network learning supported by 21-century technology is reweaving the fabric of how educators acquire and create new knowledge. At the Alaska Educational Innovations Network (AEIN), educators believe this has the potential to change how a profession looks at professional development. They have learned that using technology to support networks…

Impoverished populations and schools in rural areas face special challenges that are different from other settings. Among these are the distances from social services, the sparse availability of assistance programs, and the shortage of resources to support educational programs and student learning. Rural schools, do, however, have assets that can…

Policies for creating a nonracial, democratic education system in South Africa are spawning implementation issues that reflect change and resistance to change in schools. This paper reports on a multiple-year ethnographic study in two contrasting schools in QwaQwa, South Africa. Faculty, administrators, and students were observed and interviewed…

Wales must overcome political, social, economic, and cultural exclusion in developing a response to European education and training initiatives. Democratic funding and accountability are needed to enable Wales to benefit from the new Europe. (SK)

This paper reports on the second phase of multiple-year research in the Phuthaditjhaba schools of QwaQwa, South Africa, which is studying implementation issues related to educational transformation. Investigated was the extent to which educational reforms in these schools address language rights as human rights, reduce backlogs, and promote…