The educational landscape around standards, assessment, professional development, and funding is changing at a rapid pace. This article asks how can education institutions--and educators--respond with a balance of urgency and coherence? How can education institutions temper the need for risk-taking and innovation with the responsibility to deliver…

This paper provides information about noncredit instruction in the California Community Colleges and updates the 2009 paper "Noncredit Instruction: Opportunity and Challenge" to incorporate subsequent changes from the last decade. Since the passage of SB 361 (Scott, 2006), noncredit instruction has seen significant changes, including the…

The article argues for the participation and involvement of students in developing learning spaces within higher education. In early childhood education there is a strong emphasis upon rights, democracy and planning learning through listening to young children. Taking inspiration from this, the study explores the use of participatory approaches in…

Teacher empowerment means that teachers participate in policy decisions and have real decision-making responsibilities in the direction of their own professional activities. A description is given of an intensive 2-week, 5 hour per day instructional and workshop summer inservice program. The primary objective of this program was to develop an…

This paper discusses how the University of Minnesota's College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) is meeting challenges related to the changing nature of professional development programs, focusing on programs featuring a system of shared decision making on matters of design and governance of program elements. After a commentary about CEHD…

First Things First is a comprehensive intervention to transform low-performing public schools with high percentages of non-White and at-risk students. It encompasses major changes in school structure, instruction, and accountability and governance. The program model, which is grounded both in research and the best practices of schools serving…

The most significant finding of various commission reports is stakeholders' lack of involvement in the decisions affecting them. School board's major function is to develop processes that ensure stakeholder participation in developing and implementing a shared vision for education. Board should ensure that all competent administrators and teachers…

Analyzes various documents related to renewal of one university's preservice-teacher-education program. Describes design choices that represented significant breaks with past practice (total program planning, partner schools for all teacher candidates, operating within sustainable budgets, and shared governance) and examines resulting consequences…

This report examines political conflict in decision making in three public schools, and describes how the Teacher Participation Project (TPP), which was implemented in two of the schools, sought to minimize such conflict by institutionalizing local governance structures for teachers. The report consists of two parts. Part I investigates various…