Learning to use improvement science -- a structured process for planning, implementing, and studying change efforts -- takes time. That time is a worthwhile investment for schools aiming to shift teaching and learning, but it can be a barrier in schools that are often beset by leadership turnover. How can schools, and external partners, address…

Given their proximity to local problems; deep engagement with educators, students, and other community stakeholders; and emphasis on recognizing systemic factors that produce school-level outcomes, improvement networks and the tools of improvement science offer unique equity affordances. Despite considerable and rapidly shifting environmental…

Purpose: We analyse the practices of distributed leadership exercised by principals in two Spanish primary schools. We provide evidence in this area. The study is framed in the Spanish context, in which autonomy is limited and the trend from the administration is the promotion of a distributed leadership model. Design/methodology/approach: We…

Using administrative data of center-based child care providers in North Carolina from 2005 to 2018, we provide the first direct evidence on the effects of competition on provider quality and student outcomes in the context of early care and education, taking advantage of quality measures from the state's Quality Rating and Improvement System…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ways school leaders perceive and engage in community-focused, activist leadership in response to community needs. We rely on a critical qualitative research design that draws on critical urban theory. Sources of data include a pilot focus group, semi-structured in-depth interviews with activist…

Although greater instructional coherence is associated with improved teaching and learning, the empirical evidence on leadership practices that build instructional coherence remains limited. This article explores the experiences of a school principal returning to K-12 education with a focus on leading for equitable teaching and learning. The…

This case study examines how one school district in California scaled a structured, data-driven approach to teacher collaboration to improve instruction and student outcomes districtwide. Over the last 8 years, Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) has implemented the Professional Learning Community (PLC) at Work model across all schools in…

Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, college and career readiness became the central focus of education policy in the United States. Career academies (CAs) are a popular way to support students in their postsecondary transitions, but little causal evidence exists about whether this model of schooling is effective in promoting learning and…

The passage of Bill 23 aims to improve academic success and excellence in education. However, it is part of a legislative continuum which has led to a growing surveillance and control of the Quebec education system in the hands of the minister of education. This centralization opens the door to ideological management which undermines the education…

From the 1960s until his death in 1997, Albert Shanker was a major force in expanding the labor movement, defending and improving public education, and fighting for all people to live freely in democracies. As president of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), he became known…

School-choice policies are expected to generate healthy competition between schools, leading to improvements in school quality and better outcomes for students. However, the empirical literature testing this assumption yields mixed findings. This systematic review and meta-analysis tests this theory by synthesizing the empirical literature on the…

Higher education quality and standards are rarely far from the headlines or ministerial speeches. This Policy Note considers the important -- and changing -- role of England's governing bodies in academic governance, as they are expected to provide increased assurance that standards are being maintained or enhanced. The author suggests some…

Research has extensively linked teacher collaborative work with opportunities for both explicit and implicit professional development. However, while teachers work together more often than before, little is known about how workplace collaborative contexts are structured in terms of who and how frames the problems of practice. Drawing on an…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the system of factors influencing the efficiency of internal evaluation in Polish secondary schools. Design/methodology/approach: Data collected in interviews with evaluation experts and teachers on the barriers to the efficiency of internal evaluation and their causes were subjected to a…

Education professionals face myriad problems of practice, especially in the face of current trauma, injustice, and other stressors. To address those challenges, educators should work collaboratively to target the sources, not just the symptoms, of the problems. Asking why can begin to surface root causes, which may be related to systems,…