The purpose of this research is to investigate predictive relationships among student characteristics that influence motivation for learning and achievement. A non-Western sample was chosen to test the generalisability of findings outside the Western cultural and social models. The participants were 6,539 students from 14 public high schools…

The purpose of the research reported in this paper was to develop a preliminary factorial structure of high school history teachers' perceptions on the most important elements of successful history teaching. The 54-item Teaching American History Perception and Behavior Questionnaire was developed and administered to high school American history…

At the heart of many current debates about curriculum and curriculum policy is an inadequately conceptualized and articulated notion of teachers' professional discretion. This paper begins to detail a normative and descriptive theory of the social and individual conditions required for the development of professional discretion. A better…

A dialectical, or mutually informing and influencing, relationship exists between research, programmes for development and improved teaching and learning. Among a raft of other attributes, current perceptions of effective professional development (summarised in the paper) point to deep, collaborative, active and ongoing features as important. Such…

In this paper, the authors describe an agenda for future research in religious education in Europe, originating from their experiences in the Russian Federation, and discuss a project, facilitated by the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, that explores greater "intercultural" and…

In this presentation we will examine the situation of English as a Second Language (ESL) program managers, many of whom are charged with the responsibility of marketing their programs and recruiting students internationally, often with little or no training in how to do so (Eaton, 2005). Not only are they set forth ill-prepared, the repercussions…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

For more than 50 years, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) has been conducting comparative studies of educational achievement in a number of curriculum areas, including mathematics and science. TIMSS 2011 represents the fifth cycle of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS),…

This is a summary of work done as part of a multiyear series of professional development engagements between staff in an urban school district and staff of the Urban Education Project at Research for Better Schools. The content section of this report describes the Urban Learner Framework (ULF), a model of the urban learner synthesized from…

In all forms of workplaces administrators have been exhorted to introduce what are perceived to be the "best practices" operating in the more successful economies. The education "industry" in Australia appears to be no different in this regard from other industries. Invariably, the "best practices" proposed for the…

This book contains a collection of papers written by students involved in the Educational Management Project for South Africa. The project was established to introduce selected South Africans to theories and practices in educational management in an international comparative context. The papers focus on priorities for educational change and…

When the University of Georgia's Department of Educational Leadership was formed from the merger of two earlier departments, the new entity developed an innovative doctoral program in educational leadership that incorporated principles of problem-based and student-based learning. The program was designed to promote the values, knowledge, and…

This report presents information collected at a pre-conference roundtable on various aspects of mentoring programs which are seen as a potential solution to the staffing crisis in early childhood education. Part 1 defines the terms "mentoring" and "mentoring programs." It describes the nature of the relationship between mentors…

This research describes how the Pemnatapan Kerja Guru (PKG) Project in Indonesia developed into one of the largest continuing inservice programs in the world. Working with UNESCO and UNICEF, the Ministry of Education began a radical innovation of inservice training of secondary teachers already in the classrooms. Beginning with science teachers in…

Development planning has recently become a commonly adopted strategy for school improvement in the United Kingdom. Development planning is a description and more formal explication of the process and actions required to plan and manage change with the intention of improving the school. The chapters in this book report on the "state of the…