This paper examines the ways in which credentials from a range of education providers are used to (re)produce transnational financial elites in London's international financial district. Extant research has examined the long-standing relationship between educational background and entry into these financial labour markets. Far less attention has…

Contemporary test-based reforms are often grounded in the claim that test performance is the key to international economic competitiveness. However, this oft-repeated assertion lacks empirical support. According to the World Economic Forum, the United States' recent loss of economic competitiveness standing is due to macroeconomic instability…

In this article, the author discusses the issue of credentials in reply to one of the correspondents who is confused about the credentials she needs to teach at a community college. Generally speaking, to teach in programs that award associate of arts or associate of science degrees--i.e., to teach at a community college--faculty members are…

For the past two years, Lumina Foundation for Education has been calling for the United States to increase higher education attainment rates--the proportion of the population that holds a high-quality postsecondary degree or credential--to 60 percent by the year 2025. This call--Lumina's Big Goal--has been taken up by many others. In February…

When Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg sought a leader for the New York City schools in 2002, his outside-the-box choice was Joel I. Klein, a former assistant U.S. attorney general who had no experience as a school administrator. Eight years later, in seeking a replacement for Mr. Klein, Mr. Bloomberg has tapped yet another person from outside education:…

The purpose of this study was to examine secondary social studies teachers' professional characteristics and workplace perceptions in order to better understand who represents social education in the twenty-first century. Utilizing data from the National Center for Educational Statistics Schools and Staffing Survey, parametric and non-parametric…

Four converging trends are undermining land-based campuses as the preeminent source of knowledge acquisition and certification. The emergence of the learning sciences, the wikification of knowledge, the unbundling of faculty roles, and the migration of learning online are driving fundamental institutional change toward location-independent…

A new professional credential, the Nationally Certified Educational Diagnostician (NCED), was established in 2006 for assessment specialists known as educational diagnosticians. The first cohort of 511 diagnosticians from 11 states received NCED certificates in January 2008. Discussed in this article are several issues of concern related to…

The need to dramatically increase the number of young people who gain the credentials and skills necessary to succeed in 21st century America has never been clearer. One of the most promising ideas for achieving this goal is to establish "multiple pathways" for learners that lead to a variety of high-quality postsecondary options. As New England…

While many school leaders are enticed by the benefits international teachers bring to their schools, some find the process of attracting and hiring educators from other countries to be daunting. Many of the challenges relate to visas. Procuring them can be costly and time-consuming. Additionally, the No Child Left Behind definition of a highly…

The Problem: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Vietnam's globalization on national language education policies and teacher training programs for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. Specifically, this research explored the extent to which the new policies for English language training programs adopted by the…

Many have heard calls from national policy experts, the Obama administration, and influential foundations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Lumina Foundation for Education to increase the number of Americans with postsecondary credentials earned at community colleges by 5 million within 10 years. If community colleges choose to…

Background/Context: Economic, developmental, and sociological theories and research suggest that there are benefits associated with on-time postsecondary credentialing and training for low-income parents even though this often means the management of family, work, and school while children are young. This argument is based on three conclusions…

The Obama Administration has once again demonstrated the important role community colleges play in educating the nation's workforce and boosting the nation's economy with its recently proposed Community College to Career Fund. This $8 billion fund is aimed at forging partnerships between colleges and businesses to train workers for good-paying…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of the best teaching practices (Small Group, Reading as Thinking, Representing to Learn, Classroom Workshop, Authentic Experiences, Reflective Assessment, and Integrative Units) and compare the difference between the structures and demographic variables (program size, student-teacher…