As algorithmic decision-making and data collection become pervasive in higher education, how can educators make sense of the systems that shape life and learning in the twenty-first century? This paper outlines a systematic literature review that investigated gaps in the current framing of data and faculty development, and explores how these gaps…

In the wake of neo-liberal informed global trends to set performance standards and intensify accountability, the Dutch government aimed for 'raising standards for basic skills'. While the implementation of literacy standards was hardly noticed, the introduction of numeracy standards caused a major backlash in secondary schools, which ended in a…

Several challenges faced by humanity, such as the world food problem, migration flows or climate change, are all taught about in geography courses worldwide. Behind these challenges are complex systems consisting of several interrelated causes and consequences. In order to better understand these highly complex geographical systems, a systems…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide advice to organizations on how to become successful in the digital age. The paper revisits Peter Senge's (1990) notion of the learning organization and discusses the relevance of systems thinking and the other four disciplines, namely, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision and team learning…

This paper draws on recent research in Europe and England to discuss the politics of accountability. It is suggested that, as policies in education are increasingly focused on delivering technical-managerial accountability, that is accountability understood as evidenced in international, national, institutional and individual comparative measures…

Deficits and problematic or fractured support systems are causing parents of autistic children to return to the foundational education system in this country: the homeschool. Since the CDC identified in 2016 that about 1 in 54 children live with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there is an ever-intensifying need to investigate and identify reasons…

Public school districts have been operating under a decade's long press to move beyond functioning as engines of access-oriented mass public schooling to functioning as instructionally focused education systems pursuing educational excellence and equity. This press has researchers developing analytic frameworks useful for examining different ways…

Public school districts have been operating under a decade's long press to move beyond functioning as engines of access-oriented mass public schooling to functioning as instructionally focused education systems pursuing educational excellence and equity. This press has researchers developing analytic frameworks useful for examining different ways…

Maturity models fill the need for a measure of overall growth in how outcomes assessment is defined and how feedback informs improvement to meet internal and external expectations at individual institutions of higher education. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted to develop an instrument, the Assessment System Maturity Matrix (ASMM), to…

This chapter analyzes research of gender-inclusive housing policies at four-year institutions and current policies at two-year institutions using open systems theory to provide recommendations on how practitioners can best utilize these policies to create a greater inclusive campus environment.

Librarians have moved beyond traditional information literacy instruction to an environment in which they create strong partnerships with the campus faculty, community, and beyond. The article addresses these specialized partnerships in a unique library program, providing an overview of newly formed educational initiatives at the Georgia Tech…

Education is a complex system, which has conceptual and methodological implications for education research and policy. In this article, an overview is first provided of the Complex Systems Conceptual Framework for Learning (CSCFL), which consists of a set of conceptual perspectives that are generally shared by educational complex systems,…

This exploratory paper seeks to shed light on the methodological challenges of education systems research. There is growing consensus that interventions to improve learning outcomes must be designed and studied as part of a broader system of education, and that learning outcomes are affected by a complex web of dynamics involving different inputs,…

This article, which presents an interdisciplinary research agenda grounded in a constructivist institutional approach, begins by unpacking relevant terms. It explains the new institutional approach in political science that simultaneously narrows the focus and broadens the scope of political research by encouraging a return to the…

A new vision set forth by the "Framework for K-12 Science Education" (National Research Council, 2012) highlights the importance of developing students' abilities to think about systems as opposed to isolated facts. However, little evidence exists on how to foster students' conceptualization of systems. It has been argued that…