This report is the second installment (Wave II) of the longitudinal study examining the perceptions and experiences of services under the National Quality Framework (NQF) with respect to their level of regulatory burden. The Wave II perception survey was conducted in February and March 2014. The findings in this report are divided into two themes:…

Not long ago, public education in Ontario, Canada, was in deep trouble. Student achievement was stagnating, labor disruptions were rampant, and public satisfaction with the schools was low. In 2003, a new provincial government initiated a series of reforms that embodied a positive, outcome-focused agenda for public education. Today, student…

Alberta Education is currently considering options for enhancing health and learning outcomes of students and is exploring opportunities to develop new wellness-related curriculum. This literature review is a component of this exploratory process that will inform curriculum development and was undertaken to: (1) provide a comprehensive review of…

Literacy has become much more than just the ability to read: recent literature related to literacy instruction suggests that an essential goal is to develop in students the ability to think deeply about what they read and to express themselves accurately and expressively in all contexts. There is a growing acceptance of the importance of lifelong…

Like never before, today's classroom teachers routinely are being asked to collaboratively analyze student data, develop or implement new mandated curricula, and assess the effectiveness of these innovations. Ironically, few preservice preparatory or in-service professional development programs actively train classroom instructors in the use of…

In 2002 the New Labour government launched the Academies programme (known initially as City Academies) with the target of 400, of which 200 are to opened by 2010. The espoused aim has been to tackle underachievement and encourage diversity of provision. However, it continues to be a controversial policy that is being driven by the Specialist…

In this article, we review research from the organizational sciences to develop lessons for educators and policy makers. The approach is an integrative review of the literature. We employ a comprehensive process to unpack and make sense of the turnaround literature from the organizational sciences. We rely on strategies appropriate for document…

There has been increased interest in retention and completion with regard to tertiary student outcomes in relation to students' successful completion of their study and what influences this. In New Zealand, the government through the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) has made it clear that it expects institutions to meet retention and completion…

In 2003, the California State University, Northridge (CSUN) undertook the challenge of becoming a learning-centered institution. In a 2005 article, the authors discussed how the learning-centered model at CSUN has renewed its previous, scattered efforts at student retention. In this article, the authors describe the transformation that occurred at…

Under the leadership of Tony Blair New Labour committed itself to raise standards, tackle educational failure and use education to combat disadvantage. This paper examines New Labour's approaches to school improvement, particularly the origins and enactment of "zero tolerance" strategies, the different groups of schools identified as…

This study examined principals' knowledge and perceptions of second language programs for English language learners (ELLs) operating in their schools. An open-ended survey and in-depth interviews were used to examine elementary school principals' knowledge of the second language programs implemented at their schools. The survey asked principals…

Forty years ago, the National Center for Education Statistics initiated the national longitudinal studies program in response to congressional concern for policy-relevant information on school-to-work transitions. This program has grown substantially, and not unexpectedly, questions have arisen about its usefulness and present operation. This…

This report for Estonia forms part of the OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools. The purpose of the review is to explore how school resources can be governed, distributed, utilised and managed to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education. School resources are understood in a broad way,…

This study tracks students' progression through developmental math sequences and defines progression as both attempting and passing each level of the sequence. A model of successful progression in developmental education was built utilizing individual-, institutional-, and developmental math-level factors. Employing step-wise logistic regression…

The current U.S. education agenda places unprecedented attention on improving the quality of its roughly fifteen hundred teacher preparation programs. The effort places considerable weight on measuring program effectiveness and includes a push to hold programs accountable for their graduates' effects on student performance. Concerns regarding the…