Neither the proponents of district-based reforms nor supporters of choice and competition can claim that their solutions have produced the schools that we want. To move forward, we must shake off assumptions that tried-and-true responses will deliver the reforms that schools need. To achieve the desired results will require fostering the…

Australia has been one of the countries to most enthusiastically embrace the neo-liberal conditions conducive to the dismantling of equitably provided public schooling. The article argues that part of the explanation for the absence of any effective challenge to this trajectory lies in the contradictory nature of the Australian identity. The…

Observations were conducted in three county councils to find out whether the government's ambition to develop Learning Disability Partnership Boards (as expressed in the White Paper "Valuing people") are being realized. All the partnerships practiced various inclusive activities in order to involve people with learning disabilities in…

This article examines the challenges faced by a Portuguese technical university that is striving to develop its research base within a developing science, technology and higher education system. The paper identifies lack of resources, and also organizational factors, as particular challenges. These include faculty inbreeding, career structures and…

The fatal shootings at Northern Illinois University this month were shocking yet familiar. For the second time in 10 months, a student with a record of mental-health problems went on a killing spree at a large public university. Ever since a disturbed student fatally shot 32 students and professors at Virginia Tech last April, college…

Doctoral students trained today will soon join faculties in the nation's more than three thousand colleges and universities. The preparation these students receive while in their doctoral programs will influence the ways they prioritize research, teaching, and service. In this article, the authors report findings from an evaluation of a…

The article tracks the evolution of the English school finance system from 1988 to 2007. Three main periods are distinguished: Establishing Local Management of Schools (1988-1997); New Labour and Consolidation (1997-2002); and Centralizing Labour (2002-2007). Three key criteria are applied in assessing the system--efficiency, equity and…

The primary purpose of "National CrossTalk" is to stimulate informed discussion and debate of higher education issues. This issue contains the following articles: (1) The Celtic Tiger: Ireland Invests Heavily in Higher Education, and Benefits Mightily (Jon Marcus); (2) Western Classic: Nevada's James Rogers Is a Non-Traditional…

By almost any measure, Florida lags its peers and the nation in the resources available to accomplish the mission of its public university system. Data definitions vary among states and among the major surveys of state finances, but the State University System fares poorly no matter how the facts are analyzed. All postsecondary institutions that…

The recent court decision in Ohio requires that school districts spend a sufficient amount to insure that students are able to meet outcome objectives. Determination of adequate spending is complicated by the influence that fixed socioeconomic factors have on outcome provision; adequate spending will vary depending on the harshness of the…

A considerable sum of money is allocated to UK universities on the basis of Research Assessment Exercise performance. In this paper we analyse the impact of the two main funding models on the intra-territorial and intra-regional allocation of funds. We also examine the effect of the present system of territorial safety nets and discuss the impact…

In recent years, propensity score matching (PSM) has gained attention as a potential method for estimating the impact of public policy programs in the absence of experimental evaluations. In this study, we evaluate the usefulness of PSM for estimating the impact of a program change in an educational context (Tennessee's Student Teacher Achievement…

Today, it is increasingly difficult for states to adequately satisfy the demand for well-funded and quality public services, such as K-12 education by relying exclusively on traditional, broad-based taxes for fiscal support. State sponsored lotteries are an increasingly popular, non-traditional revenue stream for public education. There is in many…

Roemer's [Roemer, J. (1998). "Equality of opportunity". Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.] seminal work on equality of opportunity has contributed to the emergence of a theory of justice that is modern, conceptually clear and easy to mobilize in policy design. Inspired by Roemer's theory, this paper is fundamentally a…

Using case studies of four schools in three districts, this article explores how leadership is distributed in districts and asks about the role of teacher leaders. It proposes that teacher leaders and districts can share three leadership tasks: procuring and distributing materials, monitoring improvement, and developing people. The district and…