Immersion programs for teacher candidates are intended to start the process of teacher development by exposing candidates to realities and tensions of schools while giving them opportunities to create viable responses to the issues they face. Two immersion programs in Massachusetts--180 Days in Springfield and Bridges to the Future--provide new…

The article posits a paradigm for school development (SD) in the context of a developing country, which is somewhat different from the dominant SD and school improvement (SI) paradigm in the West. Within this paradigm the norm of a school-parent engagement over pedagogical issues as in the West is replaced by imperatives based on full community…

The University of West Georgia implemented a successful research-based initiative, Project DEW (Developing eCore Winners) to improve retention in its eCore courses. eCore courses are those offered through a collaborative University System of Georgia program, and includes courses required to complete the first two years of an undergraduate degree.…

China started up pilot projects for the evaluation of teaching work at regular higher education institutions (HEIs) in 1994, and, beginning in 2003, the Ministry of Education (MOE) formally set up a system of cyclical teaching evaluation. Among the 592 undergraduate colleges and universities that were listed in the plan for the first round of…

This article presents a reflective report on a project aiming to strengthen educators and improve early childhood education in Guinea-Bissau--one of the poorest countries on the African continent, where preschool teachers have no training and have to face several ongoing difficulties. Helping these Guinea-Bissau teachers to focus on curriculum…

The topic of diagnostic error is a relatively new one in the academic arena and lacks an organized research agenda. Participants at "Diagnostic Error in Medicine-2008" formally considered this issue and provided initial suggestions. Recommendations were made to standardize taxonomies and definitions, especially in regard to what constitutes a…

The ADVANCE Institutional Transformation projects are remarkably diverse in their theories of action and choice of strategies. However, faculty development plays a role in many, and it was the central change strategy chosen by Leadership Education for Advancement and Promotion (LEAP), the 2002-2008 ADVANCE project at the University of Colorado at…

Outdoor education continues to play an important role in helping to deliver the school curriculum. Recent UK government initiatives have encouraged schools to deliver more of the curriculum outside the classroom. However, teacher confidence in taking pupils outside has been negatively affected by many factors in recent years. The Hampshire…

This article argues that the focus within much normative education policy is with in-school effects which has sidelined the impact of structural and material factors in respect of the urban primary school. Educational reforms intended to improve schools are less likely to make much impact unless these contextualizing matters are directly…

"Evaluation Science Briefs" summarize the findings and implications of a recent study evaluating the effects of an early childhood program or environment. This Brief evaluates the study "An Effectiveness-Based Evaluation of Five State Pre-Kindergarten Programs" (V. C. Wong, T. D. Cook, W. S. Barnett, and K. Jung.) States have high aspirations for…

In an attempt to deal with the problem of generating the thinking skills needed for the 21st century, this article discusses how a statewide of 30 teachers developed Grade Level Foundations. The core component of the Grade Level Foundations for Social Studies consists of a set of questions that are designed to stimulate higher level thinking about…

There are both conceptual and practical challenges in dealing with data from mixed methods research studies. There is a need for discussion about various integrative strategies for mixed methods data analyses. This article illustrates integrative analytic strategies for a mixed methods study focusing on improving urban schools facing challenging…

In 1988, the Chicago public school system decentralized, granting parents and communities significant resources and authority to reform their schools in dramatic ways. To track the effects of this bold experiment, the authors of "Organizing Schools for Improvement" collected a wealth of data on elementary schools in Chicago. Over a…

The Accelerated Reader program from Renaissance Learning Inc. is a popular program implemented in elementary and middle schools across the country that encourages students to read and monitors their progress in the program. Despite its widespread use and popularity, there have been some questions about the program's effectiveness at increasing…

Using data from a self-report survey of juniors and seniors, we document statistically significant growth of a student engagement culture on our campus after a three year period following implementation of an institutional Quality Enhancement Plan. Twenty-three of 45 individual variables, scores on four of 10 multivariate engagement factors, and…