The author enjoyed reading Katharine Hay's ambitious and humbling visions for evaluation field building in South Asia. She has successfully positioned herself on a high mountain with a wonderful set of binoculars that enable her to see the entire evaluation landscape of South Asia. She magically sees and describes significant historical forces and…

The internet of the mid-to-late 1990s was defined by static web pages created by people with specialized technical skills. Today, that barrier has been all but eliminated with the emergence of easy-to-use online tools for creating and sharing content. "Web 2.0," or the read/write web, has dramatically altered the way we communicate and share…

Current teacher accountability initiatives such as those included in the "No Child Left Behind" legislation in the United States create particular difficulties that impact deleteriously on the performance of professional educators. The quality of public education is undermined when teachers are held accountable to an external authority…

In the field of education, measuring the quality of teaching has reached a level of critical concern not only in K-12 academic education but also in the field of Career and Technical Education (CTE). Measuring the quality of teaching is integral to maintaining high standards. The state of Mississippi recognized a need for a systematic way to…

School districts are moving toward a new form of management in which superintendents need to form and nurture leadership teams. A study of 25 such teams in Connecticut suggests that a team's effectiveness is maximized when the team members are coached by other team members, not the superintendent, and when they are coached on task-related…

Schools throughout the nation are hiring "coaches" and deploying them in schools in a multitude of ways that may not improve instruction and rarely impact student learning. But heeding the roles and relationships of coaches enhances the likelihood that they will be able to influence school culture, professional learning, and, ultimately, student…

The presence of career change students in teacher education programs is neither new nor unusual. Despite this, there is a lack of research into the experiences of such people as student teachers. In this paper, the experiences of one career change student teacher, Michelle, and the ways in which she constructed her new professional identity as a…

Legal studies faculty need to take the long view in their academic and professional lives. Taking the long view would seem to be a cliched piece of advice, but too frequently legal studies faculty, like their students, get focused on meeting the next short-term hurdle--getting through the next class, grading the next stack of papers, making it…

The study examines the professional development of junior-high-school teachers participating in the Israeli "Katom" (Computer for Every Class, Student and Teacher) Program, begun in 2004. A three-circle support and training model was developed for teachers' professional development. The first circle applies to all teachers in the…

In the present paper, education reform in the Republic of Serbia since 2000 is presented. The focus is on two major reform waves: 2000-2003 and 2004-2005. We analyse why these broad educational interventions failed. After 2005, there was a lull in the reform process, a period with no major changes (2005-2010). A new phase of improving education…

Inclusion is an educational approach providing students with special needs with education in normal classrooms, which is the least restrictive educational environment for them by offering the necessary services for full time or part time. Although the necessary laws and regulations appear to execute this inclusive practice properly in Turkey,…

When professional learning communities (PLCs) are developed to promote the academic achievement of English language learners (ELLs), the results can benefit not only ELLs but the whole school. This article examines the ventures of three high schools that implemented PLCs as part of a Title III National Professional Development Project. The authors…

The problem of beginning teacher attrition is costly to school districts and to the teaching profession in many ways. Teacher preparation programs, such as the elementary education program at Worcester State University (WSU), can potentially contribute to lessening the number of beginning teachers who leave the profession. Therefore, the purpose…

The National High School Center's "Eight Elements of High School Improvement: A Mapping Framework" provides a cohesive high school improvement framework comprised of eight elements and related indicators of effectiveness. These indicators of effectiveness allow states, districts, and schools to identify strengths and weaknesses of their current…

Some families, parents and children included, may not be fully prepared or aware as they enter into the commitment of a dual-immersion language elementary education experience. One factor crucial for a dual-immersion program to meet its objectives, parents and students must commit to a minimum of five to six years of their elementary education to…