In this article, the author illustrates how three campuses have, in their own way, attempted to bring coherence to the student experience and enrich that experience by more closely matching what was promised to what each student actually experiences while enrolled. Fulfilling students' expectations that were purposefully articulated in the mission…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop and evaluate a service quality measurement scale for a secondary school setting in Mauritius. Design/methodology/approach: Research was conducted in two stages. First, a focus group method with the educators was used to identify the service quality dimensions and scale items. Study 2 used the…

This article draws on data collected from a series of semi-structured interviews with headteachers and other stakeholders on the use of the Pupil Premium in Ofsted-rated outstanding schools. It has a focus on the significance of fundamental principles in determining how effective use is made of additional resources. In particular, the importance…

Higher education institutions (HEI) are established to address human resource needs by producing graduates with the relevant knowledge, skills and attitude for the labour market and improving the country's ability to maximize its long-term economic, social and political developments. The fetters of higher education are the challenges bedeviling…

Background/Context: Prior research has investigated the literacy achievement gap with particular focus on ethnically and linguistically diverse students' performance. This study extends that research by examining the relationships among classroom instructional practices, school priorities, and district policies in higher performing schools.…

This project considers the common practice of using a single measure of school value-added as a sufficient characterization of the effectiveness of public high schools. By making the definition of a school's "causal effect" more explicit--and then modifying that definition--the author explores whether a single value-added measure is…

Clearly, low performing, and especially failing schools, are a high priority concern for policy makers. And it is evident that fundamental systemic changes are necessary. The authors contend that it is essential that policy makers move to a three-component framework for turning around, transforming, and continuously improving schools. The third…

American educators are expected to be partners in the rearing of our children, with crucial roles in children's intellectual and moral development both. We therefore must find thoughtfully balanced ways of assessing school performance and engineering school reform. In this essay, a high school principal reflects on recent accountability reforms in…

Educators, researchers, politicians, and the media have committed considerable time, attention, and effort to chronically low-performing schools. Although many have chided the schools for their unacceptable performance or designed strategies to improve them, few have sought to understand how these schools became chronically low-performing in the…

Lawyers are among the most unhappy, least respected wealthy people in America. There are, no doubt, many reasons for the morale crisis in the legal profession. After all, not many people like lawyers. Further, many aspects of legal work are objectively stressful. Litigation is rife with conflict even in the most courteous jurisdictions, and trials…

My aim in this paper is to show the relevance of an "effective semiotics"; that is, a field study based upon Peirce's semiotics. The general context of this investigation is educational semiotics rather than semiotics of teaching: I am concerned with a general approach of educational processes, not with skills and curricula. My paper is…

Since the adoption of the first charter school law in Minnesota in 1991, charter schools have received considerable attention from policy makers, parents, educators, and the media. In the United States, at the national level, three consecutive presidents--Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama--have actively supported charters. Given the…

Turning around chronically low-performing schools is challenging work requiring fundamental rethinking of the change process, and a systemic rather than school-by-school approach. Without a doubt, high-impact school leaders are critical to turnaround success, and pockets of success around the country demonstrate this. However, transformational and…

The article proposes a functional approach as a framework for the analysis of human well-being. The model posits that the adaptive role of hedonic feelings is to regulate stability and homeostasis in human systems, and that these feelings basically are created in states of equilibrium or assimilation. To regulate change and growth, a distinct set…

School districts are spending millions on tutoring outside regular school day hours for economically and academically disadvantaged students in need of extra academic assistance. Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), parents of children in persistently low-performing schools were allowed to choose their child's tutoring provider, and together with…