Leadership in education is much like leadership in business and government. Three problems in particular make education seem different, including the almost constant pressure, the politics of the job, and state and federal regulations. But these are similar to problems faced by leaders in other organizations. However, education leaders must take…

School voucher and education tax credit programs have proliferated in the United States over the past 2 decades. Advocates have argued that they will enable families to become active consumers in a free and competitive education marketplace, but some fear that these programs may bring a heavy regulatory burden that could stifle market forces.…

State-level battles over changes in education policy have shifted in many places from legislative chambers to courthouses, as unions and other critics of new laws challenge them on the grounds that they violate state constitutions and worker contracts. Republican governors and lawmakers--their ranks bolstered by the 2010 elections--won passage…

Innovation is often driven by crisis, and Rutter (2011) began her chapter by reminding everyone of the crisis confronting the United States in the early 1980s and how that provided impetus for the development of professional development schools (PDSs). In a complementary companion chapter, Neapolitan and Levine (2011) take the reader through…

Community-based frail older adults, burdened with complex medical and social needs, are at great risk for preventable rapid rehospitalizations. Although federal and state regulations are in place to address the care transitions between the hospital and nursing home, no such guidelines exist for the much larger population of community-dwelling…

Spending by states and local school districts on school construction has increased dramatically over the last decade, not only because more and higher-quality schools are being built, but also because construction costs have increased by an unprecedented degree. Many states struggle to afford the new schools needed in local communities. The…

Until recently, there has been little guidance in the professional literature with respect to counseling minors outside of the school setting. Although most authors suggest referring to state statutes for legal limits of counseling practice, little research exists describing these requirements in Alabama. The purpose of this literature and…

Instrumental music teaching occupies a significant portion of the protean career of a musician. Musicians teach their instrument in schools, conservatoires and in private studios. The aim of this paper is to identify educational opportunities available for the education of musicians as instrumental music teachers, to discuss issues associated with…

In a daylong meeting broadcast online this month, David B. Ashley, the president of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, was repeatedly grilled, and then publicly demoted, during a contentious gathering of the university system's Board of Regents. The dressing-down followed months of public disputes over the conduct of Mr. Ashley's wife and…

Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004 and the IDEA regulations issued in 2006 revised the requirements for identifying students under the category of specific learning disabilities (SLD). Each state must adopt criteria based on the new requirements for determining whether a child has an SLD and local…

This article examines the recent expansion of the federal role into teacher workforce policy, primarily as embodied by the Race to the Top Fund of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Such recent federal teacher workforce policy reflects an important expansion of the federal role into a policy domain that deserves more attention. The…

Teacher effectiveness is known to be a critical factor in student learning and success. California has made some notable efforts to strengthen teaching, but the most coherent state-level initiatives have been limited to the earliest stages of teachers' careers. After the credentialing and induction phase, state policy does virtually nothing to…

Voters in Ohio sent an unequivocal message to the state's Republican governor and lawmakers that they went too far in reining in collective bargaining for teachers and other public employees. But analysts say the conflict between the GOP and teachers' unions in Ohio and elsewhere is not over. By an overwhelming, 22-percentage-point margin,…

The 2013 Thought Leaders Symposium, sponsored in part by DTZ, a UGL company, and Jacobs, focused on the topic of the rising cost of higher education. More than three dozen higher education leaders--including presidents, provosts, business officers, consultants, association executives, and facilities professionals--participated in a facilitated…

There is no evidence that physically restraining or putting children in unsupervised seclusion in the K-12 school system provides any educational or therapeutic benefit to a child. In fact, use of either seclusion or restraints in non-emergency situations poses significant physical and psychological danger to students. Yet the first round of data…