The purpose of this quantitative correlational explanatory research study was to identify the relationship between lower-achieving children's standardized test scores and the low level of parental involvement in their children's education and to determine whether these variables are associated in students attending a small urban middle school…

The quality of leadership and the effectiveness of schools to deliver an appropriate education through quality teaching have been "hot" topics within education and more widely for several decades. This article provides a brief historical overview of developments in research and changing paradigms of Australian school leadership, followed…

This article profiles the 5-year-old Bronx Lab School, a shining achievement in Chancellor Joel Klein's aggressive program of creating new, small schools, almost 400 of which have opened over the past seven years. It's unprecedented anywhere in America. Bronx Lab--which shares the building with similarly sized schools focused on areas such as…

Until the turn of the 21st century, high school graduation rates in New York City hovered at or below 50 percent, much lower than state and national averages. There was widespread agreement about the need to reform the City's high schools and produce better results for students. This paper presents an independent analysis of how the high school…

Until the turn of the 21st century, high school graduation rates in New York City hovered at or below 50 percent, much lower than state and national averages. There was widespread agreement about the need to reform the City's high schools and produce better results for students. These technical appendices presented in chart form, provide…

School leadership in New Zealand has gained more attention in recent years. The New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) began collecting data on all principal advertisements in the "Education Gazette" in late 2007. This brief report analyses principal vacancies advertised in the "Education Gazette" in 2009 and…

Public high schools today are faced with the challenge of preparing a diverse student population for both post-secondary education and entering the work force. However, they are doing so under the constraints of an educational structure that was developed years ago and one that has failed to adapt to the many changes in society. Schools are…

Since the dawn of mayoral control in 2002, New York City high schools have undergone a major overhaul. Part of this reform effort has been the replacement of underperforming large high schools with new small high schools. This study more closely examines the effects of a transition to small high schools on students who are Latino and students who…

The two authors share learning gleaned from personal, classroom experiences in small schools--both cautions and assurances--for other educators who may be embarking on a similar path. We worked at two different small high school sites in the Denver Public Schools, an urban district with an ethnically diverse student population of 78,000. We…

Despite significant progress over the past fifteen years associated with School Mapping Restructure (SMR) in Chinese rural schools, many small schools have been closed or have merged with larger primary schools. This has resulted, among other things, in difficulties for many students in rural areas who now have to travel longer distances to a…

The extent to which smaller learning communities' (SLCs) focus on academic press and strong social relationships affects academic engagement among 9th graders in urban high schools was investigated. Data were collected through classroom observations, student questionnaires, and focus groups with teachers. Data were analyzed using descriptive…

Contemporary high school reforms are centered on small school size as an approach to ameliorate disengagement and underachievement of minority and economically disadvantaged students in urban comprehensive high schools. A common strategy is to reconfigure high schools into smaller subunits known as Small Learning Communities (SLCs). Although…

This study examined the relationship between various admissions selection criteria utilized by a small, Liberal Arts College in Indiana. More specifically, the study examined if a higher college preparatory GPA and a higher aggregate score on the SAT helped predict the retention of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and business…

In this report, the author constructs the first ever estimates for each state and the District of Columbia of the short-run fixed costs of educating children in public schools. He endeavors to make cautious overestimates of these short-run fixed costs. The United States' average spending per student was $12,450 in 2008-09. The author estimates…

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore alternative school administrator, teacher, and student perceptions of the factors that surround zero-tolerance discipline policies and practices, and to identify discipline alternatives that do not remove or exclude students from the school setting. A case study was…