In this article, David Conley focuses on how to assess meaningful learning in ways that promote student achievement while simultaneously meeting system accountability needs. The article draws upon research that supports the notion that a major shift in educational assessment is needed in order to encourage and evaluate the kind of learning that…

The Whole Education National Network is a dynamic national not-for-profit partnership of schools and organisations that believe that all children and young people are entitled to an education that supports the development of wider skills, qualities and characteristics to enable them to thrive in life, learning and work, as well as conventional…

This article looks closely at the talk of two pre-service teachers over time to examine how they used language as a way of rehearsing their evolving agency as literacy educators. Drawing on critical sociocultural theory, I use Agency Tracing to highlight how pre-service teachers' agentic actions are not isolated phenomena but ones developed and…

A new approach to researching school effects on higher education participation is proposed here, which combines insights from the school effectiveness field of research with sociological theories and concepts of schooling. In doing so, it draws attention to some of the problems with the dominant approach often taken in this area and attempts to…

Teachers today operate in highly politicized accountability environments where quick results, typically measured by K-12 test scores, are demanded. Although focusing on student learning outcomes is critical, equally essential is assuring that teacher learning opportunities which can strengthen instruction are available to teachers. A decade ago,…

In recent years, the idea of the contribution of education to citizenship has been reinitiated. The purpose of this paper is to investigate constructions of citizenship as they are articulated in European policy documents on teacher education. It is indicated that the normative form of active citizenship is put into play through the individual and…

Global economic and advanced capitalist agendas have taken on ideological dimensions that are flat, precise and which assert "undeniable" facts. These agendas are gradually shaping a society and its education based on consumerism and a global economic order which is "not accidentally or superficially spectacular, it is fundamentally…

California is in the midst of the nation's most significant current overhaul of a state school funding and accountability system. This paper examines the state's recent reforms enacted through the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) against the new accountability framework articulated by Linda Darling-Hammond, Gene Wilhoit, and Linda Pittenger in…

Within the school curriculum, the emphasis placed on creativity and creative learning has shifted back and forth over the decades and this has influenced classroom practice. One of the more recent initiatives, that of Creative Partnerships (CPs), has sought to put creativity back at the centre of pupils' learning. In this article, the impact of…

Development of motivation and self-regulated learning skills can take classroom management beyond the role of maintaining order in the classroom to empower students and teachers for lifetime learning. The authors describe self-regulated learning, student strategies, and the classroom structure that supports motivation and self-regulation.

This article investigates 8-and 9-year-old girls' use of the popular game "Minecraft" at home and school, particularly the ways in which they performatively "bring themselves into being" through talk and digital production in the social spaces of the classroom and within the game's multiplayer online world. We explore how the…

Institutional accreditation in higher education holds universities accountable through external evaluation; at the same time, accreditation constitutes an opportunity for higher education leaders to demonstrate the quality of their institutions. In an increasingly global field of higher education, in which quality practices become diffused across…

The author draws on his extensive experience helping lead Congress's education efforts and later a highly respected education research concern to propose a new approach to federal education policy that expands and transforms the federal role. This new approach would significantly expand federal aid to schools that is not restricted to particular…

Since 1998, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities in Ontario, Canada, has required that data on specific key performance indicators (KPIs) be made public by its publicly funded universities. The information is intended to be used by universities to demonstrate their achievements, to improve their programmes and services, and to…

Educators at all levels care deeply about helping students succeed academically, graduate on time, and emerge from school well prepared for college and careers. Today's emphasis on holding schools accountable for failure--while necessary--is at best a means to an end. Findings from local and statewide accountability systems can help state…