Many governments attempt to improve national higher education through the competitive support of universities. These policy approaches raise questions about the impact on the entire system--both in research and educational--of targeted support for a small number of universities. Addressing challenges in the measurement of university excellence…

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a research project conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which evaluates the knowledge and skills gained by 15-year-old students over three-year terms. Within this study's' scope, the PISA 2015 data were analysed to determine whether school-related…

To help inform continuous improvement efforts across Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Detroit (AOD), the Catholic Identity Program Effectiveness Surveys were administered to parents, students, and faculty/staff across schools in the AOD during Winter 2018. This work sought to identify variation in responses across respondents and schools.…

This article explores the use of student voice to contribute to improving schools. Through the gathering of perspectives and experiences of staff and students, it considers how the responses to requirements for both student voice and school improvement interrelate and identifies challenges to be addressed. The research was conducted in Norway…

Vietnam has achieved near-universal access to compulsory schooling over the past two decades. However, inequalities between ethnic majority and minority students are stark at post-compulsory levels, where progression is selective based on academic criteria and ability to pay. In this article, we adopt a mixed-methods approach to examine quality…

This article discusses the possible effect that schools can have on students, beyond the socioeconomic factors traditionally researched by the Sociology of Education. Within this context, curriculum production can be included as a cross-cutting theme to these studies, within the scope of school effectiveness, once it interferes in the political…

What does it take to be a good school principal? No two principals work exactly the same way, but research shows that effective principals focus on a core set of factors critical to fostering success among all students. In this second edition of "Qualities of Effective Principals," James H. Stronge and Xianxuan Xu delineate these factors…

New York City's public school system unraveled last year in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. Before the pandemic, criticisms of the public schools typically centered on performance measures: Were enough students meeting state benchmarks? Was success evident across all racial, socioeconomic, and ability groupings? Today, foundational concepts--such…

Models of nurture group best practice at primary level are now well established. In secondary schools however, best practice models are less clearly defined and guidance on establishing a successful nurture group in a secondary school is currently lacking. This research project aimed to create an evidence-based guide to opening a secondary school…

The American schooling system is built on a history of inequity where some students have been, and continue to be, denied access to opportunity structure based on discriminatory policies, practices, structures, and systems. This lack of equitable access and educational experiences have led to inequitable outcomes, which persist despite efforts…

This paper evaluates the Zones of Choice (ZOC) program in Los Angeles, a school choice initiative that created small high school markets in some neighborhoods but left traditional attendance-zone boundaries in place throughout the rest of the district. We study the impacts of ZOC on student achievement and college enrollment using a matched…

The Robust and Equitable Measures to Inspire Quality Schools, or "REMIQS," project is guided by two questions. The first is, "where are the highest-performing schools in traditional settings that consistently promote improved outcomes for our most underserved students?" The second question is, "what practices, policies,…

Background: School experience is an important part of the life of children with developmental disabilities (DD) and their families. Research suggests that parents of children vary in their level of satisfaction with their child's school, but methodology and results have varied and no consistent reliable measure of school satisfaction exists. This…

One key characteristic of high-performing schools is how they function organizationally, enabling them to enact reforms effectively and to deal with regular organizational ambiguity and chaos. The principal plays a pivotal role in developing a school culture that supports high-performing schools. This research studies the relationship between…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires states to identify schools with struggling students for comprehensive, additional targeted, or targeted support and improvement (CSI, ATS, or TSI respectively). States must identify schools for CSI when the whole school is among the bottom 5 percent of Title I schools in the state. Meanwhile, they…