School value-added studies have largely demonstrated the effects of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the schools and the pupils on performance in standardised tests. Traditionally, these studies have assessed the variation coming only from the schools and the pupils. However, recent studies have shown that the analysis of academic…

This article raises important questions about whether the increasing control of early years education through performance data is genuinely a means for school improvement. This composite article, examines the pervasiveness of attainment data in early years education professional activity, its impact on early years teachers' consciousness and…

Many policy analysts favor holding deficient public schools accountable: Either they should improve or else close. Hypotheses are developed which explore how school type (district, charter) and enrollment size influence these two accountability outcomes for deficient Arizona elementary campuses operating under two educational oversight regimes: No…

Evidence-based instructional practices (ebips) have been associated with positive student outcomes; however, institutions struggle to catalyze widespread adoption of these practices in general education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem) courses. Further, linking ebips with integrated learning assessment is rarely discussed…

Today's evaluation society makes teachers participate in a stream of external evaluations. How teachers experience evaluation in school and how this affects their work and professionalism is the focus of this article. Teachers' views of external and internal evaluations and of the consequences for school practice are described and analysed. The…

This paper reports on a study that investigated the appraisal of middle leaders in three New Zealand secondary schools in order to determine what constituted effective performance appraisal and how this practice could be improved from the perspective of this middle tier of leadership. Overall, appraisal was variably practised and seen as a…

This report takes a look at how government officials have pressed college accreditors to focus more on "student outcomes"--quantifiable indicators of knowledge acquired, skills learned, degrees attained, and so on. It then argues that it is not these enumerated outcomes that are the best way to hold colleges accountable, but rather the…

This exploratory qualitative content analysis examined the edTPA portfolios of 36 randomly selected teacher candidates to address a national trend towards standardization and accountability in teacher education in relationship to the critical need for multicultural educators. Using multicultural education as a theoretical framework, this study…

What models of governance are effective in complex education systems? In all systems an increasing number of stakeholders are involved in designing, delivering, and monitoring education. Like our societies, education systems are increasingly diverse regarding students, teachers, and communities, as well as the values and identities we expect…

All students deserve a great education, one that affords every opportunity for them to grow into knowledgeable and successful adults. To date, efforts to improve education have operated on a model of mass production, assuming--wrongly--that what works for some students must work for all. To change that model, students and their parents, teachers,…

All individuals go through a process of change when implementing a new innovation. This descriptive study determines there is a difference in the stages of concern regarding Response to Instruction and Intervention (RTI 2), Tennessee's design model for Response to Intervention, (RTI) for 87 teachers from 8 different schools in a county in Middle…

As many as one in three businesses in the United States struggled to fill needed jobs in 2015. Millions of Americans, including at least 5.5 million youth, are disconnected from employment. Governors have a tremendous opportunity through the implementation of the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to reset their state…

States across the country are embracing innovation in education. In recent years, there has been an increase in district pilots that re-envision student learning by promoting competency-based pathways. States have supported these pilots, or "Innovation Zones," in the hopes that lessons learned can inform their broader vision and…

In the upper northeast corner of the United States, the commitment to competency education has grown so strong that entire states are embracing it through high-leverage comprehensive policies. Of the six New England states -- Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont -- four have established comprehensive state…

An estimated five to seven and a half million students miss 18 or more days of school each year, or nearly an entire month or more of school, which puts them at significant risk of falling behind academically and failing to graduate from high school. Every student absence jeopardizes the ability of students to succeed at school and schools to…