The talent enigma juxtaposes the discourses of "talent" as an inherent individual quality to be sought out and recruited as against talent as inherent in organizations which grow their own. This article explores this issue in the context of an international "crisis" of school leadership, examining how that crisis is constructed…

The promotion of physical activity within schools and physical education (PE) has attracted growing interest in recent years. Schools have been acknowledged as the primary institution with responsibility for promoting activity in young people and more specifically, school PE has been recognized as having a key role to play. Given this, and based…

Shortly after becoming a CIO (Chief Information Officer), the author read an article by Gregory Jackson in the January 2004 Chronicle of Higher Education entitled, "A CIO's Question: Will You Still Need Me When I'm 64?" Jackson, one of the most widely known and respected CIOs in higher education, argued that CIOs in higher education face four…

This article reflects on the implementation of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) at tertiary level, using the University of South Africa (Unisa) as a case study and the five stated goals of the NQF as the criteria for measuring the success or otherwise of the enterprise. A brief description is given of the initiatives at Unisa and…

School reform efforts can have greater effect on student achievement if there is a much-needed dialogue between proponents of standards-based reform and proponents of learner-centered reform. The standards-based reform movement could learn a great deal from the theory and research generated by the learner-centered approach and use that knowledge…

A Number of good ideas can help improve the achievement of low-performing students and close the achievement gap, including determining the placement of veteran teachers, purchasing new curricula, and providing after-school tutoring. However, it is the teacher--and what the teacher does in the classroom--that makes the most difference for…

Accountability involves holding individuals and organizations responsible for agreed-upon promises to perform. This relationship between two or more parties includes formal structures that track results to determine if the parties who have entered into an agreement live up to that agreement. From the mid-1980s, states and districts in the U.S.…

This article presents seven vignettes that focus on what technology specialists, instructional designers, teacher trainers, teachers, parents, corporate trainers and performance technologists can do to create positive and systemic change in education. These include: (1) "What Technology Specialists Can Do," by Brian Beabout; (2) "What…

Suburban parents vie for slots at Washington Gifted and Talented Magnet Elementary School on the edge of downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It doesn't seem to matter that it sits on a hill overlooking the largest public housing project in Raleigh, or it draws 30% of its students from the surrounding low-income area. This school and others in Wake…

It is no secret that public education is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the American public. When one of the nation's top syndicated talk-radio hosts repeatedly equates public schooling with child abuse and no outcry ensues, denial is no longer a viable option. Facts don't matter when the goal is to entertain rather than to inform.…

The advances in Information Technology (IT) are resulting in greater uncertainty in business and in education not only in the development of a physical infrastructure but in the way people work and communicate. With this, it is proposed that the IT Coordinator in education is in a unique position to facilitate a more informed implementation and…

Early childhood educators respect children's need to construct their own knowledge by supporting curricula that allow children to make choices and to be active learners. However, what everyone appears to want for students--a wide array of learning opportunities that engage students in experiencing, creating, and solving real problems, using their…

In this article, the author features the America's Choice School Design, a school improvement program that has enlisted 547 schools in 16 states in its brand of comprehensive reform, and describes the program's move to loosen its nonprofit moorings and change to a for-profit company. The purpose of the move to for-profit status is to raise capital…

Arguing that limited access to high-quality preschools is a major problem affecting nearly every working family, and as the numbers of working parents increase, is likely to become more acute, this policy brief offers the context and research supporting the American Federation of Teachers' recent call for universal early childhood education (ECE).…

The papers presented in this paper accompany a core report about the Appalachian Math Science Partnership (AMSP) entitled "The Appalachian Math Science Partnership: A Multi-State Umbrella Partnership Promoting Local Mathematics and Science Reform Report." Each of them focuses on an especially effective strategy or component of the AMSP…