Leading education thinker Sir Ken Robinson says transformation is essential to bring creative thinking into schools and recommends three major changes: Dispense with subject hierarchy, focus on curricular disciplines instead of subjects, and elevate personalization. Change will come when students take ownership of their learning to fit their needs…

This paper pinpoints and discusses key aspects of the current approaches to school reform in the Arab world against the backdrop of what is accepted as the best practice in the international literature on effective school reform and educational change. The main goal of the paper is to highlight deeply ingrained assumptions and practices that are…

This article reviews research on communication between preservice and cooperating teachers during a teacher internship. The research reveals that poor communication between preservice teachers and cooperating teachers can cause barriers to planning lessons, feedback, and teaching experiences. Additionally, research indicates that…

Changes in education policy--particularly at the federal and state levels--during the current era of ideologically and profit-driven "education reform" threaten balanced education in general and music/arts education in particular. Emerging answers to a number of pivotal questions will determine the future of the arts, arts education, and…

Extension has developed a strong evaluation culture across the system for the last 15 years. Yet measures are still limited to the private value of programs, looking at problems in a linear way and at isolated efforts. Across the country, Extension evaluators and administrators need to step up to help answer the "so what?" question about…

Change processes are increasingly seen as the solution to entrenched (social) problems. However, change is difficult to realise while dealing with multiple actors, values, and approaches. (Inter)organisational learning is seen as a way to facilitate reflective practices in social change that support emergent changes, vicarious learning, and…

This chapter explores the relationship between literacy and health disparities, focusing on the concept of health literacy. Recommendations are provided for ways to bridge the health literacy gap for learners in adult basic education and family literacy programs.

Globalization's impact on higher education institutions in the United States, along with universities around the world, has been unprecedented. Internationalization--the process of infusing, implementing, and integrating an international dimension to the primary functions of higher education institutions--has been the general response. But…

The After-School Corporation (TASC) works to build education enrichment into an expanded school day because extra time spent in engaging learning activities leads to better outcomes in school and beyond. There's one month, however, when students in many schools lose learning time: June. In 2013, NYC elementary and middle schools saw their average…

This comprehensive book is grounded in the authentic experiences of educators who have done, and continue to do, the messy everyday work of transformative school reform. The work of these contributors, in conjunction with research done under the aegis of the National Institute of Urban School Improvement (NIUSI), demonstrates how schools and…

Teachers may wonder why networking is relevant. The point of networking is to cultivate relationships for the exchange of information, services, or resources for employment or business. This may sound cold to those in the educational world, where children and youth are the No. 1 customers, but a network can be a huge support as it pertains to…

In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, people across the country are asking if schools in their communities are safe. School psychologists not only play a pivotal role in answering that question, but they can also provide leadership in helping to ensure a safe school climate. A critical component to answering…

In "How Is Testing Supposed to Improve Schooling," Haertel describes seven broad mechanisms whereby testing is used to improve schooling (this issue). The first four are direct mechanisms, meaning that "test scores are taken as indicators of some underlying construct and on that basis scores are used to guide some decision or draw some…

Research on the frequency of athlete sexual abuse in the United States is almost nonexistent. However, anecdotal data from news reports abound. This article offers an advocacy agenda of strong steps that can be taken to protect athletes from coach sexual abuse, especially female athletes.

Our current high schools are ill-designed and inefficient. We have inherited a program of studies that in its overall structure has not changed in over a century. The question is "What's next?" Theodore Sizer, the founder of The Coalition of Essential Schools, was a passionate advocate for the American school system. In this, his last…