Public attitudes about juvenile crime play a significant role in fashioning juvenile justice policy; variations in the wording of public opinion surveys can produce very different responses and can result in inaccurate and unreliable assessments of public sentiment. Surveys that ask about policy alternatives in vague terms are especially…

Einar Haugen brought Norwegian language planning to prominence in the 1960s, describing a series of language reforms ultimately intended to bring the two written standards, Bokmal and Nynorsk, together. Since Haugen's time language policy in Norway has changed direction, and developments over the past 40 years have led to increased autonomy for…

Young people who are leaving the foster care and juvenile justice systems often experience a difficult transition to adulthood that is characterized by a number of troubling outcomes, including poverty, low levels of education and employment, and housing instability. While some services are available for these populations, there is little evidence…

In an attempt to demonstrate the relevance of workplace learning (previously known as "cooperative education") in guiding student and curriculum development, this article presents findings from a research project on the current practice of workplace learning, drawn from an analysis of evaluation reports in a university of technology.…

The mission of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) is to ensure all students have access to a world-class education and quality online learning opportunities that prepare them for a lifetime of success. "The Online Learning Definitions Project" is designed to provide states, districts, online programs, and…

Science has an important role to play in advising policymakers on crafting effective responses to social problems that affect the development of children. This article describes lessons learned from a multiyear, working collaboration among neuroscientists, developmental psychologists, pediatricians, economists, and communications researchers who…

Every school community is made up of several key partners, each of whom has a significant role in relation to the children. These are parents--who are their children's first educators, staff--all staff, the local community, the local authority and the governing body which represents all of these and is ultimately responsible for the school. All…

Democracy has been weakened in the United Kingdom with citizens increasingly frustrated at not being able to shape government decisions in any meaningful way. State actions at the local and national level are at risk of becoming even more influenced by vested private interests. This poses a major challenge to the democratic health of the country.…

In this study, qualitative, in-depth interviews were conducted with 100 formerly incarcerated mothers to explore the relationship between attachment to children and desistance from criminal behavior. Exploratory data analysis revealed that mothers do believe that children play important roles in their desistance, consistent with the tenets of life…

Globalization has increased mobility of people, resources, and ideas. It is also affecting how governments think about education and what schools teach to their students. Attributes related to education for a knowledge society, sustainable development, or 21st century skills are parts of current national educational policies and reforms. A…

What's the best estimate of student performance on the Common Core State Standards? ACT, an organization involved in developing the standards, wanted to know how well today's students are meeting them. To find out, it analyzed the test results of 256,765 11th graders who took selected forms of the ACT test in spring 2010. In its report, "A First…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act will be coming up for reauthorization amid a number of contentious issues, and debates over these issues are likely to more heated leading up to the 2012 elections. If ESEA is to be renewed, the President must make it a high priority, Republicans will need to work with Democrats, and national education…

The authors aim to identify characteristics of democratic schools. The Delphi technique used in this study is based on attaining a consensus among a group of experts over 3 rounds with 22 experts from 9 countries participating in the first round. By the end of the third round, 339 items referring to democratic school characteristics were…

This final report presents findings from data collection and analysis conducted during a five-year study by the National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC) at Clemson University, in conjunction with colleagues from the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education (NRCCTE) at the University of Louisville. This project was one of three…

This article reports the results of a survey of parental involvement (PI) policy and practice in middle schools in a large New Zealand city. Principals at all 11 middle schools in the city were contacted and agreed to be interviewed. Interviews were conducted using a schedule that focuses on 11 aspects of PI: encouraging parents into school,…