This article reviews the literature and explores the institutional and systemic factors that help and/or hinder change and innovation across school systems, with a focus on evidence from England. A number of authors have argued that schools and school systems need to become more innovative and adaptive if they are to meet the needs of 21st-century…

Internationally, there has been a policy push for using student data for instruction. Yet, research has noted few examples of actually understanding how this data-use practice takes place. This study presents a case of an instructional data team making sense of student data. The study shares data to show how teachers' process for using data to…

Governments and other stakeholders in education are beginning to recognize the important roles school leaders can play in school development and efforts are being made to allow them to become more involved in managing schools. However, despite these efforts, head teachers are challenged with the perfect leadership style to improve schools. Many…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to measure students' satisfaction with the didactics in a large Italian university, that of Padua, giving special attention to its evolution over time in consecutive academic years. The overall level of the quality of the didactics is examined and its change over time is modeled. Moreover, the effect of…

This article is part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) and aims to analyse the success factors of two Spanish secondary school principals working in the line of social justice in challenging contexts. The factors are arranged in traits and beliefs of principals and in the strategies they used to bring successful…

More than 15 years after the passage of No Child Left Behind, billions of dollars have been spent on school-turnaround policies and initiatives. Yet, this growing "school improvement industry" has received surprisingly little consideration. This study is an initial effort to begin to better understand this industry's supply side. We use…

A long-standing purpose of assessment is to help faculty improve student learning; unfortunately, evidence of improved learning is rare. Learning improvement evidence in its most simple form requires practitioners to assess, intervene, and re-assess a student learning outcome. Of course, achieving evidence of learning improvement is not so simple.…

We compared twenty-six TBC-based studies across different countries to investigate whether there might exist universal principles of excellent teaching. We found several qualities that both faculty and students in these studies endorsed as universal or near-universal principles. Our findings provide a compelling starting point for teachers seeking…

Federal laws require teachers to understand the special needs of their students and provide the best possible education for them. However, many teachers have completed their preservice education without the requisite skills to implement assistive technology to support exceptional students. These teachers have become dependent upon professional…

This article examines the impetus for schools to engage in and with evidence in England's self-improving school system. It begins with an examination of how the education policy environment has changed, shifting from predominantly top-down approaches to school improvement to the current government's focus on schools themselves sourcing and sharing…

Global contexts of accountability have placed unprecedented pressure on school leaders to improve the performance of their schools. Despite recognition that leaders' influence is mediated by school culture, few studies offer systematic examinations of culture-in-action in schools. The concept of culture remains nebulous and is frequently glossed…

The contribution of data use in schools has been proven via visible changes in policy and practice in schools (instrumental effects), changes in practitioners learning or cognition (conceptual effects) and changes in opinions or attitudes regarding teaching or policy-making (symbolic effects). Nevertheless, limited research is available on the…

One way to encourage performance and persistence in STEM fields is to have students write about the utility value (UV) or personal relevance of course topics to their life. This intervention has been shown to increase engagement and performance in introductory courses. However, questions remain about the longevity of the effects and how best to…

The contribution of Action Research (AR) to school improvement is well-documented. This study records the accounts of two primary school leaders, involved in AR projects that focused on the development of students' oral communication skills. Drawing data from diaries with fieldnotes and systematic reflections, the study presents leaders'…

This conceptual paper reviews the extant literature on action research/teacher led inquiry and answers the question: How and in what circumstances can action research improve teachers' classroom practice and therefore what might be the implications for school improvement? A critical analysis of the nature and purpose of action research as a…