Back in May 2011, an article in "Primary Science" described how the idea for a quality mark for primary science was developed from an initial conversation at an Association for Science Education annual conference (Turner, Marshall and Elsmore, 2011). Its intention then, as now, was to support and champion good practice and raise the…

This qualitative study considers which aspects of school climate support or inhibit student achievement as each aspect relates to school leadership and school reform efforts. Due to the increased responsibility and accountability which schools face during these challenging times, school climate and the role of the school principal formed the basis…

School improvement is admittedly the main business of school leadership. However, while there is agreement on the importance of school improvement, sustaining this improvement remains a challenge. The challenge seems to lie in the disconnection between the leader and the context in which the school operates. This chapter presents contextual…

During the summer, we interviewed Tony Bryk, Author of Learning to Improve: How America's Schools Can Get Better at Getting Better and head of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. His work was seminal in the creation of the Framework for Great Schools, which has spurred New York City schools to rethink the structures and…

During the past quarter century, conceptions of leadership have evolved in concert with breakthrough discoveries in science and generative learning. "Liberating Leadership Capacity" captures these new ideas through the integration of the authors' earlier works in constructivist leadership and leadership capacity. What emerges is a…

Institution and system leaders play a critical role--perhaps the most critical--in promoting student success in higher education. At most institutions, change begins at the top, with the president and other senior leaders, as they set and implement the strategic direction for their institutions. In recent years, the role that data play in…

"The Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 10, 2015. ESSA reauthorizes the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" (ESEA), which was first enacted as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty." Since 1965, ESEA has represented the federal government's…

The passage of ESSA in 2015 created a novel mandate for States to develop school accountability systems that use alternative measures of school quality beyond test scores. This created an opportunity for States to be innovative and make new forms of data available that could potentially lead to new strategies for improving schools. This study…

To what extent can heads use an inclusive values-led approach to school development in the face of pressures from Ofsted and their Local Authority to focus almost exclusively on attainment outcomes? We explore leadership of school improvement in a qualitative study of 10 head teachers in the English county of "Preshire," who worked with…

This paper reviews the current status and focus of Australian Architecture programs with respect to Indigenous Knowledge and the extent to which these tertiary programs currently address reconciliation and respect to Indigenous Australians in relation to their professional institutions and accreditation policies. The paper draws upon the findings…

Latin American educational policy has relied on the assumption that better preparation can help school leaders improve their professional performance, thus improving quality of schools. Training programs for present or future school leaders have proliferated in the region, often publicly financed, but without enough evidence of their impact. Using…

Efforts to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) are well underway, as states submitted their state plans to the Department of Education in September 2017. The entire education policy and advocacy community has been combing through the state plans to get an idea of how states will tackle efforts to improve student outcomes under the new…

Purpose: The oversupply of college graduates and increasing competition in the Chinese urban labor market have forced college students to undertake internships much earlier and to a greater intensity in the hope of boosting their employment prospects. It may be argued that the considerable time and energy thus spent on internships is deleterious…

Although state-run school districts and gubernatorial school takeover have become popular turnaround strategies among some states, little is known about how district and school leaders perceive and respond to these changes in educational governance. Using Georgia as a case study, this paper employs sensemaking and exit, voice, and loyalty as…

This research was commissioned by the (then) Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) to provide recommendations on how to best support Western Australian (WA) secondary schools to engage in education for sustainability (EfS). The research aims were to identify barriers and benefits to being involved in EfS, the support systems required…