We report on a study of three school jurisdictions in the province of Alberta. The original premise for the research on which this report is based was to investigate the diverse ways that school districts had administered resources that were provided through a major initiative to improve learning in the province. This account is not centrally…

The concept of "turnaround schools" implies that decision makers can distinguish between schools that need to be turned around and those that do not need to be. Decision makers assume that schools in which students score at levels deemed proficient on multiple choice standardized tests are successful and that schools with students who do…

In this paper a comparison is made between the structure and operations of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council and the Ako Aotearoa National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence of New Zealand. Both of these organisations were established in the mid 2000s and were created at a time when higher education institutions in both countries…

This study used portable technology based on Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM log) to register workday practices of school principals and heads from Chilean schools who were implementing school improvement plans aimed at developing a culture of organizational learning. For a week, Smartphone devices which beeped seven times a day were given to…

The effectiveness of instructional development evaluation programs is assessed. It is suggested that although it is a basic tenet in instructional development that teaching improvement is closely linked to effective evaluation, it is ironical that most instructional development programs have themselves been evaluated only superficially, if at all.…

Early intervention efforts to promote healthy child development have long been a central feature of social service and public health reforms. Today, prenatal care, well-baby visits, and assessments to detect possible developmental delays are commonplace in most communities. Recently, child abuse prevention advocates have applied a developmental…

Action research studies in the United Kingdom with Open University students have shown that students come to distance education courses with variable expectations of the levels of service and support they will receive from their tutors. It has been further suggested that a specific expectations-led quality assurance process that enables the…

The goal of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing is to improve testing practices, but their impact on practice appears spotty. Self-regulation clearly fails in some instances. The establishment of an external agency to oversee testing practices and adherence to the Standards would face substantial hurdles, and the ambiguity of…

Lately, preparation programs for PreK-12 school leaders have been at the center of controversy. Infamous among university circles is the 2005 "Educating School Leaders" report, which calls for an overhaul of university-based principal and superintendent preparation programs. The focus of the report is that school leadership programs are in…

Given the perennial interest in the construct of age identity yet its persistent resistance to explanation, the purpose of this study was to re-examine the conceptual structure of age identity by using a focus group design modified to reflect contemporary social science theory. The second purpose of the study was to examine how this modified…

The objective of this study was to refine the Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ), to reduce its length, and to verify its psychometric properties. The CSBQ is a questionnaire for parents or caregivers of children with PDD. The items describe a broad range of features that are typical of PDD, particularly in its milder forms. Based on…

Internal Audit Services conducted an Early Implementation Review of the Understanding the Early Years (UEY) Initiative in 2006-07. This review is intended to provide assurance to senior management that program delivery has been established appropriately in order to meet its objectives and highlight any areas that require focused management…

This year, Congress is scheduled to review the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In 2002, this law signaled an important change in federal education policy by focusing on accountability for results rather than simple compliance and by seeking to set the performance bar high for all children, regardless of where they live. The time is now to learn…

This brief publication provides bullet points of what education authorities are doing well and how they can do better in the following areas: (1) Planning for implementation; (2) Transition arrangements; (3) Meeting additional support needs; (4) Resolving disagreements; (5) Coordinated support plans; and (6) Working with children and young…

Policy decision makers, early educators, and early interventionists face numerous challenges as they develop and implement statewide accountability systems to evaluate and improve children's early intervention and early childhood special education outcomes. Kansas was an early adopter of the Child Outcomes Summary Form (COSF) developed by the…