The fact that Latina/o students are losing ground to their non-Latino White peers in four-year college enrollment and bachelor's degree attainment even as Latino college enrollment and graduation rates are at an all time high constitutes a perplexing puzzle. In order to realize the potential "demographic dividend" embedded in the…

This study evaluated the effect of a pilot Pre-AP® Science Vertical Team Summer Institute on teacher practices and perceptions of the program. The overarching goals of the Vertical Teams Institute were focused on the tools needed to build or strengthen an AP® Vertical Team and to align science curriculum across grade levels. The evaluation also…

In his 2012 State of the Union Address, President Obama laid out a blueprint for an economy that is built to last. The President's plan affirms that the strength of the American economy is inextricably linked to the strength of America's education system. Particularly in times of economic challenge, American employers need a workforce that is…

Over the past two decades, several new K-12 mathematics curricula have been developed. The question asked by many researchers, administrators, and policy-makers is: "Do these materials work?" This question has led to research on curricular effectiveness and, more specifically, on teachers' implementations of the curricula. Teachers…

In the fall of 2009, the College Board conducted a curriculum survey to gather information on the curricula and institutional practices of high schools and colleges in the United States. The primary objective of the survey was to collect data on the knowledge and skills, or topics, taught in high school classrooms and assess the importance of…

Members of the non-profit organization Education Resource Strategies (ERS) have worked for over a decade with leaders of urban school systems to help them organize talent, time and technology to support great schools at scale. One year into the Federal program they are noticing significant differences in district turnaround approaches, engagement…

The decade following the publication of the No Child Left Behind Act 2001 was an innovative period with respect to inclusive assessment practices for students with disabilities (SWDs). As the United States educational policies under the Obama Administration's Race to the Top initiative re-conceive the inclusion of SWDs in state assessment-based…

Over the last two decades, considerable progress has been made in establishing and implementing robust, comparable quality assurance processes throughout much of the European higher education sector. However, concerns persist over degree portability and recognition as current systems are rooted in national contexts. In particular, specialised…

School leadership is an important factor in educational reform and school transformation. This article aims to examine the challenges of school leadership in Singapore through the lens of the Fourth Way. In particular, this article makes reference to three messages in the Fourth Way and examines the paradoxes and challenges faced by school leaders…

Despite a pending policy change aimed at including more students with disabilities and English-language learners (ELLs) in the "nation's report card," the federal agency that administers the national testing program appears to be softening the penalty for states that fail to improve inclusion rates. The disagreement underscores the…

Singapore students have scored exceedingly well on international tests in mathematics. In response, there has been a desire in the United States--both at the policy level and at the school level--to emulate Singapore. Because what can be identified most easily about Singapore's school mathematics can be gleaned from curriculum documents from the…

La Trobe University, like many Australian universities, states that it values honest academic endeavour (Academic Integrity Policy 2011), and it can provide examples of good teaching practice in the areas of academic integrity, proper acknowledgment and avoiding plagiarism. Rather than relying on the chance that individuals will just develop good…

Postsecondary education plays an important role in producing a skilled workforce able to compete in the global economy. Some stakeholders have suggested that collecting information on graduates' employment outcomes--whether they are employed in their field of study, for example--will provide better information to help assess the impact of a…

The "Comparison of Virginia's 2010 English Standards of Learning (SOL) with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts and Literacy (ELAL)" provides a side-by-side overview demonstrating how the 2010 English SOL are aligned to the CCSS for ELAL. The comparison was made using Virginia's complete standards program for…

The Developmental Mathematics Program (DMP) at Texas State University-San Marcos in central Texas has undergone systemic, significant changes over the past ten years. These changes primarily resulted from the alignment to the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges' (AMATYC) Crossroads in Mathematics: Standards for Introductory…