To address concerns about low graduation rates and a lack of workforce readiness, states and districts have been experimenting with different models of high school reform. One of the most popular models has been the Early College High School (ECHS) model, small schools that blur the line between high school and college. Since 2002, over 200 ECHSs…

Research has shown that strong leadership support for whole school reform is critical to the successful turnaround of low-performing schools. Yet there is little discussion of how to successfully maintain changes in teaching, learning, and student outcomes when there is a changeover in school leadership. This profile highlights the efforts of…

School reform initiatives in the United States have been occurring since the launching of Sputnik by the U.S.S.R. in 1957. These efforts have largely been internal, within school reforms, with little consideration given to external variables such as poverty that affect student achievement. Given the pervasive link between poverty and student…

For many, today's classroom is a relic of an industrial-age school system that, perhaps, has outlived its usefulness. Educator Joel Blomenkamp suggests that the career academy model is one way to enter a new age of education and learning--one in which students are excited about the acquisition of knowledge because they are learning in a dynamic…

In the early years of the twenty-first century, being German has become a matter of linguistic competence and performance. An acute shift in citizenship statutes at the end of the 1990s brought about a peripatetic departure from Germany's "right of blood" ("ius sanguinis") toward a French-inspired "right of territory"…

While Merrifield is correct in his basic argument that so-called "market reforms" in el/sec schooling are far from being pure market, he is incorrect to suggest that purer market projects are needed together with simulations of pure market reforms. There are two fundamental problems in that thesis. First, it is not clear that school choice in…

This article explores the complex process of school change over a six-year period in one high-poverty, urban elementary school in a northeastern city of the United States. The school included in this instrumental case study was identified by its State Department of Education as "being in need of improvement" in March 2000. Findings…

The exploratory study sought to examine the relationships between teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and professional learning community. Specifically, this study presents a quantitative analysis of the relationship between teachers' perceptions of self-efficacy and PLC implementation. The Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) (long form)…

Charter schools have been a mechanism of school reform for three decades (Finn, Manno, & Vanourek, 2000; Greene et al, 2010) and have received increased attention during the current Obama administration (Loveless, 2010). Studies on the effectiveness of charter schools demonstrate mixed results and that school quality varies dramatically, but…

The student population in American schools is becoming increasingly diverse; therefore, educators must respond with school reform efforts that benefit all students. However, there is a gap in the knowledge base and practice literatures addressing what specific processes and strategies successful school leaders are using to reform their culturally…

In 1983 the National Commission on Excellence in Education released "A Nation at Risk", which triggered an extended era of school reform culminating in today's accountability movement. In Kentucky the school improvement process, in which principals play an integral part, is based on the "Standards and Indicators for School…

Collaborations popping up across the country between charter and traditional public schools show promise that charter schools could fulfill their original purpose of becoming research-and-development hothouses for public education, champions of charters say. But both supporters and skeptics of charter schools agree that so far the cooperative…

Corporatisation of universities and restructurings of K-12 schooling in the United States occurred during a period of broad economic, social and political restructurings, which have transformed the lives of middle-class Americans. Community and individual level investments in education are frequently represented as antidotes to increased…

Because educators continue to face challenges when seeking to educate all children, there is a growing recognition that schools must work with communities to maximize their collective educational potential (Murphy, Beck, Crawford, Hodges, & McGauphy, 2001). Although community schools are still in the emergent stages of development, their emphasis…

Research Findings: There is ample evidence that true educational progress has been elusive, even after decades of countless school reform efforts. Practice or Policy: In this article, barriers to meaningful transformation in the form of common, persistent, and resistant educational myths are presented and summarily debunked. An alternative and…