In Norway, the higher education landscape is undergoing profound transformation. This process is being driven by a number of factors, including demography, competition and academic aspirations, with many so-called "university-colleges" aspiring to become fully-fledged universities. We shed light on the dynamics of one such institution,…

Achieving foundation-level practice behaviors to develop social work core competencies involves integrating learning across a curriculum. This article focuses on two phases of foundation-level course redevelopment aimed to support graduate students in accomplishing this outcome. The first phase involved restructuring the course to become a…

The intersection of No Child Left Behind (2002) and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) made it necessary for educators to examine achievement trends within their schools and implement a Response to Intervention (RTI) program. This study examines the achievement trends in one school district since its…

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of superintendents' beliefs about technology leadership barriers and about how superintendents actually engage in technology leadership practices. There is currently limited research available on the topic from a district superintendent's perspective. Qualitative data from focus group…

Teachers and the British Columbia (BC) government share a common interest in a quality education system that serves both their students and society. Even with that common interest, they often do not agree on what resources are required to achieve and maintain quality education. In this brief the British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF)…

One of the most wideranging reforms in public education in the last decade has been the reorganization of large comprehensive high schools into small schools with roughly 100 students per grade. We use assignment lotteries embedded in New York City's high school match to estimate the effects of attendance at a new small high school on student…

The One Year Plus policy of Baltimore City Public Schools described in this Newsletter has the potential to breathe new life into "special education" for students with disabilities. In recent decades, many waves of K-12 education reform--including the No Child Left Behind Act, charter schools, alternative teacher recruitment paths,…

The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities (NDPC-SD) was assigned the task of compiling, analyzing, and summarizing the data for Indicator 2--Dropout--from the FFY 2011 Annual Performance Reports (APRs) and the revised State Performance Plans (SPPs), which were submitted to the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)…

Romain Bertrand is a middle school math teacher and Opportunity Culture enthusiast. As the 2012-13 school year wound down, he was already thoroughly looking forward to the next--when he will become a multi-classroom leader at Ranson IB Middle School, taking accountability for the learning results of 700 students. At Ranson, a Project L.I.F.T.…

Never before has the link between a college education and postgraduate job prospects been more important. College graduates are employed more often and, on average, earn significantly more than those without college degrees. During recent years, as students have moved into a challenging job market, a college education has remained the most…

Sophia Graff, a beginning algebra teacher at Valencia College in Orlando, had an idea. The state of Florida had instituted a mandatory competency test that students needed to pass to enter intermediate algebra, but only a third of her students were succeeding. As part of an action-research project that was required for all professors seeking…

Joint work among academic staff is important for solving the ever-increasing number of complex tasks that are becoming part of everyday activities in higher education. At the same time, diversification and internationalisation may challenge collaboration processes and communication demands. Speaking a shared language consistently could be a way of…

Federal legislation is an important lever for improving the equity and efficacy of school, district, and state discipline policies. Legislation should ensure that all students are treated fairly, regardless of race, gender, or class. This paper presents three recommendations for changing federal legislation to accomplish this goal. These…

This "Informed Educator" examines research-proven strategies for implementing and sustaining school improvement by looking at the key elements of the process, enabling conditions for improvement, issues of school culture, and implementation. It also looks at school turnarounds and how to sustain school improvement once reforms are implemented.

On September 27th, Maine finally joined 47 other states in allowing the use of the term "school psychologist" for those holding a masters or specialist degree. Furthermore, Maine has become the first and only state to write the NASP Practice Model into law, thus holding school-based psychologists to the highest professional standards.…