Despite skyrocketing growth in its English Language Learner (ELL) population, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has been remarkably effective in improving outcomes for ELL students across the district. Achievement has increased, and gaps between ELL students and their native English-speaking peers have decreased. This success is intentional.…

Early learning standards--documents that outline what children should know and be able to do before kindergarten entry--are increasingly common in the United States. Data from a national survey are presented to illustrate trends in how states have developed and implemented early learning standards within the past four years. Results indicate that…

The critical aspects distribution of professional leadership, alignment in learning and research close to practices, were lifted forward in order to exemplify a research project with learning study as an approach for alignment between teacher education and practice, and as consequence an instrument for distribution of power. The results showed…

This report is an overview and summary of the Arizona Governor's Forum: Linking Ready Kids to Ready Schools. The forum, supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Education Commission of the States, was held on May 30, 2008 in Phoenix, Arizona. Six dozen educators, education experts and advocates gathered during the one-day forum to map out…

The federal career and technical legislation reauthorized in 2006 required the recipients of its funding to offer at least one Program of Study (POS). All states have developed some components of POS through earlier initiatives, primarily Tech Prep, career pathways, and youth apprenticeship, that attempted to ease the transition of students from…

Super's theory of career development states that the life stages of growth and exploration are inherent to the process of acquiring knowledge of how one's interests and abilities align with the requirements of occupations. Virtually all high school students are in the exploratory stage of their career development. This article examines the…

While mission statements for various libraries and information centers necessarily vary, all librarians face "two very pressing charges: make voluminous numbers of electronic resources as visible as possible in a landscape of multiple access points and simultaneously manage all the technology, tasks, and data necessary to facilitate such…

One model that can help middle school educators provide an effective system of instruction and early intervention is response to intervention (RTI). RTI is a schoolwide process that integrates instruction, intervention, and assessment. The alignment of instruction, assessment, and interventions promotes a stronger, more cohesive program of…

Educators face a major challenge in providing programs that make a lasting impact on the health and well-being of their students. It is important for students to gain a degree of knowledge and confidence that will lead them to maintain an active lifestyle well beyond their school years. The purpose of this article is to describe strategies for…

Are teacher salaries related to school quality in terms of student academic achievement and teacher retention? Are teacher salaries important factors influencing teacher job satisfaction? Is teacher job satisfaction related to retention? This research addressed these questions using international and national data. First, the literature will be…

The goal of this study was to estimate the effects of district efficiency on student achievement in Michigan with the hope that objective analysis might serve to ease progress through the troublesome political process any transition to an adequacy-based school finance model will encounter. This study draws upon the methodology used by Phelps and…

This study used fifteen-year-old ninth-grade students from rural areas of five provinces in western China as samples to carry out research on the relationship between the socioeconomic status of Chinese families and student academic performance. Based on parents' educational background, occupation, family economic conditions, and other factors,…

Purpose: This paper is intended to provide an overview of trends in European education and to offer a framework for considering the elements of school management. Design/methodology/approach: This paper reports elements of the planning and implementation of a graduate-level leadership development initiative in Bulgaria. Findings: Several lessons…

Under the requirement of both the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (1997) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB; 2002), states are required to provide alternate assessment for students who cannot participate in general curriculum and statewide assessments. According to NCLB, states are required to report the progress of all students in science…

The intent of large-scale assessment systems is to promote student achievement toward specific standards by holding schools accountable for the performance of all students. However, it is difficult to know whether large-scale assessment systems are having this intended effect as they are currently implemented. In this article, the authors examine…