The U.S. public research university performance narrative is dominated by "access, affordability, and accountability" rhetoric (National Science Foundation, 2012), while public policy advocacy is weakened (Basken, 2012), and presidents become increasingly transitory (Monks, 2012). The purpose of this study was to explore if presidential…

Scholars and practitioners of learning outcomes assessment widely recognize the importance of faculty engagement with the planning and implementation of assessment activities. Yet garnering participation by the majority of faculty has remained a significant challenge due in part to faculty concerns over the purposes of assessment, the value that…

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program was established in 2007 to encourage student borrowers to work in the public sector. Qualifying borrowers may have their Direct Loans forgiven after 10 years of full-time service in an eligible job. Currently, qualifying employers include federal, state, or local government agencies and tax-exempt…

The last year has found critics and advocates of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) duking it out in the political arena. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an ardent supporter of high standards for some seventeen years, has recently lurched out of the safe haven of think tankery and into the boxing ring. Yet wherever one stands on the merits of…

In 2013/14, the Ministry of Advanced Education invested $1.9 billion in operating funding for the post-secondary education system, up from $1.4 billion in 2001. This direct investment resulted in $5.2 billion in annual expenses at British Columbia's (B.C.'s) public post-secondary institutions to provide high quality education to over 430,000…

Lack of accountability and transparency in governance was among the challenges that influenced Jamaica's corruption rating of 3.3, resulting in an 87th ranking out of 183 countries in 2011. Although the monitoring of internal control business structures supported accountability, evidence of their presence was limited in government offices. The…

National and state education policies continue to reflect a growing concern for educating the student at risk of dropping out of school. With the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 200I, it was expected that all public schools be held accountable in addressing remedies and preventative measures for dropouts. Since, 2001, backed by policy in…

The United States is falling behind in math and science education, which is problematic in a world where the global job market is relying more heavily on math, science, and problem solving skills (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2010). In order to better prepare our next generation of workers, we need to encourage…

A recent development in educational accountability is a risk-based approach, in which intensity and frequency of school inspections vary across schools to make educational accountability more efficient and effective by enabling inspectorates to focus on organizations at risk. Characteristics relevant in predicting which schools are "at risk…

This article describes the knowledge and skills that professional learning community members need to create a habit out of their desire. Habits serve educators as signposts of progress toward achieving their desires. They are interim indicators of a professional learning community's success. Ultimately, of course, professional learning communities…

Teacher evaluation is a major reform initiative in public education's high accountability policy environment. Principals' effective implementation of this high-stakes reform is challenged by time management, policy coherence, communication with teachers, district support, and staff development imperatives. Effective implementation requires moving…

In this article, I discuss the contribution of theoretical resources to the transformation in my thinking about professional development and accountability, within an action research self-study of practice as a civil servant, in the context of participation on the Doctor in Education (Leadership) programme at Dublin City University (DCU) in the…

In this paper, I argue for more and better learning metrics in higher education, eventually through an international, comparative assessment of students' learning outcomes. Better learning measures may help to improve transparency in the system by addressing the information asymmetry problem. If not addressed adequately, the lack of transparency…

Education under neoliberal reform has been targeted as an indispensable source of profit. Market-based reforms have commodified education and are transforming public school into a corporatized industry concerned not with democracy but with the smooth functioning of the capitalist economy. Targeting public schooling as a site in which to accumulate…

Teaching and teachers have recently become the centre of attention of policy makers and researchers. The general idea here is that teaching matters. Yet the question that is either not asked or is only answered implicitly is why teaching matters. In this article I engage with this question in the context of a wider discussion about the role,…