What percentage of their budgets should schools and districts invest in professional learning? To answer that question, schools and districts must first know how much they are spending on professional learning and be able to connect that spending to student achievement. Knowing what is invested in professional learning requires understanding the…

Many administrators are so overwhelmed by the basic responsibilities of their daily work that there seems to be little or no time left for providing quality leadership in instruction. Instead, schools employ department chairs, instructional specialists, and coordinators to provide instructional leadership. How can administrators find time in the…

This article challenges the practice of encouraging teacher educators to strive and raise the levels of student satisfaction in their classes as if such a criterion provides a measure of good teaching. Such a practice involves what Giroux describes as "corporate pedagogy" which conforms to the neoliberal inclination to meet the demands of the…

In Texas, educators working to coordinate the efforts of fifty community colleges, thirty-eight universities, and six university systems are bringing the resources of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) initiative to bear in order to ensure that the state's nearly 1.5…

Purpose: The study investigates the ways in which principals engage with, and attend to, the data-driven accountability measures of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and local mandates. Theoretical framework: The study is framed with the notion of "assemblage", a term often associated with actor-network theory (ANT)--a theory that focuses…

Since 2003 children in England have been formally assessed at the age of 5 after their first year in school, and their numerical scores reported to parents and analysed at school and national levels. The use of statutory assessment for this age group is unique in the UK, where other regions use less formal methods of assessment. It is also unusual…

A fundamental aim of the Race to the Top agenda is to assess the effectiveness of teachers based on value-added growth measurement models of student achievement. However, in nontested grades and subject areas, such as music, alternative assessment types are being considered, including district-, school-, or teacher-developed measures. This article…

In this study, four recent self-initiated educational quality projects at Swedish universities are compared and analyzed. The article focuses on how the universities have handled the tension between external demands and internal norms. The aim is to contribute to an improved understanding of quality management in contemporary universities. On the…

Many public and private sector organizations are supported by Management Information Systems (MIS) for collection, management, analysis, and distribution of the data needed for effective decision-making and enhanced organizational management. The existing body of research on MIS in education focuses on the systems' contribution to achieving…

This article highlights the practices of administrators and master teachers who are trying to balance the needs for accountability, prescribed curriculum, and learning standards with a broader view of education that gives equal importance to skills not so easily quantified by standardized tests. The author makes a case for the use of careful…

The data for this paper are drawn from a qualitative research project involving a number of alternative education sites in Australia and the United Kingdom. In this paper, we focus only on the motives and teaching philosophies of a sample of teachers who have chosen to work in alternative education sites despite, for some, the prospect of…

The purpose of the reported interview study from Sweden is to contribute to our understanding of how head teachers can promote inclusive practices. Five head teachers were selected from a larger sample of head teachers working in compulsory schools (6-16) according to specific criteria in order to obtain head teachers who work effectively and…

Drawing on a year-long qualitative study, this article examines how one refugee student from the Vietnamese Central Highlands negotiated social and cultural constructions of patriotism and citizenship in a Junior Reserves Officer Training Corps (JROTC) class at an urban high school. Data are analyzed using Butler's (1990) the theory of…

The current study examines the experiences of faculty in a research learning community developed to support new faculty in increasing scholarly productivity. A phenomenological, qualitative inquiry was used to portray the lived experiences of faculty within a learning community. Several themes were found including: accountability, belonging,…

Theory suggests that effective teachers should possess a vision for teaching, but the reality of teaching within the current educational policy climate raises questions about teachers' autonomy of their instructional decisions and ultimately their personal convictions for teaching. This exploratory study examines 11 teachers' visions of…