Reading and understanding texts of all kinds form a basic competence for participating in social and cultural life and for being successful on a job. Although most European adolescents have adequate reading competences at their disposal by the end of school, about a quarter of them cannot meet the minimal standards. The urgency of this societal…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) targeted substantial School Improvement Grants (SIGs) to the nation's "persistently lowest achieving" public schools (i.e., up to $2 million per school annually over 3 years) but required schools accepting these awards to implement a federally prescribed school-reform model.…

This case study explores the United Kingdom's (UK's) approach to improving low-performing schools and presents lessons learned that could be applied in other countries. The study: (1) Gives an overview of the overall structure of UK schools; (2) Provides a context for the country's school-improvement efforts; (3) Reviews the different types of…

If narrow, test-based evaluation of teachers is unfair, unreliable, and has negative effects on kids, classrooms, and curricula, what's a better approach? By demonizing teachers and unions, and sharply polarizing the education debate, the corporate reform movement has actually undermined serious efforts to improve teacher quality and evaluation.…

The term "talent development" has historically been associated only with gifted education in the K12 education world. But for the past 30 years, husband and wife team Joseph Renzulli and Sally Reis have been steadily increasing the pool of educators trained to apply talent development practices to mainstream instruction through the Renzulli…

Since 1994 South African further education and training (FET) has undergone significant and fundamental changes. These changes include the transfer of colleges between state departments, curriculum revision, forced mergers and a shift in the student population. As a result of the growing interest in, and funding of, vocationally aligned education,…

This article asks whether institutional research could help improve the quality of student engagement by researching at sub-institutional levels such as in courses bridging students from school into higher education. In answer it argues two interacting propositions: one, that student engagement provides useful indicators of quality in higher…

Imagine being part of a school district where children choose to come in early from recess to do schoolwork, a place where student engagement is so contagious it has overtaken the faculty and staff, a district where the focus is truly on every child every day. Many would contend such an ideal culture simply does not or cannot exist in today's…

Surveys and benchmarks continue to grow in importance for community colleges in response to several factors. One is the press for accountability, that is, for colleges to report the outcomes of their programs and services to demonstrate their quality and prudent use of resources, primarily to external constituents and governing boards at the state…

Researchers have advocated building a knowledge base for teacher education based on practitioner knowledge. In this article, the authors, two teacher educators, present knowledge gained from their systematic study of two lessons to help prospective teachers learn to study teaching. They offer a detailed look at the lessons' successes and…

Starting in the 1970s, Brazil developed a very complex system of quantitative assessments of education at all levels, making extensive use of statistical information and tests, in an effort to improve and maintain the quality of its education. However, with some exceptions, particularly at the graduate level, Brazilian education standards remain…

Given growing interest in accountability and outcomes, the North Central Association's Higher Learning Commission developed a new path for accreditation, the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP). The goal is to infuse continuous improvement and quality in the culture of higher education, and to blend traditional accreditation with the…

The former National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, now the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, has placed considerable emphasis on the importance of teacher candidate dispositions. Many physical education teacher education programs continue to struggle with the resultant challenge of positively influencing…

Teacher educators play a key role in teacher education and education in general. Worldwide, little is known about preparation and professional development of teacher educators. This paper critically examined teacher educators' preparation and professional development in the context of educational reforms and mushrooming of teacher education…

Stemming from increased levels of participation and diversity of the student base and from growing scrutiny on the quality of university degrees, governments have begun establishing mechanisms to monitor and support quality in higher education. Faced with administrative quality assurance structures, academics often complain that little is…