This election factsheet highlights the following points: (1) Academies receive their funding directly from the government, rather than through local authorities like other state funded schools; (2) There are two types: converter academies (those previously with "good" or "outstanding" Ofsted grades that have converted to…

Ten years ago, six teachers established a program of literacy intervention and professional learning in remote northwestern Australia based on the Reading Recovery principles. This group of teachers was determined to learn what had to happen in order for them to make a difference with students and then to make it happen. Their work led to getting…

This article describes the collaborative evolution of the Midwest Center for Information Technology (MCIT)--which is a consortium of 10 different community colleges across the four states of Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota--that was established to improve information technology (IT) education across the region. MCIT has been funded…

"Best of Both Worlds: How Massachusetts Vocational Schools are Preparing Students for College and Careers," highlights the state's policies that promote strong programming. Massachusetts encourages the completion of MassCore, the state's college- and career-ready course of study, incentivizes rigorous academic standards through school…

Too often school leaders, teachers and counselors invest their energies into preparing students for college. In today's society, that's not enough. Students must be prepared for multiple options after high school including gainful employment. This newsletter looks at ways schools can ensure more students are college and career-ready by creating…

Many workforce-development needs, particularly those requiring baccalaureate degrees, remain unmet in some areas of Texas. Employers and students are calling for additional programs to develop workplace skills and to provide opportunities for career advancement. On May 22, 2013, the Texas Legislature approved a bill mandating a study on whether…

Every student at Wheeling High School takes a full academic courseload. Many of the graduates of this 2,000-student school in Wheeling, Illinois, however, also emerge with significant experience in a career field. Those interested in health careers, for example, can work with student-athletes in the school's athletic training facility, earn a…

New accreditation standards for teacher preparation programs call for more seamless and effective connections between methods courses, clinical experiences, and school-based mentoring. Intentional clinical experiences and intermediate instructional strategies can foster collaboration between teacher preparation programs and teacher leaders in K-12…

Drawing on data from a study of learning, race, and equity in an urban high school organized around specialized learning academies, we examine the ways in which the design, framing, construction, and organization of learning spaces deeply influences the types of access to rigorous learning that students experience. We draw on the notion of…

Numerous countries suffer from a shortage of technicians and skilled workers, particularly in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), due to a mismatch between the skills and interests of the students graduating from or leaving the current education system and the needs of the labor market. Often, parents and students…

Caspar, Hartwig, and Moench do little to convince the authors of this paper that they have identified policy prescriptions that might usefully be applied to the United States. Caspar, Hartwig, and Moench suggest that in countries with high shares of temporary contract workers, employment reductions were sharper (because they could be). But does an…

This study focused on how career academies were implemented at a large, urban, public high school. Research shows that the career academy model should consist of 3 core components: (a) a small learning community (SLC), (b) a theme-based curriculum, and (c) business partnerships (Stern, Dayton, & Raby, 2010). The purpose of this qualitative…

This article critically examines the Labour Party's policies for local school systems, focusing on its proposals for regional Directors of School Standards, for academies and free schools, and for local democracy, and offers an alternative approach.

Just days before a massive tornado devastated their community last May, a group of Joplin, Mo., educators and other community members had a meeting about "21st-century learning." Then May 22 arrived, bringing the catastrophic storm that ripped through the community of 50,000 in the southwest corner of the state. The tornado killed 161…

Barnes, Mullen, and Lieb (2013) suggested that the effective implementation of the freshman academy promoted positive achievement outcomes for students of color. From a sociocultural perspective through the theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory (CRT), understanding the existence of racism is crucial to a positive academic environment…