Carl Glickman's life has been dedicated to researching and supporting school improvement initiatives that honor purposeful student learning. Currently, this kind of learning stands in contrast to mainstream educational practices. As a means of inviting school leaders to apply his work, this article highlights the commons threads in Glickman's…

School improvement plans (SIPs) are increasingly used to structure the process of setting and monitoring goals. As SIPs are designed to identify and address local problems of practice, there is the possibility that these tools help school leaders initiate and carry out ambitious school improvement. Yet, practical challenges abound in the…

The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a study of a 3-year leadership development initiative designed to enhance the leadership capacities of 10 school leaders from a consortium of rural, high-poverty school districts. The initiative provided cross-district, job-embedded, and personalized leadership development through leadership…

"Through redesign you have the opportunity do whatever you choose to do to make your school reflect the needs and desires of your community. I believe our public-school teachers can do the great things we keep hearing private and charter schools do if we would just let them." Randy Watson, Kansas Deputy Commissioner of Education, said…

Colleges and universities are increasingly seeking innovations to enhance their strategic enrollment management (SEM) outcomes and processes (Bontrager 2008, Bontrager, Ingersoll and Ingersoll 2012). Linking SEM with systemic institutional strategic planning and assessment processes can enhance those outcomes and processes through integrated…

For many years, the main approach to educational improvement has consisted of high-stakes testing and accountability. While this approach has achieved some success, it has also created negative outcomes including a narrowing of the curriculum, and an over-testing of students. Against this backdrop, there are examples of teachers that have…

Background: This paper is part of the special issue "Reimagining Research and Practice at the Crossroads of Philosophy, Teaching, and Teacher Education." Early childhood initiatives have joined a nexus of educational reforms characterized by increased accountability and a focus on measurement as a marker of student and teacher learning,…

This study is an analysis of the challenges of leaders in schools to improve learning systems, trying to do an analysis of the six aspects of analysis during the study. The main contribution of this research is related to how to deal with challenges in improving learning systems in schools that have so far faced challenges and obstacles, and these…

While debates rage on regarding various approaches to educational change and improvement, there is no doubt recent decades have been marked by a shift in how these approaches are conceptualized and enacted. In the last 20 or so years many nations have applied neo-liberal principles of competition, profit, and efficiency to the public sector and to…

Increasingly, policymakers, school and school system leaders are turning to Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) as a means to achieve bottom-up educational improvement at scale (Brown and Poortman, 2018). Likening the leadership challenges of establishing PLNs to conquering a labyrinth, this paper draws on extant literature to explore one key…

This article sets sights on highlighting the effectiveness and efficiency of higher and vocational education and training, as well as exploring ways to address and implement the current reform agenda in the field. The research was conducted on the basis of a generalizing and comparative method, to identify the problems and development of…

Background: School education should improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) ability not only in science and mathematics but also in technology and engineering. However, practice and research are being conducted without clear definitions and methods for STEM education. Moreover, the positioning and characteristics of the…

"Stackable credential programs" are designed to make it easier for students to earn multiple postsecondary certificates or degrees in a field as they advance in their careers. To examine the stacking of credentials in Ohio and inform ongoing efforts to scale stackable credential programs, the Ohio Department of Higher Education and the…

Collaborative networks that use continuous improvement principles and tools can accelerate and spread learning across sites and contexts. Districts face unprecedented challenges in meeting students' and families' needs in rapidly changing conditions. Collaborative networks can be powerful drivers of system improvement. Collaborating well is key to…

Research on middle-level schools and student achievement revealed a drop in academic performance when students transitioned from elementary school to a traditional middle school. In the United States, the middle school years have historically seen a decline in student achievement following a transition from elementary school. According to the…