For more than a decade, Florida's legislators and governors--first Jeb Bush and then Charles Crist--have pushed one of the nation's most ambitious education reform agendas: grading the performance of schools before No Child Left Behind was even an idea. Florida may be more known to outsiders for everything from its Indian River citrus crop to the…

For more than 12 years, the Siemens Foundation has found unique ways to partner with organizations to support educational initiatives in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the United States. Its focus is clear--to educate the next generation of innovators by supporting math and science education from grade school to grad…

Interest in setting high educational standards is at the forefront of many school reform programs in the United States. States' pursuit of high standards can be advanced through implementation of programs such as High Schools That Work ("HSTW"), which emphasizes high expectations and rigorous academics for all students, including Career…

"If we are really serious about equity in education, what will it take to achieve improvements?" This question became the focus of a project between the Canadian Education Association and the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education to foster dialogue about equity and educational improvement. Although the two countries have…

More high quality child care is needed in the United States. This article evaluates the Better Kid Care (BKC) program produced by Pennsylvania State University Extension. Child care staff in Wisconsin were interviewed about changes they had made in their early childhood programs following participation in the BKC program. Findings show that 2…

This article reflects on my 28-year tenure editing "The Elementary School Journal" ("ESJ"). During my tenure as editor, the educational system was in constant reform, from a Nation at Risk to No Child Left Behind. Considerable evidence suggests that these various reforms, which consumed vast resources, were not successful in…

The authors describe a one-on-one online mentoring project that matched preservice teachers with English language learners to help them improve their writing skills. Online writing became a practical, engaging forum for the preservice teachers to discuss language learning and teaching and to learn how to effectively teach writing to ELL students.…

The New Zealand Ministry of Education has published a best evidence synthesis iteration (BES) that identifies the characteristics of teacher professional development that make a positive difference for valued student outcomes. A companion best evidence synthesis iteration (BES) that identifies the leadership influences on valued student outcomes…

Higher education in Africa has had diverse histories and trajectories, and has played different roles over time. This article is concerned with the evolution and future of higher education on the continent, and the role that open educational resources (OER) might play therein. It is generally accepted that "the university in Africa and higher…

This article provides a field-based example of a series of outreach programs that have been designed in response to current recommendations found in the K-12 outreach literature. These programs begin with university mathematics and science faculty members teaching a 10-day summer workshop to elementary and middle school teachers. Following this…

The development of a school improvement plan (SIP) has become an integral part of many school reform efforts. However, there are almost no studies that empirically examine the effectiveness of SIPs. The few studies examining the planning activities of organizations have generally focused on the private sector and have not provided clear or…

The number of state-funded prekindergarten programs continues to grow in the United States. The quality of these early childhood programs, however, often depends on the type of professional development provided. In this investigative study, an experimental pre-post causal-comparative research design was employed to evaluate the impact of an 8-week…

New data and analysis from the National Council on Teacher Quality finds significant progress on the science of reading instruction in teacher preparation. For the first time since NCTQ began publishing program ratings in its 2013 Teacher Prep Review, the number of programs in the nation to embrace reading science has crossed the halfway mark,…

Purpose: This paper describes the iterative development of a home review program designed to augment vocabulary instruction for young children (ages 4 and 5) occurring at school through the use of a home review component. Method: A pilot study followed by two experiments used adapted alternating treatment designs to compare the learning of…

This case study presents data to support the notion that turnaround school policy can improve the efficiency of how traditionally low-performing schools function. The schools that were successful in implementing the UVA Turnaround Program training developed a clear understanding of the expectations for participating in the UVA Turnaround Program…