President Obama is calling for an increase in educational attainment among citizens of the United States (Obama, 2009). Prior to this national call, Washington State recognized the need to increase the educational attainment of its residents to maintain a globally competitive economy. By 2018, 67 percent of jobs in Washington will require a…

It is widely acknowledged that charter schools tend to have less experienced teachers and higher teacher turnover, but to date, little effort has been made to identify the contribution of faculty experience and retention to overall charter effectiveness. I do so using a twelve-year panel of charter and mainstream student achievement in North…

The first charter school law was passed in Minnesota in 1991 and with it, a new school reform movement began. After two decades, 41 states and Washington D.C. have adopted charter legislation. This special issue provides an opportunity for scholars to reflect upon the promises and limitations of charter schools and to offer policy advice for those…

There is an emerging trend of democratizing science and schooling within science education that can be characterized as citizen science. We explore the roots of this movement and some current projects to underscore the meaning of citizen science in science and schooling. We show that citizen science, as it is currently conceptualized, does not go…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the views of school staff on a nutrition health project implemented via an ICT-based learning environment in a secondary school (7th to 9th grades). Design/methodology/approach: The study was a part of the wider European Network for Health Promoting Schools programme (ENHPS; since 2008, Schools…

The work and lives of teachers have always been subject to external influence as those who are nearing the end of their careers will attest, but it is arguable that what is new over the last two decades is the pace, complexity, and intensity of change as governments have responded to the shrinking world of economic competitiveness and social…

This article presents an interview with Sir John Daniel outgoing President and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning. Sir John Daniel's term as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) ended on May 31, 2012. Readers of "Distance Education" will know of Sir John's work at the Tele-universite (Directeur des…

Among the diverse and varied missions of community colleges is the provision of instruction for students who have either been underserved by their previous educational institutions or not had the opportunity to complete high school. Included under this umbrella are low-performing high school students, individuals with low basic skills, and those…

Using longitudinal data, this analysis: (1) documented educational outcomes for serious offending girls, and (2) identified risk and protective factors associated with academic achievement in mid-adolescence and degree attainment by early adulthood. In mid-adolescence, girls performed nearly one standard deviation below the population mean on…

This book traces national policies behind the efforts of integrating education systems in Europe. In some regions of Europe, such as the Nordic countries, a high level of social integration was achieved by introducing radical comprehensive education systems. By contrast, in countries such as Germany and England, comprehensive education either…

As the author reflects on CES and its groundbreaking, significant work over the past 25 years, he is regularly reminded of the importance of the core guiding principles, even as the educational landscape changes. In his 10 short years of teaching, he has witnessed many transformations, alterations, and modifications in education. He has been…

Renewing the Middle School is a special three-part series in which the author, an eminent scholar in the field of middle grades education, offers his view on the status of middle grades education and its prospects for the future. In this part of the series, he responds strongly to some of the criticism that has been aimed at American public…

No other Florida community college has successfully developed and launched nine baccalaureate degree programs at one time. Indian River State College accomplished this goal--and gained Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Level II accreditation--in 12 months by establishing a college-wide Baccalaureate Transition Team within a…

In 1974, John G. Sperling left a tenured position at San Jose State University with $26,000 in savings to start an academic program for working adults. In the beginning, he ran the operation out of his house. The program soon outgrew the house, Sperling relocated to Arizona, and the program adopted the name of that state's capital. Now the…

Over the past several years, Hong Kong has made a determined effort to raise its profile by positioning its universities to compete globally for students, scholars, and research projects. In the process, it is refashioning its higher-education system from the British three-year model into a four-year system aligned with those of the United States…