To improve the employment rates and earnings of Americans workers, we need to create more-coherent and more-effective education and workforce development systems, focusing primarily (though not exclusively) on disadvantaged youth and adults, and with education and training more clearly targeted towards firms and sectors that provide good-paying…

The School Improvement Grants (SIG) program is authorized by section 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). Under section 1003(g)(1) of the ESEA, the Secretary must award grants to States to enable the States to provide subgrants to local educational agencies for the purpose of providing assistance for school…

In June 2010, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Offices (CCSSO) released the Common Core State Standards. The stated aim of the Common Core standards is to define the knowledge and skills students should achieve in order to graduate from high school ready to succeed in a…

In the last two decades, there has been a proliferation of Web-based course-management systems designed to facilitate postsecondary teaching (for example, WebCT, Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Moodle). In general, these systems provide analogs for delivering lectures, holding class discussions, giving quizzes and examinations (typically multiple…

Although students today will need to rely on text more than in the past, American students are struggling to read and comprehend text. Research has supported the ability of content area reading strategies (CARS) to increase students' ability to read and comprehend text. The purpose of this research was to assess agriscience educators'…

Child outcome studies consistently emphasize the effects of quality childcare on the early development of young children. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effects of assessment training and digital media on teacher-child interactions measured using the Caregiver Child Interaction Scale (CCIS). The participants included six infant…

In Australia, concerns about the quality of mathematics education that students experience are particularly salient in rural schools. These schools typically report great difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified teachers of mathematics. Teachers in non-metropolitan locations may also experience professional isolation if they have limited…

Teach First works in partnership with government, business organisations, higher education institutions (providers of Initial Teacher Training, ITT) and schools to offer a two-year integrated Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) Leadership Development Programme; the first cohort of students were accepted in 2003. Its delivery of an integrated…

Building on an expanded concept of mutual adaptation, this chapter explores a distinctive and successful aspect of International Baccalaureate's effort to scale up, as they moved to expand their programs and support services in Title I schools. Based on a three-year, mixed-methods study, it offers a case where we see not only local adaptations…

There is increasing concern in the United States about the academic challenges that middle grade students face. Middle schools are not meeting accountability standards, and as a result students are not being adequately prepared for high school. In response to these concerns, a state in the southeastern United States adopted a comprehensive school…

This paper reports data from the evaluation of the numeracy component of a long-running educational intervention, covering the period from 2001 to 2008. "QuickSmart" is both an intervention and research project operating in Australian schools. It is a structured intervention program designed for middle-school students (ages 10 to 13…

The purpose of this paper is to explore the principles of Assessment for Learning (AFL) in light of John Dewey's writing about the purpose and possibility of education. In this paper, we compare Dewey's ideas to the goals of assessment for learning (AFL)--a practice emerging globally and, more locally, moved forward by the Alberta Initiative for…

More than 20% of U.S. children entering kindergarten today are of Latino heritage. And Latino children--growing-up in highly diverse communities--enter school with weaker math and English preliteracy skills than their non-Latino peers. The growing percentage of Spanish-speaking children in today's classrooms raises questions for educators,…

Data are only useful if people are able to access, understand and use them. Without access to the right information, stakeholders are forced to make decisions based on anecdote, experience or instinct. For information to be useful, it must be timely, readily available, and easy to understand. This brief highlights the importance of implementing…

This article features Ruth Wright Hayre, Philadelphia's first black high school teacher and principal whose work at William Penn High School for Girls became a model for counseling and motivation programs at other majority-black high schools in Philadelphia, expanding educational and career opportunities for thousands of "able" students.…