This paper uses Anderson's notion of 'imagined community' to argue that how people think about the publicness of their school system provides insight into the functioning and flourishing of communities, societies and nations. We focus on the privatisation of public schooling in Alberta, Canada and Northern England to highlight tensions between the…

The authors conducted a third-party study of the student achievement effects of Struggling Schools, a user-generated approach to Comprehensive School Reform (CSR). The design was a quasiexperimental, pre-post matched sample (N = 180) with school as unit of analysis, drawing on 3 years of achievement data from standardized external assessments.…

A province-wide evaluation of the new Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program undertaken in Nova Scotia provides strong support for a "program-based model" of counseling. Focus groups provided qualitative data related to counselors' overall impressions of the Program, what was working, concerns, and professional needs. Evaluation…

Describes the current status of postsecondary distance education (DE) in the United States and Canada, focusing on ways in which DE can be used to further local or national policy goals. Presents four examples of DE policies and programs, each representing a different focus (laissez-faire, consortium, coordinating board, and comprehensive). (MDM)