In chemistry, a catalyst accelerates change without being depleted. As we seek school improvement, we need sustainable, scalable changes, and therefore catalytic structures are ideal. From communities of practice to professional learning communities to Networked Improvement Communities (NICs) much has been made in the scholarly and consultancy…

This open access book offers pioneering insights and practical methods for promoting diversity and inclusion in higher education classrooms and curricula. It highlights the growing importance of international education programs in Asia and the value of understanding student diversity in a changing, evermore interconnected world. The book explores…

A grassroots understanding of well-being can be an effective approach to meeting the needs of children in low-resource settings. Due to this, evidence on how to sustain such approaches is needed. "Successful Pathways for the Well-Being of Black Students" addresses a long-standing need for a book that focuses more on strength over…

The core practice of professional scientists is inquiry, often referred to as research. If educators are to prepare students for a role in the professional scientific and technological community, exposing them to inquiry-based learning is essential. Despite this, inquiry-based teaching and learning (IBTL) remains relatively rare, possibly due to…

The addition of the arts to STEM education, now known as STEAM, adds a new dimension to problem-solving within those fields, offering students tools such as imagination and resourcefulness to incorporate into their designs. However, the shift from STEM to STEAM has changed what it means for students to learn within and across these disciplines.…

Researchers, educators, professional organizations, administrators, parents, and policy makers have increased their involvement in the assessment and evaluation of early childhood education programs. This interest has developed swiftly during the last decades. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National…

For the first time, researchers, policymakers and practitioners across the world will have access to a comprehensive mapping of research evidence and policy strategies about education and poverty in affluent countries. Although there is widespread agreement that poverty and poor educational outcomes are related, there are competing explanations as…

Educational researchers and policy analysts concur increasingly that the organizational design and culture of schools can either enhance or hinder the effectiveness of school reform efforts. This book offers a series of essays that may help parents, educators, and policymakers understand and solve school organizational problems that get in the way…

Designed to provide a link between academic thought and research and the practice of teaching, this monograph explores the appropriate educational response to technological change. The central argument of this study is that future job opportunities will lie essentially with low tech jobs, i.e., traditional, basic, industrial jobs, rather than the…

Designing and remodeling educational facilities are becoming more complex with options that include computer-based collaboration, classrooms with multimedia podiums, conference centers, and workplaces with desktop communication systems. This book provides a collection of articles that address educational facility design categorized in the…

This book compiles 22 articles concerning sick building syndrome in educational facilities in following three areas: determining whether a school is sick; assessing causes and initiating treatment; and developing interventions. Articles address such topics as managing the psycho-social aspects of sick building syndrome; how indoor air quality…

The conference papers examine higher education reforms in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe from several research perspectives: political, economic, pedagogical, and sociological. Papers are organized in three sections: Higher Education Policies and Institutional Change; Central European Higher Education in Transition; and Higher…

What will schools look like in the future? What big trends are most influential in shaping education and how might these unfold in coming years? What policy questions need to be tackled today for desirable pathways into the future to become more likely? Four chapters in part 1 address these questions. Chapter 1 examines the "driving forces" in the…

This document is the third of three related volumes. They present the rationale, background, and framework for a comprehensive monitoring system being developed for the National Science Foundation. The system is being designed to gather information about the effects of national, state, and local policy actions designed to change the teaching and…

This book documents a year in the life of five adolescents preparing for college. The text examines the different pathways that brought these students to where they are: living in poverty, attending overcrowded schools, and the pressure to be the first in their families to attend college are just a few of the challenges these students must battle…