School principals are agents of change in the implementation of education policies as they oversee accountability actions that serve to monitor and evaluate student achievement and identify the measures required. In Québec, where "results-based management" (RBM) is encouraged, the "professional learning community" (PLC)…

Purpose: This article explores the policy context in the UK around securing impact from academic research, particularly from the perspective of a social science education researcher. Approach: The article locates impact studies within debates about broader accountability frameworks. Insights from this literature are applied to a case study about…

Purpose: This article integrates two distinct discourses to show how an Aristotelian account of character education can supply a valuable framework for developing a habit of social action. Approach: We use a review of relevant secondary literature, a documentary analysis of #iwill materials, and an Aristotelian conceptual framework to analyse the…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are a group of educators working collaboratively to improve student achievement and expand the pedagogy of the individual as well as the group. Studies on PLCs, grounded by the social constructivism theory of Vygotsky, Bandura, and Wenger, have found that collaboration and collegiality foster a positive…

Australia's schooling systems, like many around the globe, are currently pursuing a 'school improvement' policy agenda. Schools, and school leaders, are under pressure to improve student achievement as measured through high-stakes testing, the results of which are often publicised with little contextual information attached. Research has…

Inclusive education, understood as a pedagogical commitment to schooling experiences that value diversity and promote equitable participation for all students, has not been broadly taken up in practice in the United States. Much of the research in this field suggests that teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education are the primary barrier to…

With increased demands for institutional accountability and improved student learning, involvement in assessment has become a fundamental role of higher education faculty (Rhodes, 2010). However, faculty members and administrators often question whether assessment efforts do indeed improve student learning (Hutchings, 2010). This mixed methods…

Despite millions of dollars spent on reform efforts, effective and sustainable improvement still eludes schools. The appropriate development of the professional learning community model, including five key dimensions, provides a structure for educational institutions to bring about sustainable improvements in student achievement. If principals do…

As trained leaders for whom accountability and a strong work ethic are second nature, Chicagoland veterans are uniquely equipped to meet the demands of today's jobs. That veterans typically possess the skills and character needed to excel in the civilian workplace makes reports on the state of veteran unemployment more troubling. Through the…

Systematic changes to higher education curriculum typically occur within the extended timeframes of formal curriculum review processes. Programmes need to be reviewed periodically for internal and external accountability or to determine whether the curriculum has lost its coherence due to the accumulative effect of continual small-scale changes.…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) have become a popular strategy in various forms (e.g., data teams, grade-level teams) and with various champions (e.g., district leaders, university researchers, teacher advocates). Although well-implemented PLCs have been shown to distribute leadership, the tension between democratic inquiry processes and…

This case study draws on Gee's (1989) "D/discourse theory" to investigate English learners' (ELs') perspectives regarding Accountable Talk (AT)--a structured, discourse-intensive instructional approach--after a yearlong implementation in three content-based (mathematics) middle school classrooms. Interviews with 21 ELs (3 Advanced…

This qualitative interpretive case study used Wenger's (1998) communities of practice (CoP) framework to analyze how the electronic learning community (eLC) process at an established state virtual high school operated like a community of practice. Components of the eLC process were analyzed according to elements of the CoP framework, which…

As accountability systems have increased demands for evidence of student learning, the use of data in education has become more prevalent in many countries. Although school and administrative leaders are recognizing the need to provide support to teachers on how to interpret and respond to data, there is little theoretically sound research on…

This qualitative case study used Wenger's (1998) communities of practice (CoP) framework to analyze how the ongoing electronic learning community (eLC) process at an established state virtual high school (SVHS) supported online teachers in building relationships with online students. Lave and Wenger's (1991) concept of legitimate peripheral…