Those tasked with leading large school districts direct incredibly complex organizations in what are often contentious political and social contexts, with powerful stakeholder groups espousing conflicting policy priorities. Because of their high-profile positions, superintendents often face uniquely persistent and powerful resistance and must…

Since the 1990s, charter schools have spread rapidly across the nation. The replication and expansion of charter schools has become a common feature of the portfolio management model which situates the district as strategic manager of a choice-based system including traditional and charter schools. Yet, many school districts have experienced…

The Safe Schools Coalition Australia's teaching resource All of us, or 'Safe Schools', as it became known, was subjected to unrelenting attack from politicians in the Australian Parliament. This paper draws on analysis of the Australian Parliamentary Hansard, examining 18,000 words spoken about Safe Schools by Senators and Members of Parliament…

Drawing on an integrative review of the literature on the privatization of education and an empirical case study of technology corporations in education, this article examines the corporate within the political economy of education. It argues that by analytically conceiving of corporations under the banner of the private sphere and,…

In 2011, the state of Arizona banned the highly successful Tucson Unified School District Mexican American Studies program through the law ARS § 15-112. This article is a Critical Race Theory "counternarrative" regarding the role of statistics in the constitutional challenge to this state law. Through firsthand accounts of this process,…

How do school district administrators make sense of educational equity as they undertake reform? This study examines tracking policymaking in two urban school districts. Using case studies and an interpretive approach, the study highlights school district leaders' shifting ways of making sense of tracking and (in)equity while facing achievement…

Teacher protests across the country have garnered widespread attention. This qualitative study explores the role of future teachers in these protests by questioning what leads future teachers to join teacher rallies, what they learn as a result of participating, and how they perceive their experiences will impact their teaching. Data sources…

I argue that instructional coaches face inherent systemic conflicts when supporting standards-based reform. I interpret the politics of coaching as the local intermediation of broader debates about teacher accountability and teacher professionalism. Drawing on qualitative case study analysis, I examine the effects of macro-level ideological shifts…

This paper explores the interrelations between power, politics, academia and curriculum reform in British Columbia (BC) using social studies curriculum documents as a case study. It describes how curriculum reform occurred and argues that reform was undemocratic as it was largely the product of individuals with power who invited individuals with…

This paper explores changes to the educational policy-making arena through case study analysis of a Massachusetts law passed in 2012 that limits seniority-based job protections for public K-12 teachers. I use data from interviews with policy stakeholders, observations of public meetings, and policy artifacts to explore struggles over democratic…

One of the fundamental pre-requisites for Industrialisation is its stupendous availability, in a country of skilled-manpower. In this regard, Zimbabwe has sought to leverage human resources, such as these, in order to accelerate the process of socio-economic transformation. In March 2012, for example, the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) pronounced…

An Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development research priority, innovative learning environments (ILEs) have been translated into policy and practice in 25 countries around the world. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, learning spaces are being reconceptualised in relation to this policy work by school leaders who are confronted by an impetus to…

Policymakers and educational leaders continue to use school district decentralization as a reform effort that attempts to shift power and authority from central office administration to school-level leadership. In 2015, the Nevada Legislature passed legislation to restructure the Clark County School District (CCSD), the state's largest school…

This report mainly aims to provide a critical and in-depth analysis of the K-12 Case, "Divided Loyalty" by Holy and Tartar (2004). The case recounts how the manifestation of inadequate leadership skills in a school setting could affect negatively the performance of students.

All over the world, economic inclusion has risen to the top of the development discourse. A Oxford Scholarship Online well-performing education system is central to achieving inclusive development -- but the challenge of improving educational outcomes has proven to be unexpectedly difficult. Access to education has increased, but quality remains…