This paper presents a study of the experiences of a group of teacher educators during the 2006-2007 academic year, when they participated in a project to try out and implement digital individual development planning (which in Swedish is digital "Individuella Utvecklings-Planer" or IUP) in a teacher education faculty at a Swedish…

The recent educational transformation in South Africa has created much uncertainty and disquiet among teachers who were required to introduce the educational changes in their classrooms. As "foot soldiers" in education, teachers are the implementers of educational innovations. The advent of outcomes-based education (OBE), like any other…

Although there can be no dispute that schools must do all that can be done to ensure the safety of learning environments, controversy has arisen about the use of zero tolerance policies and procedures to achieve those aims. In response to that controversy, and to assess the extent to which current practice benefits students and schools, the…

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) is the principal association representing the technology leadership in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This is SETDA's ninth annual report on select educational technology activities. This year's report includes…

Math experts developed Formative Assessment Lessons that teachers can incorporate throughout the year's curriculum. Both tools target the "instructional core." A study by Research for Action (RFA) examining the first year of piloting the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and Math Design Collaborative (MDC) tools (2010-11) found…

In 2008 the University of Melbourne began implementation of the Melbourne Model, its new vision for higher education in Australia. Six broad undergraduate university degrees have been introduced and graduate schools created. Students may now progress from an undergraduate generalist degree, with major, to a professional Masters. Alternatively,…

School leaders are increasingly called upon to pursue meaningful partnerships with families and community groups, yet many leaders are unprepared to meet the challenges of partnerships, to cross cultural boundaries, or to be accountable to the community. Alliances are needed among educators, families, and community groups that value relationship…

Problems with implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) can be assessed in light of change management theory. Viewing stakeholders collectively as a corporate entity supports employing change management strategies to make the NCLB work. Examining ways that organizational controls and change management can work together points to…

Following a brief introduction to the David Douglas School District community and schools located in a partly unincorporated area of Portland/Multnomah County, Oregon, this publication describes the district's prior annual goal-setting process and its evolving Vision 90's strategic-planning and implementation process (SPI). Strategic-planning…

The Neshaminy School District in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, established its Professional Development Center in an effort to help all teachers and administrators to have more impact on student achievement by refining and upgrading their professional skills. The district chose to implement Madeline Hunter's Essential Elements of Instruction Program.…

Researchers have only recently recognized that assertions by various educators that they have implemented educational innovations do not all mean the same thing or bear the same weight, according to the authors of this report. Efforts made by the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education at the University of Texas at Austin to…

Because past educational reform movements were stimulated by events not directly related to schools, the movements' leaders have lacked dependable information about schools' actual effectiveness. This article faults past commissions for their omissions and impractical solutions. Real school improvement happens when school staff and parents…

States the need for a close and continuous interrelationship between theory and practice in the reform of teacher education. Describes the guiding notions of a "uni-phasic" reform project which addresses problems of theory-based decision making and implementation in the reform process. (Author/GEA)

Four trends within planned change literature are identified: the increased use of the concept of limited rationality; a better understanding of the implementation process; more exploration of issues dealing with evaluation; and the development of new models for understanding planned change. (MD)

The School Improvement Project of the Institute for the Development of Educational Activities, first instituted in 1980, offers high schools a method for selecting and implementing recommended changes from among the many proposed in recent reports on high school improvement. (JBM)