This paper examined leadership practices which supported the diffusion of an innovation in a cluster of schools in Singapore, through the lenses of complexity leadership theory (CLT) and ecological leadership. The approach is a qualitative case study, with the unit of analysis bounded by the innovation and a cluster of schools involved in the…

This manuscript reports on two studies on the implementation of a technology-rich innovation in public schools. This technology-rich innovation was an online quasi-video game environment that used 'through-the-window' virtual reality and a robust back story to situate learning activities in the virtual world for children. The first study examined…

This article is focused on identifying the current issues in elementary education in the United States. In each of these issues, elementary educators are at the crossroads looking for solutions and directions. Based on the review of literature, the authors pinpoint the upcoming challenges elementary school educators will be facing in the future.…

Success for All (SFA), one of the best-known school reform models, aims to improve the reading skills of all children but is especially directed at schools that serve large numbers of students from low-income families. First implemented in 1987, SFA combines a challenging reading program, whole-school reform elements, and an emphasis on continuous…

Success for All (SFA), one of the best-known school reform models, aims to improve the reading skills of all children but is especially directed at schools that serve large numbers of students from low-income families. First implemented in 1987, SFA combines a challenging reading program, whole-school reform elements, and an emphasis on continuous…

First implemented in 1987, Success for All (SFA) is one of the best-known and most thoroughly evaluated school reform models. It combines three basic elements: (1) Reading instruction that emphasizes phonics for beginning readers and comprehension for students at all levels, and that is characterized by a highly structured curriculum, an emphasis…

This document describes an accelerated school project adopted in 1993 at the Blanche Pope Elementary School in the rural Oahu community of Waimanalo, Hawaii. The project is based on the key concept of "powerful learning," a belief that the education provided for gifted and talented children works well for all children. Every learning…

The need for specific information about principals as change facilitators prompted a long-range research program. A first step in this effort investigates the interventions principals make in relation to the implementation of an innovation in their schools. Subjects were 10 principals of elementary schools where an identifiable innovation…

On December 7, 1988, the director of the Regional Pedagogic Centre of the Netherlands, Dook Kopmels, presented a workshop that focused on primary education in Ireland. Contents concerned: (1) official aims of primary education in Ireland; (2) responsibility for organizing primary education at national, regional, local, and school levels; (3) the…

The research discussed in this paper was intended to identify factors that promote or retard change in schools and to relate those factors to the modifications they foster. Data were collected from 13 Wisconsin elementary schools to determine what factors affect (1) the decision to adopt an innovation, (2) the rate of implementation of an…

The 1936 curriculum was an important innovation in the history of Belgian primary education. According to a recent study, educational practice did not fundamentally change. Personal tensions and rivalries, lack of continuity in educational policy, and failure to involve teachers in the decision-making process greatly inhibited the new curriculum's…

Belgium's Renewed Primary School (RPS) project began in 1973 as part of a national commitment to innovative reform. The project's many goals focused on increasing interdependence among educational resources to support a more individualized, humanized, and effective response to pupil needs. Schools participating in the RPS effort usually selected…

Examined the extent to which schools that received Title I funds for schoolwide programs implemented the plans they developed when requesting funds. Results from 10 urban elementary schools show that schools implemented some plan components but did not generally implement instructional innovations included in the plans. (SLD)

Ways in which program innovators, policy developers, and educational researchers think about and engage in disseminating innovations to schools can prove a major barrier to reform. A process for effective dissemination using the coaching model in the accelerated schools program is described here. Accelerated schools draw on three principles: unity…

Pressures for innovation in administration and instruction at the elementary level in Italy's public education system during the 1960s led to two major pieces of legislation mandating five basic changes. These changes involved providing cultural enrichment programs, reassessing the relationship between teaching and learning, decreasing the social…