In this article we present findings from the evaluation study of a nation-wide school renovation programme in Portugal. The aim is to analyse policy implementation, taking into account school community participation, discussing how the programme requirement to involve users in the renovation was met, examining perceptions of the programme's…

Colleges and universities, particularly public institutions, are facing higher enrollments and declining resources from state and federal governments. In this resource-constrained environment, faculty are seeking more efficient and effective teaching strategies to improve student learning and test performance. The authors assessed an online…

This research aims to uncover key motivations, barriers and outcomes associated with first-time users of peer observation of teaching within an Irish higher level academic context. Following preliminary research, a peer observation process was piloted on five self-selected peer observation faculty pairs involving peer observation training and…

Many national initiatives in K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education have emphasized the connections between teachers and improved student learning. Much of the discussion surrounding these initiatives has focused on the preparation, professional development, evaluation, compensation, and career advancement of…

This report examines the educational leadership development system in England over the last 15 years to identify ideas American leaders and policymakers might learn from looking cross-nationally. The report describes the rise of the National College for School Leadership in England, which spearheaded much of the early policy development and…

Illinois advanced landmark reforms in recent years to improve instruction for its 2 million students. Built upon the bedrock of new, rigorous Common Core State Standards, Illinois education leaders stepped up student expectations, championed educator evaluations intended to provide feedback and improve instruction, redesigned school report cards…

Educators, administrators, and policymakers are all working to ensure that students graduate high school ready for success in college and the workforce. High school feedback reports, reports that provide information on how a class of high school graduates fares in postsecondary, let school and district leaders know where their students go after…

Reforms of the size and scale to which Race to the Top States have committed, require unprecedented planning, oversight and problem solving to implement. Although many factors influence the outcomes of these reform efforts, performance management is a key structural element in realizing "sustainable reforms" that are durable and…

Allowing students time to read independently during the school day is an option that schools consider to improve motivation to read and reading achievement. Two main questions guided this study: Does providing time to read independently in class improve reading achievement? and Does providing time to read independently in class have an impact on a…

This article describes a collaborative research study of university researchers and Grades one and two teachers from an Ontario, Canada French-language School Board. The School Board offered phonological awareness and reading-teaching training to grades one and two teachers with a long-term goal of improving the reading outcomes of the students in…

Gaps in education attainment between high and low achieving children in the primary school years are frequently evidenced in educational reports. Linked to social disadvantage, these gaps have detrimental long-term effects on learning. There is a need to close the gap in attainment by addressing barriers to learning and offering alternative…

There has been a concern about the quality of school teachers being prepared at the university especially in pedagogy. The main objective of the study was to investigate the preparation of teacher-trainees in pedagogy in Kenyan universities.The theoretical framework of the study was based on Shulman's concept of pedagogical content knowledge. The…

IdM@ti network members concurred in the diagnosis of the difficulties and opportunities arising from Bologna process implementation and teaching methodologies improvement in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) teaching. This network has been created with the aim of improving efficiency of underway and future collaborations.The main objectives…

Lesson study is a professional development activity that increases teachers' attention to student thinking. However, coordinating teachers' live observations of a lesson can be challenging. Using the framework of "distributed cognition," we investigate whether technology supports teachers' examination of student thinking and aids the…

Evaluating major post-secondary education improvement projects involves multiple perspectives, including students' perceptions of their experiences. In the final year of a seven-year department-wide science education initiative, we asked students in 48 courses to rate the extent to which each of 39 teaching or learning strategies helped them learn…