Since the end of the 1980s, the Norwegian education system has gone through major reform, influenced largely by new managerialist ideas. Strategies to renew the public sector were promoted as the new public management (NPM). This paper investigates the way ideas connected to NPM reforms have been introduced and interpreted in the Norwegian…

This article describes the design and evaluation of a blended online/face-to-face course completed by more than 6000 learners throughout the United States of America and internationally. The educational impact was monitored using a variety of evaluation strategies. The results, in terms of achieved knowledge and overall satisfaction, indicate that…

A visit to a primary school in Dublin, Ireland, shows that, although the structure of the Irish school system is much different than in the U.S., the professional learning needs and challenges are very much the same. In this article, Anthony Armstrong, publications editor at Learning Forward, writes about his meeting with Maria Spring, principal…

This article explores the powerful idea of capital and articulates its importance for professional work, professional capacity, and professional effectiveness. Systems that invest in professional capital recognize that education spending is an investment in developing human capital from early childhood to adulthood, leading to rewards of economic…

Many engineering undergraduates begin third-level education with significant deficiencies in their core mathematical skills. Every year, in the Dublin Institute of Technology, a diagnostic test is given to incoming first-year students, consistently revealing problems in basic mathematics. It is difficult to motivate students to address these…

Teacher effectiveness research now informs the rationale of much Australian education policy aimed at redressing student under-achievement. The approach draws a "straight line" between teacher practice and student outcomes, "controlling" for and ultimately dismissive of other possible influences. The paper calls into question…

The purpose of this research project is to investigate the design of classroom environments through the lens of a uniquely selected art educator. More specifically, the purpose is to use case study methodology (Stake, 1995) to characterize the resulting instructional experiences for an art educator who had the unique opportunity to collaborate…

The current study examined early career professional school counselors' experiences related to their work as mental health professionals in schools. Nine individuals participated in qualitative interviews that were analyzed using consensual qualitative research methods (Hill, 2012). All individuals were professional school counselors trained in…

Utilizing a formative experiment, this study investigated how a nonfiction-focused writing workshop could be implemented to improve students' reading and writing. Eighteen students from a fourth grade class at a rural school in a large southeastern school district participated in the study. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected prior to…

Purpose: Based on an in-depth comparison of 20 multicultural university curricula, this article aims to provide practical and implementable suggestions about how to improve such curricula in order to ensure highest and globally compatible academic quality. The recently founded developmental Master's curriculum "Global Studies" (GS) at…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the author's commentary on the special issue of "Journal of Educational Administration" entitled "Systemwide Reform: Examining Districts under Pressure". Design/methodology/approach: In framing her reflections, the author has looked across the five articles in the special issue,…

A growing number of school districts--including large ones like those in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Hawaii--have become recent converts to new principal-evaluation systems that tie school leaders' appraisals to student test scores. As of this school year, student achievement accounts for 40 percent to 50 percent of principals' evaluations…

Well-designed and thoughtful approaches to practitioner research can bring about very positive impacts to improve teaching and learning in science classrooms. Readers of highly-rated research also need to appreciate and understand research design, literature critique, appropriate data collection, methods of analysis, theoretical frameworks,…

Community colleges are the initial introduction to postsecondary education and training for thousands of students. As pressure for institutional accountability increases from external stakeholders, the performance of two-year colleges is becoming more critical. Within these institutions, student affairs departments in community colleges provide…

The AACN has asked academic leaders to align the performance of their organizations to the prescribed standards within the "Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing" Practice document and has provided indicators of quality suggestions for program enhancement as a means of promoting continuous performance…