Student achievement in mathematics has been a focal concern in the United States for many years. The National Research Council's 2001 report and the recent report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008) both called attention to student achievement in mathematics, and both called for all students to learn algebra by the end of eighth…

Effective principals are those who boost academic achievement for all students, increase the effectiveness of their teaching staffs, and consistently take leadership actions shown to improve outcomes for students. Therefore principal evaluation systems should place 70% of their weight on the ability of principals to increase student achievement…

The purpose of the Individuals with "Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B" grants is to assist States, outlying areas, freely associated States, and the Secretary of the Interior to provide special education and related services to children with disabilities. States must ensure that all children with disabilities residing in the…

Quality Rating Improvement Systems (QRIS) are now operating state-wide in 18 states. An additional 13 states are implementing QRIS in selected regions or as pilot initiatives. While highly varied in their specific features, these systems all use a set of interrelated strategies that aim to raise the quality of early care and education programs.…

Mobile learning (m-learning) has moved beyond the realms of fantasy to become a viable platform for contextual learning that bridges formal and informal learning environments. This paper overviews how mobile Web 2.0 has been instrumental in facilitating pedagogical change and informing an institution's new e-learning strategy that focuses upon…

The No Child Left Behind Act increases pressure on schools and districts to use standardized state test data. Seeking to learn about the process of turning accountability data into actionable information, this paper presents findings from three case studies of small to medium sized school districts. The study examines the flow of state science…

This article describes a program for supporting parents and caregivers of K-4 students at an urban university's charter school. To create this program, university faculty and school administrators developed a series of workshops to foster school-home literacy connections. Information about surveys, meetings and program implementation are provided…

Hole-in-the-Wall as a concept has attracted worldwide attention. It involves providing unconditional access to computer-equipped kiosks in playgrounds and out-of-school settings, children taking ownership of their learning and learning driven by the children's natural curiosity. It is posited that this approach, which is being used in India,…

Are the central pedagogical concepts and practices of the Humboldtian university, with "Bildung" as the overarching goal, only part of an elitist history of the university in the past or may they still be of relevance for the 21st century? What processes are involved in fostering "Bildung" then and now? This article…

The major aim of this study was to uncover the influence of recently introduced classroom technology on a student's learning attitude. Research was conducted in a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region university where classroom technology was being implemented for the first time. Hence specific attention was being given to the careful management…

This article describes Washington State's Student Achievement Initiative, an accountability system implemented in 2005-06 that measures students' gains in college readiness, college credits earned, and degree or certificate completion. The goal of the initiative is to increase educational attainment by focusing on the critical momentum points…

What are school staff to do when inspiration strikes but the funding to carry out a vision is lacking? This was the dilemma faced by the staff of the Emotional Disability Services Unit (ED Unit) in the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland. The ED Unit serves 350 students who experience significant emotional challenges that impair…

Cloud computing is the latest paradigm shift for the delivery of IT services. Where previous paradigms (centralized, decentralized, distributed) were based on fairly straightforward approaches to technology and its management, cloud computing is radical in comparison. The literature on cloud computing, however, suffers from many divergent…

This pilot study examined an implementation of a kindergarten summer school reading program in 4 high-poverty urban schools. The program targeted both basic reading skills and oral language development. Students were randomly assigned to a treatment group (n = 25) or a typical practice comparison group (n = 28) within each school; however,…

This article deals with the politics of aid partnerships in the education sector of Benin following an anthropological policy research approach based on empirical data. I present local debates on primary education and the New Study Programmes, the latest education reform introduced nationwide in 1999. The different perceptions of the reform…