In East Africa, there is great effort directed toward ensuring that there is learning and value for money invested in universal education policies initiated over the past decade. Kenya and Uganda are two countries that typify this effort. The effort includes the work of research organisations such as Uwezo, which assess learning levels; RTI, which…

This paper explores questions of relevance to Ethiopian primary education policy. It examines (i) the match/mismatch between government-prescribed pedagogy and actual student learning practices and (ii) the relationship between those practices and school, class and teacher level factors. The paper employs evidence from government documents on…

This article examines a grade one teacher's support for her students' writing development through formal peer and teacher feedback. The teacher modelled and provided examples of effective feedback and good writing in whole-class and small-group lessons and in her own one-on-one verbal feedback on student writing. She allocated time for the…

A seamless practice in most classrooms today is one of reading assessment as the tool that informs instruction. When data is used effectively, teachers can provide essential early intervention instruction to prevent reading difficulties from occurring. In most cases, data retrieved from various classroom assessments provide authentic student…

Federal policies (e.g., 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act [ESEA] and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) posit that teacher quality is a potential leverage point for improving student achievement (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). Moreover, in the Race to the Top competition, teacher effectiveness must…

The purpose of this research was to explore how teachers described, recognized, and would potentially influence leadership behaviors in children aged 4 to 6 years. One hundred thirty-three early childhood teachers and teachers of the gifted were surveyed using a researcher-designed instrument called the "Recognizing Leadership in Children…

This study was designed to explore secondary mathematics teachers' beliefs about graphing calculators, their practices with the graphing calculators when teaching linear and quadratic functions, and the relationship between the teachers' beliefs and their practices. The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, 81 teachers…

Principals are responsible for ensuring the effectiveness of the instructional programs, including staff development, on their campuses. Instructional leaders must utilize practices that allow them to fulfill this responsibility. This qualitative, collective case study examined the effectiveness of the three-minute classroom walk-through…

This brief provides a snapshot of the rules governing classroom observations used in teacher evaluations in selected Race to the Top grantees. The information was collected in response to a technical assistance request to the Reform Support Network (RSN) from Georgia, where education leaders charged with designing that State's teacher evaluation…

Evaluating teachers--whether casually or more rigorously, annually or less frequently--has long been part of the job description of many a principal and assistant principal, who often have relied on occasional observations to make their judgments. What has usually resulted are an overwhelming number of "satisfactory" ratings and the…

This article explores how adolescents interact with multimodal texts across shifting contexts, including social, academic, and digital ones. The author considers the ability of teens to articulate the boundaries and fluidity of multiple discourse systems and to maneuver across and within them with ease. The author further explores pedagogical…

This paper concerns an exploratory and interpretive case study of the literacy curricula in a Canadian transnational education programme (Pseudonym: SCS) delivered in China where Ontario secondary school curricula were used at the same time as the Chinese national high school curricula. Using ethnographic tools and actor-network theory, the study…

In order to respond to the ever-changing global economic environment, the technological and vocational education system in Taiwan needs to be dramatically reformed to the changing needs of the domestic industrial structure. Integrating practical talents with practical industrial experiences and competences can help avoid discrepancy and close the…

This study examined the role of family-related (mother's education, depressive symptoms and child's gender) and kindergarten-related (teacher's experience, teaching practices and class size) factors in mothers' and teachers' mutual trust in Estonia and Finland. Six hundred eighteen (206 Estonian and 412 Finnish) mothers of kindergarten children…

India is a democratic, socialistic republic that is committed to providing high quality elementary education to all children. This research paper examines and analyses the effects of school, teacher and home factors on learning outcomes in elementary schools in the urban slum areas of Varanasi city and assesses the learning outcomes of students of…