School leaders face potential conflicts between the demands of national and local education policy and the values and ethics that brought them into teaching and subsequently into school leadership. This article asks whether head teachers' values are changed by the policy context, and looks at incidents in head teachers' professional lives that…

This study examined the use of measures of student learning computed using end-of-year assessments (distal measures) versus measures of student learning associated with a single lesson (proximal measures) as criterion scores for the validity of observations of teachers' pedagogical skills. The validity coefficients computed using distal…

Student evaluations of teaching are ubiquitous and impactful on the careers of college teachers. However, there is limited empirical research documenting the accuracy of people's efforts in interpreting teaching evaluations. The current research consisted of three studies documenting the effect of small mean differences in teaching…

Background/Context: There is little question that education is changing, seemingly quickly and in some cases dramatically. The mechanisms through which individuals learn are shifting from paper-based ones to electronic media. Simultaneously, the nature of what individuals must learn is evolving, in good part due to an exponential accumulation of…

The focus of this ongoing research is the effectiveness of coaching in improving the quality of teacher-child instructional interactions in Head Start classrooms. This study examines the relationship between two measures: Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) and a Project Approach Fidelity form developed by the authors. Linear regressions…

The early childhood sector in England, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), has been a site of intense policy intervention over the last decade, including the introduction of a statutory assessment of children's development at age five, conducted by teachers. National results from this assessment, the EYFS Profile, show continued and…

Vocational education and training (VET) in Schools is intended to provide young people with an opportunity to develop skills for a range of vocational occupations as they complete their senior secondary certificates. This report draws together findings from all three years of the "Entry to Vocations" research project and presents a set…

The impact of school locale, size and poverty levels (SES) on student achievement has been of great interest in school research for more than the last five decades. The increasing public demand to hold schools accountable for their effects on student outcomes lends urgency to the task of exploring variables related to student achievement that are…

Some students, including students with print disabilities, students with low vision, and English language learners, may benefit from having test content read aloud. However, there have been challenges in standardizing the presentation of test content, including whether or not to read answer choices or to describe maps and cartoons, among many…

The aim of this study was to determine nursing teachers' and students' attitudes to and experiences of using an electronic assessment and feedback tool in supervision of clinical training. The tool was called eTaitava, and it was developed in Finland. During the pilot project, the software was used by 12 nursing teachers and 430 nursing students.…

For 20 years, charter schools have held a precarious existence in Canada. Implemented in the province of Alberta in 1994, only a handful of charter schools remain in the entire nation. In this article, I explore the ideas of school choice and charter schooling and how they have largely disappeared as educational policy issues for Canadians. While…

The ultimate aim of any EFL program is to promote long life language development in learners and prepare them for the language use in real life communicative situations. However, many educational systems all over the globe might not achieve this end. Actually, a number of factors within or beyond any system can influence the success or the failure…

In an era when graduate employability is a key concern, the teaching of geographical information systems (GIS) has become a subject of considerable interest. This paper reports on a study of the GIS student learning experience using student survey data from six UK geography undergraduate programmes. The findings show that although students'…

Adult learning policies, like any other policies, need to be effective: they need to reach their objectives and attain the desired impacts, which should be carefully defined. Understanding the performance of policies allows policy makers to change and improve them. A growing body of research and statistics provides important insights into how…

Many of the most inspiring documents are strongly associated with a date. The U.S. Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776; Charter 77 emerged in January 1977; Dogme 95 was crafted in 1995. Ideas transform and develop over time. This manifesto represents a snapshot of our ideas, visions for the future, and what we have learned to…