In 2010, when the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development's (OECD) released its 2009 PISA results, the big story was that eight of the top ten performing systems were Asian. Almost everyone overlooked the strong performance of Canada: sixth overall and the highest English-speaking and French-speaking nation in the world. The four…

Despite a long history of post-independence aid to education, Kenya's relationships with overseas donors have, until recently, been markedly fractious. Donors' concerns about transparency and corruption, in the context of a political regime which became increasingly authoritarian, led to sharp reductions in aid to Kenyan education during the…

Leadership, as it is practiced today in community colleges, has taken three brilliant ideas to excess and made them into guiding ideologies. The first is "growth," a means for gauging organizational legitimacy and success that has eclipsed other means. The second is "complexity," which has gained acceptance as a structural necessity for managing…

This paper provides background on planning and organizational culture change in libraries and describes a grassroots planning process taking place at the Ohio State University Libraries. Now in its third phase, the process aims to create a long-term plan for the organization while fostering a more collaborative, innovative culture.

Performance funding--the linking of allocation of resources to accomplishment of certain desired outcomes--is an idea that is once again finding favor with policymakers. It has intuitive appeal; what's not to like about paying for results? While it is a notion that makes common sense to most decisionmakers, it is an idea with a very checkered…

A good loan scheme must balance costs with coverage. If loans are too expensive then people will not borrow. Governments are not banks, but they provide or support loans for many things, including education and training. Governments too need to get the balance right. Cedefop surveyed 35 education and training loan schemes in Europe, examining…

Many small institutions face difficulties, and the person who bears the brunt of dealing with those challenges is the college president. While each situation is unique, presidents can learn from the experiences of others, and at the very least, commiserate with each other regarding the challenges they face, especially when their institutions are…

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (now the Department for Education) and the National College for School Leadership (now the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services) have been active participants in framing and shaping discourse in relation to leadership in schools in England. This paper is based upon…

The past two decades have proven that bold, single-factor reform ideas have little power to change the face of education. Pundits and policymakers would have schools and school systems make grand changes to accommodate the reform idea du jour--and then profess the incompetence of schools and teachers when those changes prove less than effective.…

This brief estimates the impact of a statewide implementation of Opportunity Culture models, using North Carolina as an example. Impacts estimated include student learning outcomes, gross state product, teacher pay, and other career characteristics, and state income tax revenue. Estimates indicate the potential for a statewide transition to…

Authors and co-directors of "Public Impact," Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. Hassel state that, looking back over the decades, no one is really getting what they want. Teachers are no closer to achieving the societal respect and substantial, sustainable rewards for their contributions that they deserve, and student achievement has…

It is the position of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) that the delegation of nursing tasks in the school setting can be a valuable tool for the school nurse, when based on the nursing definition of delegation and in compliance with state nursing regulations and guidance. Delegation in school nursing is a complex process in which…

Ethics is defined as a set of guidelines and/or rules for the conduct of individual behavior in an organization or civil society. This ethical code of conduct is intended to guide policies, practices, and decision-making for employees on behalf of the organization. This article explores the importance of ethics, the basis for making ethical…

Universidad Europea de Madrid, along with other universities and the support of the Agency for Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Prospects for the Community of Madrid (ACAP--Agencia de Calidad, Acreditación y Prospectiva de las Universidades de Madrid), developed a tool to measure progress in the construction of the European Higher Education…

The aim of this article is to present a concept of digital content emphasizing its new shape and ways to be developed and shared on Web 2.0 principles. Due to recent EU initiatives, a great number of digital materials, resources, and services for education have been designed and produced in recent years. Digital content from materials such as…