Many times distance education policy is created after an institution has already begun offering online courses and programs. In addition, faculty members may be left out of the discussions about and creation of distance education policy, yet expected to willingly teach online courses. A recent study exploring faculty perceptions of the distance…

In the 2007-2008 school year, Jennifer Hunt, language arts teacher for the 8th grade pre-Advanced Placement class wondered how she could harness the power of Web 2.0 tools to develop her students' literacy skills and deepen their engagement with literature and ideas. To that end, she wrote a successful Qwest Arizona Technology in Education…

The complexities of public education today require new, distributed models of school leadership in which teachers play a central role. The most effective teachers assume leadership roles as instructors and professional colleagues. In this article, we propose a framework for developing teacher leadership that consists of four intersecting domains:…

This article discusses the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a deliberative public issues forum held at North Carolina State University in early 2008. The forum itself was a part of a larger university strategic planning process. In spite of tight time constraints, the planning team made a decision to tailor the forum according to…

In many educational jurisdictions, the responses to student disengagement and behaviour problems have been restrictive or punitive; they include on-site police officers, locker searches, metal detectors, and zero tolerance policies. There is little evidence that such strategies are effective in changing behaviour, attitudes, or achievement.…

This article argues that public education needs to be reclaimed to fulfill its role as a "democratising force" to address social and economic inequality and to respect and recognise diversity and difference. By analysing historical developments in federal policy, funding and economic contexts a case is developed to demonstrate that the…

This guide for state policymakers examines teacher involvement in charter school governance. Teacher involvement is defined to include the gamut of decision-making roles not typically afforded teachers in traditional public schools, including founding schools, serving on governing boards, and engaging in site-based collective bargaining. Different…

This paper reports an evaluation of Quality Teaching Action Learning (QTAL) projects conducted at New South Wales (NSW), Australia public (state) primary and secondary schools and explores how distributed leadership facilitated and was an outcome of the QTAL projects. The evaluation encompassed all 50 projects at 82 NSW public schools, and nine of…

Environmental literacy has been defined in various ways: from acquisition of scientific knowledge to addressing environmental concerns through indigenous knowledge. Program planners and educators need to identify and employ strategies for inclusive program development where all stakeholders are given an equal opportunity to share their opinions as…

China, the same as her Western counterpart countries, has been experiencing educational decentralization over the last two decades. Such a policy shift, however, brings with it issues of "managerialism," "accountability" and "competition," all of which are becoming part of the common language in the educational…

We report on how fifty superintendents (chief executive officers of public school systems, each invited by a researcher to participate) from seven states in the US talked in eight focus groups of their perspectives on their influence as leaders, their efforts to communicate with stakeholders, and how they learn from these stakeholders. We maintain…

This article raises the question, "Is the rapid expansion of the school Academies programme consistent with the Government's policy of enabling socially disadvantaged local communities to participate in making decisions that shape the quality of their lives?" (Contains 1 note.)

Involvement of students and adult employees into the decisions that affect their education and employment can improve their transition into supported employment. One means for increasing involvement into these decisions is to gain their input into performance evaluations and support needs. The "Job Observation and Behavior Scale: Opportunity for…

The values and principles underpinning the "Leadership for Learning: Cambridge Network" support the distribution of leadership to all members of the school community. This paper introduces the HCD (Highest Common Denominator) Student Partnership as a key way in which the "Leadership for Learning" team learns from, explores and…

Starting a new course can be intimidating, especially if the person is the first to teach it in his or her school district. A teacher must take many things into consideration when constructing the content for a new course. The primary focus should be on the development of student technological literacy. The International Technology Education…