This paper attempts to argue that using market forces to raise education standards casts doubts to quality education, although this is seemingly an international trend, for such practice presents challenges to many issues such as equity. Using Hong Kong as a case, the paper analyses the practices of quality school education by focusing in…

This article analyses educational inequalities related to socioeconomic status (SES) in 12 Eastern European countries that participated in the International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006. Economies and educational systems of these countries have undergone critical transformations since the fall of communism. The authors' analyses, using data…

This article seeks to nuance arguments about the impact of broad policy technologies of auditing processes upon teachers' practices by providing empirical evidence of the effects of such processes, in context. Specifically, the article draws upon a cross section of teachers' accounts of schooling practices in a specialist, academically oriented…

Little is known about Black male students who graduate from high school, enroll in college, aspire to earn degrees beyond the baccalaureate, and espouse commitments to various career pathways in the field of education (teaching, school administration, education research, the professoriate, education policy, and so forth). What compels these men to…

The goal of this study was twofold: first, to identify vocational exploration profiles in the second year of middle school (Grade 8), and second, to distinguish these profiles in terms of sociomotivational variables. The sample included 521 students (255 boys, 266 girls) attending middle schools in Quebec. Results revealed three vocational…

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the curriculum orientations of pre-service teachers at a university in Jordan. Rigorous translation procedures were utilized to validate an Arabic version of the Curriculum Orientation Inventory (COI) for use in Jordan. The validated COI was administered to a sample of 259 pre-service teachers who…

Students' different educational pathways were examined in relation to their disengagement during adolescence. The participants were Icelandic youth (N = 832) who were followed from age 14 to 22. Based on their academic achievement at age 15 and educational attainment at age 22 they were classified into groups that took expected versus unexpected…

Programming is a fundamental skill for Information Systems and Information Technology students. It is also a subject that some students fear, avoid, fail, retake, and fail again. An effective, inexpensive, one-semester approach is presented. Early indications suggest dramatically improved student interest and performance compared to our previous…

In order to guide the formulation of strategies for recruiting undergraduates into the geology program at Northern Arizona University, we surveyed 783 students in introductory geology classes and 23 geology majors in their junior and senior years. Our analysis shows that ~7% of students in the introductory classes are possible candidates for…

This study sought to examine student motives for participating in a residential leadership learning community for incoming freshmen using McClelland's Achievement Motivation Theory (McClelland, 1958, 1961). Eighty-nine students began the program in the Fall 2009 semester and were administered a single, researcher-developed instrument. Responses to…

A career academy is a small learning community within a high school, which selects a subset of students and teachers for a two-, three-, or four-year period. Students enter through a voluntary process; they must apply and be accepted, with parental knowledge and support. A career academy involves teachers from different subjects working together…

There is limited research addressing how graduate students from the People's Republic of China (PRC) are supported academically or socially while studying in the United States of America (U.S.). The purpose of this study was to address this gap in the literature by utilizing a participatory action research model in order to collaborate with…

The purpose of this study is to determine factors that contribute to educational success for Hispanic students in Texas school districts. The study applies and tests a synthesis of social capital and political resource theories to identify the structural determinants that impact positive educational outcomes. Three research questions guided the…

Institutions look to the literature to discern successful practices to facilitate the transition to college and promote institutional commitment and persistence. However, the higher education literature presents little data on a community in which students are already involved, social network sites (SNS). Moreover, the literature is conflicting in…

The purpose of the present researcher was to construct an understanding of experienced teachers' beliefs, instructional practices, and expectations after working in an urban elementary school for five or more years. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to gain knowledge about teachers' personal or cultural knowledge of themselves, gauge…