State education agencies (SEAs) are under fire and face new expectations from all sides. The federal government, state legislatures and governors, and citizens themselves are calling upon the SEA to do "more"--more to improve outcomes for students, more to close the achievement gap, and more to meet the diverse instructional needs of students.…

The goal of the Center on School Turnaround (CST) is to provide technical assistance on research-based practices and emerging promising practices that will increase the capacity of states to support their districts in turning around the lowest-performing schools. When the CST opened its doors in October 2012, it began its work by asking the…

Students cannot benefit from education practices they do not experience. While this seems obvious (and it is), education systems have yet to develop the capacity to help all teachers learn to make good use of evidence-based practices that enhance the quality of education for all students. The purpose of this Brief is to provide a framework that…

Mike Potts was halfway through a five-year prison sentence outside Houston when he heard about a program that would help him start a business when even buddies with clean records were struggling to find work. The Prison Entrepreneurship Program, run by a nonprofit group of the same name, works with Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business…

This chapter is a story--from the perspective of a community college president--about one community college and how it transformed itself through the process of comprehensive internationalization within the context of globalization. With a commitment to preparing students to live and work in a global economy and multicultural world, the college…

Every building, from the smallest school to the tallest skyscraper, uses energy. This energy is most often generated by burning fossil fuels, which releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and contributes to climate change. Existing commercial buildings offer a significant opportunity for low-cost, immediate emissions and energy cost…

Why do some schools fail to improve even after taking knowledge-based improvement initiatives? In this article, we argue that some schools do not improve because their staff members have an individual learning belief. An individual learning approach to school improvement will disrupt development processes. Whereas, as we argue, a social learning…

Just as literature can be used for learning, the power of storytelling can be very effective when applied to leadership and management. Library expert and author Marek shows readers how they can use storytelling to communicate vision and values with: (1) A primer on how to develop storytelling skills; (2) Tips on how to use narratives to navigate…

The roles and responsibilities of a superintendent may have a significant effect on school reform. The purpose of this study was to examine the roles and responsibilities of a transformational superintendent as viewed by district leaders. The superintendent's behaviors and their effects on principals, and key staff are unknown. This research…

This article addresses the problem that many countries lack a strategic orientation in reforming their vocational education and training (VET) systems, and therefore refers to the added value of a distinct VET strategy within an overall education sector strategy. To start with, the authors provide an answer to the questions "What is…

Only a few of the interventions that target blue-collar workers have conducted formal analysis to evaluate the specific attributes of their intervention that are associated with success or failure. This study examined the role of dual hazard and decisional balance in the MassBUILT smoking cessation intervention. The authors conducted sets of…

This article presents an interview with Wendy Rogers, a design principal at the architectural firm LPA in Irvine, California, as well as a LEED AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional). Throughout her 24-year career she has advocated for sustainable design in schools. Rogers works closely with the US Green…

Education officials used to debate whether they could afford to pursue green design and construction. Now the green movement has gained a foothold not just in education, but in society at large, and the prevailing attitude seems to have shifted. Can schools afford "not" to go green? As budgets are slashed repeatedly, education administrators must…

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is one of the world's leading educational research centres. ACER's mission is to create and promote research-based knowledge, products and services that can be used to improve learning across the life span. This annual report describes ACER's milestones and accomplishments for the 2016-2017…

The following manuscript is a review of research surrounding best practices for language and literacy development in children birth to age three. Part 1 of the review begins with the research on language acquisition beginning in utero, continuing through infancy and onto the emergence of speech. The review discusses the importance of language…