The purpose of this paper is to offer an analytic perspective to policy makers and educational practitioners regarding how to use longitudinal achievement data to evaluate schools. The authors further discuss the potential practical applications of their models for superintendents, researchers, and policy makers. The premise of the study is that…

In 2008, People for Education, an Ontario-based parent-led organization, hosted eight policy dialogues with citizens about possibilities for the province's public schools. Policy dialogues are conversations about policy issues, ideas, processes, and outcomes where participants share their knowledge, perspectives, and experiences. In small groups…

Language education for ethnic majority and minority students alike has recently received much policy attention in the People's Republic of China. An outcome of this policy attention is the Chinese-English bilingual education initiative which turns on the use of English as a medium of instruction for Han majority students at the primary and…

This article presents the text of a presentation given by California Council on Teacher Education (CCTE) executive secretary Alan H. Jones at the CCTE Fall Conference in San Diego on October 15, 2009. Jones explores the concept of marginalization, and explains why he believes it applies very appropriately to the field of teacher education and…

This article is a summary of the research carried out in relation to the experiences of asylum-seeking and refugee families regarding access and participation in local childcare services. Focus groups and interviews were carried out with 16 refugee and asylum-seeking parents, five childcare practitioners, and two support and development staff in a…

Following a report by a Parliamentary Committee, the Higher Education Funding Council for England is consulting the sector about a strengthened national quality assurance system, with an enhanced role for information about quality and a closer focus on academic standards. This article provides a critical review of the main proposals.

The need to improve the U.S. poverty measure has received renewed attention as state and local governments have initiated antipoverty efforts and wish to judge their effect. This paper describes the New York City Center for Economic Opportunity's implementation of the National Academy of Sciences' recommendations for measuring poverty. The…

The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), which became effective at the beginning of 2009, is poised to have potentially wide-reaching implications for higher education. The article reviews the recent amendments to the original Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (1990), summarizes the relevant Supreme Court cases that have…

Development is often understood as a linear process of change towards Western modernity, a vision that is challenged by this paper, arguing that development efforts should rather be connected to the local stakeholders' sense of their own development. Further, the paper contends that Complexity Theory is more effective than a linear theory of…

Background: Mentoring has drawn substantial interest from policymakers, intervention theorists, and those interested in identifying promising and useful evidence-based approaches to interventions for criminal justice and child welfare outcomes (Grossman & Tierney, 1998; Jekliek et al., 2002). Mentoring is one of the most commonly-used…

Students, teachers, administrators, community members, and policymakers are collectively responsible for ensuring that the literacy learning required to earn a living and lead a well-rounded life is available to all. To meet that responsibility, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) urges legislators to practice civil discourse by…

This is curriculum review guideline that was used by the author to review the Primary School Curriculum of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) in Bangladesh. This includes the procedures and formats those were employed and would serve as a guide to any other user. (Contains 2 figures.) [This report was prepared with the Institute of…

Disrupted high school experiences, including dropout, are educational consequences for many youth with histories of homelessness. Using an ecological resilience prediction model (ERPM) based on the literature on resilience in at-risk youth, the study followed 82 youth who were initially homeless for a 2-year period, to identify predictors of…

A review of education policy and practice indicates a paradox in policy implementation. Policy outcomes most often differ significantly from intended purposes and provisions enacted. This paper re-conceptualises this policy phenomenon, drawing on the post-modernist conception of policy as both "text" and "discourse" as an approach for…

Many people had great expectations of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities when it came into effect in January 2008. However, Judith Bessant asks whether the provision for seeking exemptions from the charter has undermined its capacity to effectively counter age-based discrimination and, paradoxically, permitted practices…