This article presents a model that instructional leaders can use to engage in a change process that fosters effective instructional change in school districts and individual school buildings, specifically middle schools and alternative middle schools. The authors describe four dimensions of leadership and explain how each dimension informs…

This report examines programmes for youth that combine learning in classrooms with participation in work in 10 Mediterranean countries: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. It is one element, together with the development of a network of policymakers and experts from the…

The Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE) was launched in 2007 as a companion survey to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). In its first two years, close to 140,000 entering first-year students at 197 institutions across the United States and Canada have participated in BCSSE. Now in its third year, BCSSE continues…

Senate Bill 1908 includes additional criteria for designating school grades for senior high schools with grades 9 through 12 or 10 through 12. Beginning in 2009-10, 50% of the school's grade will be based on the existing FCAT-related factors and the remaining 50% will be based on other factors including graduation rates, participation in…

With increased emphasis on state standards and assessments in science, one might question whether there is still a role for national science standards and benchmarks. This article makes a case for the importance of national guidelines and identifies key functions performed by the National Research Council's "National Science Education Standards"…

The Spellings Commission report stresses that higher education must become more accountable, more transparent, and more open to the scrutiny of its stakeholders. The key word is always "accountability," to which the canonical reaction among educators is a reaffirmation of the remarkable diversity of American colleges and universities and the…

The paper proposes a metric, the research quality index (RQI), for assessing and tracking university research quality. The RQI is a composite index that encompasses the three main areas of research activity: publications, research grants and higher degree by research activity. The public availability of such an index will also facilitate…

Using data to redesign instruction is a means of increasing student achievement. Educators in Camden County (Georgia) Schools have used data from benchmark testing since 1999. They hired a commercial vendor to design a benchmark test that is administered four times a year and use the data to generate subject-area reports that can be further…

The new "Weighted Student Formula Yearbook 2009" from the Reason Foundation provides a simple framework for touting the successes of states and urban school districts that grant greater fiscal autonomy to schools. The report defines the Weighted Student Formula (WSF) reform extremely broadly, presenting a variety of reforms under the WSF umbrella.…

This guide describes a process that can be used or adapted by school districts to evaluate standards and guide practitioners in developing locally appropriate benchmarks. The guide is not a training manual that provides a step-by-step guide for undertaking this effort with a group of educators; instead, it suggests an approach and rationale for a…

Suggests that strategic planning can help an organization mature and become more effective. Aims for strategic planning with a benchmarking objective, beginning with the information process-maturity model, assessing strengths and weaknesses, and identifying opportunities for process maturation. Finds all components of the reporting structure now…

An organizational learning capability survey was used to benchmark the process by which two companies tried to become learning organizations. Over 2 years, both significantly improved learning capability via different paths. One used generic interventions with a small group; the other targeted a small group first with later diffusion across the…

Benchmarks online retailing transactions against critical factors that impact online retailing. Findings suggest several areas that e-retailers should target for improvement, including the speed of home page loading, ability to translate into multiple languages, capabilities of search engines, security policies display, payment options, minimum…

Offers benchmarks to help campuses evaluate their efforts in supplying information technology (IT) services. The first three help understand the IT budget, the next three provide insight into staffing levels and emphases, and the seventh relates to the pervasiveness of institutional infrastructure. (EV)

Discusses why corporate communications/public relations (cc/pr) should be benchmarked (an approach used by cc/pr managers to demonstrate the value of their activities to skeptical organizational executives). Discusses myths about cc/pr benchmarking; types, targets, and focus of cc/pr benchmarking; a process model; and critical decisions about…