Ambitious student-achievement targets turn up the heat, as winners of the $4 billion federal grant effort push to deliver. Winners of the $4 billion Race to the Top jackpot committed to grand goals in using the federal grants to raise student achievement, as measured by higher test scores, narrowed achievement gaps, and increased graduation and…

The author reports on House and Senate bills that take different stances toward funding formula-grant programs and Obama administration initiatives. Key education programs, including Title I grants for disadvantaged students and aid for special education, would get flat funding for the 2012 fiscal year under a measure approved Sept. 21 by the…

This paper considers whether lecturers delivering business higher education programmes (BHEPs) in further education colleges (FECs) in the UK see education to be a production industry, or a knowledge industry. It will consider the effects of managerialism and marketisation that the UK government (and others around the world) are applying to the…

Approaches to achieving and managing equity for Maori and Pasifika tertiary students differ among the eight universities in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Achieving equity in educational attainment for Maori and Pasifika tertiary students is stated as a key objective in nearly all of the universities' mission statements or charters, and equity committees…

James Ryan, a prominent and learned law professor at the University of Virginia (and a former colleague of the author), has produced a scholarly, well-written, and exhaustively researched book on education policy, "Five Miles Away, A World Apart" (Oxford). This article presents the author's critique on Ryan's book. The author argues that…

Outbound mobility programs such as exchange programs are one of the many strategies implemented at universities to develop graduates' intercultural skills and international knowledge. Few Australian students participate in exchange programs. This article presents a literature review and proposes a model of the contextual and individual factors…

The success of the United States in the 21st century will depend on the ideas and skills of its population. These have always been the nation's most important assets. As the world becomes increasingly technological, the value of these national assets will be determined by the effectiveness of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics…

Technology can help develop understanding of abstract mathematical concepts through visualisation and graphic representation. The teaching and learning of calculus can be challenging as it involves abstract and complex ideas. The purpose of this study was to investigate how students and teachers attempt to use TI-Nspire, the latest graphing…

Complementary schools in the United Kingdom (UK) are community organised schools with the general aim of teaching younger generations their "native" languages and cultures. However, the aims and practices of these schools are predominantly dependent on changes in the social and political contexts both in the host country (in this case…

This paper describes a qualitative case study that investigated the aspirations and decision-making process of first-generation students concerning university education. The participants comprised of 16 first-generation students at a research university. Data were obtained through interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis method. The…

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the process used to examine the inter-rater reliability of the Teacher Work Sample (TWS) Scoring Rubric involved with the senior culminating experience for teacher candidates used at a large comprehensive university. The study compared holistic and analytic scores reported by Student Teacher…

This report provides six mini-case studies of higher education policy reforms enacted in other states, exploring the important role that state policy leadership played in developing, promoting, and implementing these policies aimed at improving higher education outcomes, and discussing the relevance of each reform effort for California. This…

The purpose of this study was to clarify the ways that a district used its teacher staffing and professional development policies to increase the supply of effective teachers in high-poverty schools, to determine the efficacy of these policies in the view of district administrators and teachers, and to identify the facilitators and constraints to…

With limited resources and fiscal strain, it is more important than ever for states and school districts to use available funds for education as efficiently and productively as possible. This is even more true today in order to educate young people to a higher standard of true readiness for college or career. This paper reviews both economic and…

This evaluation study examined the effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of the statewide master plan for professional development (PD Master Plan) by investigating seven questions. With regard to effectiveness, (1) What was the level of implementation for the PD Master Plan, overall and by individual providers? (2) What were the impediments, if…