Given the rich diversity of the city, the Dallas, Texas Independent School District (Dallas ISD) is taking its own unique approach to school integration by designing an innovative school choice pilot. This new program consists of a small number of new or transformed schools designed to enroll students from different backgrounds and attract more…

This researcher in this study examined the dynamics of organizational change in a rural, mid-sized school district in South Carolina, with a focus on socio-cultural factors that hindered effective implementation of reforms aimed at reducing educational inequity. The research was conducted through a series of 15 interviews with board members and…

This study is a mixed-methods program evaluation of an agricultural literacy innovation in a local school district in rural eastern North Carolina. This evaluation describes the use of a theory-based framework, the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM), in accordance with Stufflebeam's Context, Input, Process, Product (CIPP) model by evaluating the…

The purpose of this piece is to provide the research and rationales behind Practice Profiles. To achieve outcomes and develop effective implementation supports, innovations need to be "teachable, learnable, doable, and assessable." Practice Profile methodology facilitates the development of innovations and their necessary infrastructure.…

This article was adapted from Paul L. Gaston's address to the 2014 annual meeting of the "Association of American Colleges and Universities." The panel session talk "Accreditation: Riding the Wave of Innovation--or Going Under?" addressed issues surrounding the many proposals for demolishing and rebuilding higher education…

Initiation of meaningful change in organizations and systems begins with the Exploration Stage of implementation. Exploration Stage processes are designed to assure mutually informed agreement to proceed with use of an innovation; both the Implementation Team and the organization understand what is to be done, how it will be done, and the…

Honors programs and colleges are sources of innovation and risk-taking, but they often maintain some roots in the origins of their home institutions. From its founding in 1913, when a small group of businessmen gathered to formally study business, to 2015 when that Evening School of Commerce had grown to a vibrant 32,000-student research…

Appreciative Leadership is unique among leadership theories both past and present. This uniqueness includes its strength-based practice, search for the positive in people and organizations, and the role this plays in organizational innovation and transformation. What follows is a summary of Appreciative Inquiry and the five main principles on…

While successful instructional innovation is the result of efforts of individual faculty and instructional support staff, it is also influenced by institutional and contextual factors that include personal characteristics, pedagogies, curricula, and other tangible and intangible dynamics. These same forces can also work in concert to assure…

Teachers in the 21st century are facing new challenges as a result of the expanding possibilities of ICT integration in every aspect of the school milieu. Studies have shown the potential of teacher professional development (TPD) that is tailored to local conditions as well as global components and takes advantage of mutual support among teachers,…

This instructional article is about an innovative teaching approach for enhancing student engagement and active learning in higher education through a combination of just-in-time teaching and the use of PowerPoint technology. The central component of this approach was students' pre-lecture preparation of a short PowerPoint presentation in which…

The motivation for this article comes from the proposition in the literature that Latin American universities are detached from the research needs of the productive sector and that they limit their role to the human resources and training missions. The authors investigated the Brazilian scenario, using data from a survey conducted in 2008-2009…

An Innovative Learning Centre (ILC) within a Faculty of Education provides the forum to study and give lived expression to the rhythmic workings of experience through documenting a Maker Movement Day for practicing educators. The authors conceptualize a Maker Day as an immersive professional development experience for educators. They believe that…

There is growing concern among researchers and governmental officials that knowing what works in education is important, but not enough for school improvement. Sound evidence alone is not sufficient for large-scale, sustainable change, both because practitioners may consider it irrelevant to their own problems of practice or run into challenges…

Living-learning communities combine curricular, co-curricular, and residential components of college life. They are a relatively new variation on the residential education that has been part of the undergraduate experience at America's independent colleges and universities for centuries. Research suggests that living-learning communities have a…