Multiple sources of influence impact the decisions about what and how teacher educators are expected to operate, including the innovations that are adopted. Some of those sources of influence (such as teacher certification boards) can demand that certain curricula be adopted, specific instructional procedures be utilized, and delineate the…

There have been enormous advances in our understanding of human learning in the past three decades. There have also been important advances in our understanding of the nature of knowledge and new knowledge creation. These advances, when combined with the explosive development of the Internet and other technologies, permit advances in educational…

After issuing a flood of missives about education during its time in office, the Government is now actively encouraging the exploitation of creativity and offering schools the opportunity to be more flexible in their interpretation and teaching of the curriculum. This apparent change of heart has left school leaders and classroom practitioners…

This paper examines how four innovative Internet technologies were incorporated into one course at The UK Open University. The technologies were: blogging, audio conferencing, instant messaging and Harvard's Rotisserie system. Each of the technologies is addressed, and details from the student evaluation are provided. The student feedback on all…

Systems to periodically evaluate the performance of K-12 schools are, broadly speaking, of two kinds: "inspection," the paradigm of England's OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education); and "accreditation," originally developed nearly a century ago by what are now the U.S. regional accreditation agencies. In the past decade…

In this article, the author describes Cecilia Braslavsky's pioneering work in the training of academics and technical-professional teams in Argentina. She divides the paper into two parts. The first one covers a period (between 1983 and 1993) in which Cecilia, along with other intellectuals from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences,…

Given the unrelenting pressures of school management, how can principals and superintendents devote the time or resources to do much of anything that deviates from addressing the basic needs of schools? What are the levers that school leaders can use to infuse creativity and innovation into the cultural fabric of their organizations? In this…

This generation of young people is on track to be less-educated than their parents--for the first time in American history. This, at the same time the world and workplace are changing dramatically and rapidly--when students, more than ever, need high levels of skill in order to compete. Advance Illinois has developed this report "We Can Do…

While almost any educator would agree that students deserve access to equal educational opportunities, many schools still sort students based on test scores or other criteria. There's a better way: one built on offering all students access to the best curriculum. In this first-ever practical book that shows how educators can make detracking work,…

There is a large literature on the productivity of universities. Little is known, however, about how different types of leader affect a university's later performance. By constructing a new longitudinal data set, I provide evidence that the research quality of a university improves after it appoints a president (vice chancellor) who is an…

Because of the positive effects of learning communities with undergraduates, these researchers proposed the Collaborative Learning Initiatives that Motivate Bi-cultural experiences model (CLIMB) to implement learning communities within graduate counseling and educational administration courses. This article examines the concept of learning…

This article explores the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on the behavior of teachers and school leaders, specifically the centralizing, standardizing tendencies of the legislation, and juxtaposes their reactions to the types of teaching and leadership required to lead 21st-century schools. The authors argue that the isomorphic…

On August 31, 2005, Nebraska state educational and policy leaders participated in the Nebraska Education Forum to discuss ways to improve student transition from high school to postsecondary education and careers. The forum was sponsored by the League for Innovation in the Community College and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and…

On May 8, 2006, Georgia state educational and policy leaders participated in the Georgia Education Forum to discuss ways to improve student transition from high school to postsecondary education and careers. The forum was sponsored by the League for Innovation in the Community College and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and supported…

In 2001, the Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) released its blueprint for reforming the city's high schools. Central to the blueprint were plans to create eight innovation high schools and to convert all nine large, comprehensive high schools into smaller neighborhood schools. Since May 2003, the Urban Institute has been conducting a…