Background: This study builds on previous studies reporting that depressive symptoms among adolescents are reduced and personal satisfactions with one's achievements and competence with peers are enhanced when students are taught strategies for engaging in more optimistic thinking (explanatory style) (Gillham, Reivich, & Freres et al., 2006)…

Many times distance education policy is created after an institution has already begun offering online courses and programs. In addition, faculty members may be left out of the discussions about and creation of distance education policy, yet expected to willingly teach online courses. A recent study exploring faculty perceptions of the distance…

In the 2007-2008 school year, Jennifer Hunt, language arts teacher for the 8th grade pre-Advanced Placement class wondered how she could harness the power of Web 2.0 tools to develop her students' literacy skills and deepen their engagement with literature and ideas. To that end, she wrote a successful Qwest Arizona Technology in Education…

The complexities of public education today require new, distributed models of school leadership in which teachers play a central role. The most effective teachers assume leadership roles as instructors and professional colleagues. In this article, we propose a framework for developing teacher leadership that consists of four intersecting domains:…

This article discusses the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a deliberative public issues forum held at North Carolina State University in early 2008. The forum itself was a part of a larger university strategic planning process. In spite of tight time constraints, the planning team made a decision to tailor the forum according to…

In many educational jurisdictions, the responses to student disengagement and behaviour problems have been restrictive or punitive; they include on-site police officers, locker searches, metal detectors, and zero tolerance policies. There is little evidence that such strategies are effective in changing behaviour, attitudes, or achievement.…

This article argues that public education needs to be reclaimed to fulfill its role as a "democratising force" to address social and economic inequality and to respect and recognise diversity and difference. By analysing historical developments in federal policy, funding and economic contexts a case is developed to demonstrate that the…

Federal policies of parental involvement and community participation continue to be more rhetorical than meaningful; more theoretical than practical; an afterthought rather than a forethought; and they take a back seat to the more bureaucratic and technical elements of public education change and reform, especially testing and assessment. This…

During the National Association of State Directors of Special Education's (NASDSE) 2005 annual meeting, a panel of youth representatives challenged states to do a better job of including youth with disabilities in state-level decision making (e.g., as members of state advisory panels [SAPs] and/or transition councils). State directors of special…

This study is designed to investigate the impact of school-based curriculum development teams on teacher development within the tradition of school-based curriculum development in a primary school in Hong Kong. Teacher interviews were used to evaluate the extent that teacher engagement in curriculum decision-making processes within two…

An analysis of English/language arts standards development in Wisconsin and Minnesota in the late 1990s and early 2000s shows a process of compromise between neoliberal and neoconservative factions involved in promoting and writing standards, with the voices of educators conspicuously absent. Interpretive and critical discourse analyses of…

The Council of Chief State School Officers' "Accommodations Manual: How to Select, Administer, and Evaluate the Use of Accommodations for Instruction and Assessment of Students with Disabilities" was first developed to establish guidelines for states to use for the selection, administration, and evaluation of accommodations for…

This guide for state policymakers examines teacher involvement in charter school governance. Teacher involvement is defined to include the gamut of decision-making roles not typically afforded teachers in traditional public schools, including founding schools, serving on governing boards, and engaging in site-based collective bargaining. Different…

This paper reports an evaluation of Quality Teaching Action Learning (QTAL) projects conducted at New South Wales (NSW), Australia public (state) primary and secondary schools and explores how distributed leadership facilitated and was an outcome of the QTAL projects. The evaluation encompassed all 50 projects at 82 NSW public schools, and nine of…

Environmental literacy has been defined in various ways: from acquisition of scientific knowledge to addressing environmental concerns through indigenous knowledge. Program planners and educators need to identify and employ strategies for inclusive program development where all stakeholders are given an equal opportunity to share their opinions as…