Museums have the capacity to enhance social cohesion, which is the product of a trusting, connected community. History museums and historic sites, in particular, can serve communities by stimulating dialogue on difficult issues, accurately representing all the people of a nation, and creating forums for discussion among groups with disparate…

Offering key concepts about how the informed use of data can translate into highly effective school leadership, this seventh volume in "The Soul of Educational Leadership" series demonstrates how educational leaders can apply data strategically to strengthen school leadership and significantly improve professional learning, students' learning…

The European Union has set a goal that by 2010, 12.5% of the working age population should be taking part in lifelong learning. This participation rate has not yet been achieved in many countries. A partial explanation is the fact that the decision to participate depends on a variety of factors at three levels: the individual; the educational…

Reflective decision making is an important component in a teacher's professional expertise, and aptness for integrating it into professional practice can be nurtured in most teachers. This article uses vignettes from student teachers' journals to describe four modes of thinking that can provide a useful framework for fostering growth in novice and…

This edited volume provides an overview of the latest advancements in adaptive training technology. Intelligent tutoring has been deployed for well-defined and relatively static educational domains such as algebra and geometry. However, this adaptive approach to computer-based training has yet to come into wider usage for domains that are less…

In this research, 300 doctors in Victoria were asked to make decisions about a hypothetical patient's competence and confidentiality. It appears that assumptions embedded in relevant law, the vague nature of existing legal criteria and the diversity in assessment practices all have the potential to act as obstacles to young people's claim to…

Reformers suggest that parental choice will improve equity by making it possible for parents to select better schools for their children. A key assumption behind this claim is that parents choose from a set of schools that range in quality. Data from this longitudinal interview study suggest this assumption may be false. In one Midwestern city,…

Participatory decision making seems to be the new development paradigm in international cooperation. It is still a long way, however, to achieve the objectives that are formulated by the international development actors. Non-state actors are only limitedly involved in the policy decision-making. In this paper, we argue that when these actors take…

This study investigates the relation between distributed leadership, the cohesion of the leadership team, participative decision-making, context variables, and the organizational commitment and job satisfaction of teachers and teacher leaders. A questionnaire was administered to teachers and teacher leaders (n = 1770) from 46 large secondary…

This paper describes a two-year study in which high levels of performance were achieved and sustained among so-called low-level workers in a biotech company. The purpose of the study--funded by National Science Foundation and lnvitrogen Corporation--were to explore the effectiveness of an accelerated learning Operational Simulation (OpSim)…

People in organizations are increasingly called upon to serve as small group facilitators or to assist in this role. This article uses data collected from practicing facilitators at three points of time and a building block process of collection, analysis, further collection, and consolidation to develop and refine a list of competencies. A…

This paper explores themes associated with teacher research and its role in enhancing and more deeply emancipating practice. Wider themes underpin how research might be understood which entails one in acknowledging political and epistemological controversies about the concept of evidence and its use in defining professionalism. Evidence-based…

Education leaders make difficult ethical decisions each day. Using the story of a preschool director in lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001, the authors detail a series of paradigms to help educational leaders navigate rationally through challenging and complex circumstances when they are under considerable emotional stress. One approach which…

No Child Left Behind mandates have given teachers new responsibilities in data analysis and the implementation of strategies that meet individual student needs. Providing tools and methods for data collection, managing it, and then analyzing it is now a basic need for teachers. By aligning assessments for the specific purpose of addressing…

Different approaches to conducting and theorising school leadership have become a major preoccupation within school systems throughout the world. This reflects the importance placed upon school-level education and the belief that leadership issues can play a big part in increasing the effectiveness of pupil's learning. This paper re-visits some…