The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore teachers' knowledge and professional opinions concerning state policy changes for college and workplace preparation, state curricula requirements and standards, student tracking, graduation rates, and the implication these elements have in the mathematics classroom. A qualitative…

This paper reports partial findings of a qualitative interpretive study of female secondary school English language teachers' perceptions of curriculum change in the United Arab Emirates. The sample consisted of 16 female teachers in three secondary schools who had experience teaching the former and the current English language curricula. Data…

When the Burke County Board of Education mandated Burke County High School in Waynesboro, Georgia to "seek a solution" to its poor graduation rate--specifically, to change the school's schedule, teachers were given the responsibility and authority to plan and facilitate the transition. The transition process taught teachers and…

The governance of basic schools (grades 1-10) in Iceland was transferred from state control to municipal control in 1995 with a new Basic School Act. This transfer was in line with the emphasis on school-based management that was stressed in the Act. This policy was criticised by many, including teachers and their union representatives. Research…

The study describes the process of adopting new curriculum materials, which had been developed in the PARSEL project in several European countries, into the local educational science classroom of another country. The goal of the PARSEL project was to raise the popularity and relevance of science teaching by enhancing students scientific and…

This book seeks to raise the discussion of globalisation's effects on teacher education, development and work, and its reforms and institutions, to a more theoretical and analytical level, and to provide specific examples in the comparative tradition to illustrate teacher policy in the context of education systems' widespread variability and…

The authors report a study in which they examined how principals utilize instructional leadership in high schools within a Hispanic majority context. The emphasis was on students' academic performance, goal development and implementation, school culture, and instructional management, which make up the broader theoretical framework of school…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher autonomy and on-the-job stress, work satisfaction, empowerment, and professionalism. Using a reliable and valid measure of curriculum autonomy and general teaching autonomy (TAS), it was found that as curriculum autonomy increased on-the-job stress decreased, but there was…

This paper draws on a three-year study of 24 schools involving classroom observations and interviews with teachers and principals. Through an examination of three cases, sets of leadership practices that focus on the learning of both students and teachers are described. This set of practices is called productive leadership and how these practices…

High school students continue to struggle in algebra, especially in large inner-city schools with underprivileged students. Students are not the only ones skirmishing with algebra. Teachers and school leaders are just as frustrated as they search for answers to complex teaching and learning problems. Two high school principals report the results…

How should district and school leaders improve education for students traditionally underserved by public education: by increasing control over teaching and curriculum, or by empowering groups of teachers to have more collective autonomy, responsibility, and opportunities for professional learning? The second approach--promoting multiple…

This study examines the mediating effect of teacher empowerment on the relationship between teachers' participation in decision making and their professional commitment. The data were collected through quantitative questionnaires from a sample of 983 teachers in 25 junior high schools and 27 high schools in Israel. Hierarchical regression analyses…

Purpose: Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has received much attention in the past decade as scholars have recognized its significant impact on the success of organizations. The current study seeks to enrich our understanding of citizenship behavior in the school setting by identifying the main factors that may enhance this behavior among…

Roads Scholars, a teacher-driven, interdisciplinary student service program, represented the completion of a goal the author had set when he first became Centennial High School's principal five years earlier--to create an environment where staff members felt empowered to dream, create, and implement programs without seeking his consent. To…

Like most states, Pennsylvania has a state accountability system that is aligned with the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and requires that students reach adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) in reading and mathematics at the end of grades 3, 5, 8, and 11 in…