How established is the horizontal permeability between modes of vocational education and training (VET) in Switzerland? Formally encouraged by the Swiss law on VET, horizontal permeability refers to transitions across VET modes, i.e. between dual and school-based VET. This paper first discusses why horizontal permeability is indeed relevant and…

The Chicago International Charter School (CICS) Irving Park's middle school is one of 130 schools nationwide piloting the Summit Learning Program (SLP), developed--and offered entirely free--by Summit Public Schools, a high-performing charter network based in California. Summit's eight schools, two of them in Washington State, are known for an…

After summarizing the results from two studies the author conducted in Montessori middle schools, the chapter discusses nine characteristics of Montessori education in relation to various theoretical perspectives on education and development. [This article originally appeared as NSSE Yearbook Vol. 113, No. 1.]

Few things strike fear in the hearts of parents like sending their child off to middle school. Parents of gifted learners fear for their child's safety--both emotional and physical--and their academic well-being. Having survived this transition, it occurred to the author that this experience would make an interesting research project and,…

Charter schools represent an increasingly important form of school choice in the United States. Charter schools are public schools, with a difference. Compared to traditional public schools, they are exempted from some of the state laws and regulations that govern traditional public schools. In this way, parents come to have a greater number of…

Since the collapse of the economic bubble, Japanese schools have been challenged to respond to extensive changes in the students and communities they serve. As a result, research on the education system published only a few years ago may not accurately capture current conditions in the schools. This is especially true in the area of student…

The student-centered school model of Epic Charter School in Oakland, California, framed around a hero's journey empowers middle school students with sense of unity and purpose in life, where they can feel part of a culture with a shared experience and with more opportunities to experiences growth and accomplishment. Design and engineering is front…

Martha Haakmat writes in this article that in some ways she understands why parents might have a harder time understanding why Montessori is education at its best, especially as their children progress past preschool. Haakmat goes on to say that the learning path at Montessori schools is more proactive. Montessori schools ask that parents partner…

Out-of-school time programs that provide science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational content are promising approaches to develop skills and abilities in students. These programs may potentially inspire students with engaging hands-on, minds-on activities that encourages their natural curiosity around STEM content areas.…

Portugal, like many other countries, faces obstacles regarding school-based sexuality education. This paper explores Portuguese schools' approaches to implementing sexuality education at a local level, and provides a critical analysis of potential strengths and weaknesses. Documents related to sexuality education in a convenience sample of 89…

This article explores encounters between formal, informal, and non-formal education and the role of mentor-educators in creating values education in which such encounters take place. Mixed-methods research was conducted in Israeli public schools participating in the Personal Education Model, which combines educational modes. Ethnographic and…

Educators have become increasingly interested in the learning benefits that mobile technology can provide to students in and out of classrooms. While there is considerable enthusiasm for using mobile devices to support learning with their multimedia capabilities, portability, connectivity, and flexibility, there is a paucity of research evidence…

Principal Alison Harris is blunt in describing what she confronted on her arrival to Ranson IB Middle School in 2011. "I was placed in what many people would call an impossible situation," she says. During her initial visit to the school in 2009-10, she watched as students changed classes--while teachers pressed against the lockers to…

Researchers often presume that it is better to use administrative data from grades 4 and 5 than data from grades 6 through 8 for conducting research on teacher effectiveness that uses value-added models because (1) elementary school teachers teach all subjects to their students in self-contained classrooms and (2) classrooms are more homogenous at…

A concurrent mixed methods design, giving equal priority to both quantitative and qualitative methods, was used to investigate some of the factors that influence academic achievement of Native Hawaiian students in public schools in the state of Hawai'i. School-level instructional strategies, curricula, policies, and other variables that…