All versions of top-down reform have an Achilles heel: Their focus on delivering the details of two or three measurable priorities is suitable only for systems pursuing traditional and comparatively narrow achievement goals. A digital age of complex skills, cultural diversity, and high-speed change calls for more challenging educational goals and…

A consensus is emerging about how school leaders affect school performance, and how important principals are to improved student learning. Yet the national reform policies--No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top (RTT)--incorporate assumptions about school and district leadership that are very much at odds with this research. NCLB and RTT call…

Almost all of the most recent school improvement strategies have focused on standards and accountability. But test data from assessments such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress indicate that such emphasis has had little impact on student achievement. Drawing from extensive research across national settings, Andy Hargreaves and…

One of Canada's more frequently quoted political malapropisms is attributed to Robert Thompson, who sternly reminded his fellow parliamentarians in 1973 that "the Americans are our best friends, whether we like it or not." This cross-border friendship is partly expedient, partly geographic, partly genuine, sometimes one-sided, and almost…

Under a bill amending Ontario, Canada's Educational Accountability Act, teachers were expected to resume formerly "voluntary" extracurricular duties they resigned when ordered to teach an extra class. The government's strategy to recast these activities as "co-instructional" did not fly. However, the education minister is…