Educational reform in the United States has focused on several factors such as academic achievement, performance on standardized test scores, dropout rates, the mandate of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 (Dee and Jacob, 2010) and other changes. A new call for a broader and bolder strategy for educational reform that focused on…

Institutional reforms have been proposed to improve the delivery and financing of education. School Based Management (SBM) is one such institutional reform where decision making is transferred to the school level. Funds are transferred directly to the school and parents, along with teachers and the principal, allocate and oversee the use of…

High-stakes testing is one of the most controversial issues in American education. Advocates contend that these tests encourage students to work harder, provide teachers with a stronger understanding of students' strengths and weaknesses, and allow educators to target failing schools for extra help. Critics claim that they narrow and distort the…

Prior Learning Assessment, or PLA, is an important and often overlooked strategy for helping adults progress towards a degree. PLA is the process by which many colleges evaluate for academic credit the college-level knowledge and skills an individual has gained outside of the classroom, including employment, military training/service, travel,…

Prior Learning Assessment, or PLA, is an important and often overlooked strategy for helping adults progress towards a degree. PLA is the process by which many colleges evaluate for academic credit the college-level knowledge and skills an individual has gained outside of the classroom (or from non-college instructional programs), including…

Decreasing the high school dropout rate in the United States is gaining a great deal of national attention. One of the key strategies that has been identified to decrease dropout rate is to offer at-risk students alternatives to traditional school. This study contributed to our knowledge about alternative high schools for at-risk students by using…

In this article, the author discusses five common strategies for making online high school programs effective in one's school district. These are: (1) Prepare students for success; (2) Prepare teachers for success; (3) Use interactive, flexible course designs; (4) Monitor and support teachers; and (5) Monitor and support students. Despite their…

This Opportunity 08 position paper advises that the next President of the United States should focus on lifting the achievement levels of our nation's schoolchildren. It recommends that the new President should mount a determined effort, together with states and local school districts, to boost the academic performance of low achievers by: (1)…