This article addresses apparent impasses between "Mercy" and "Catholic" identities in our colleges and universities. Each of the contributors represents a unique voice arising from her or his role and experience within the university community. All are grappling with the tension generated by the university's efforts to…

This article critically examines the Labour Party's policies for local school systems, focusing on its proposals for regional Directors of School Standards, for academies and free schools, and for local democracy, and offers an alternative approach.

Ritha Smith, assistant superintendent, and Seth Hanson, principal, are faced with a difficult decision. Taylor Harper is a transgender student who identifies as male and is openly attracted to females. Taylor's parents, Lane and Morgan Harper, are lesbians; they are fully supportive of their child's identification and are well versed in their…

The answer to the question, Can evaluation improve teaching? is a qualified yes. Teacher evaluation has changed and the role of the principal has changed as well; the focus now is on evidence, not merely good judgment. With the right tools, systems, and support, it should be possible to help improve teaching performance and student learning…

The value of American higher education faces multiple risks, and changes in governance are needed to address them. At risk are accessibility and degree attainment for current and future students, institutional fiscal sustainability, educational quality, economic development and social equity, service to communities, and knowledge creation. Higher…

In the present paper, I discuss the internal conflict that accompanies the work of fellow pedagogical supervisors in teacher training institutes. Such internal conflict is manifested in the difficulty that pedagogical supervisors face in successfully integrating the subjective (the personal) and objective (the professional) dimensions of the work…

Hiring preferences can often determine the amount and kind of consideration shown to candidates for teaching positions, and therefore can have a profound impact on school culture, but have been largely unexplored. This paper describes how one group of principals in Manitoba approach hiring decisions when assessing prospective teachers for…

This paper analyzes the Head of Department (HoD) role at an elite State university in Russia. It draws upon documentary analysis of government texts and focus groups with both HoDs and lecturers. It concludes that most HoDs are invited to apply for the role by more senior university colleagues. Once in post, they are offered a range of helpful…

Ninth Grade Academies (NGAs)--also called Freshman Academies--have attracted national attention as a particularly intensive and promising approach for supporting a successful transition for high school freshmen. An NGA is a self-contained learning community for ninth-graders that operates as a school within a school. NGAs have four core structural…

Policy makers at the federal level have embraced an educator effectiveness agenda, which in turn has driven many states across the country to rapidly develop and implement new and more complex teacher evaluation systems. It is increasingly clear that the success of these nascent teacher evaluation systems partly depends on the will, skill, and…

For more than 20 years, new public management (NPM) has been the guiding governance model of university reforms in Europe. One central aspect of this governance model is to strengthen the hierarchy within the universities. Recent research shows that the formal decision-making authority of university leaders and deans has increased in almost every…

The concept of a professional learning community is characterized by the networks of learning processes which exist among its members, where teachers continuously deliberate with one another on how to solve problems that relate to teaching and learning. Interestingly, whereas a growing number of studies have focused on how to promote collective…

Many of the policy documents and much of the recent literature talk about "leadership" when discussing the role of headteachers and principals of schools. The word is also used when writing about other senior and middle managers. It is a way of showing the difference between what used to be expected of headteachers and what is expected…

The pressure on higher education to become more innovative and effective with respect to its teaching and learning (T&L) mission is unceasing. Institutions are challenged to rethink how they perform this core mission. The campus IT organization, always of strategic importance, can become a key partner and facilitator in that process. Its…

It's undeniable that too many schools with high percentages of low-income students and students of color are low-achieving. But a few schools with these student populations stand out as successes, with academic achievement rivaling and exceeding that of their counterparts in middle-class communities. What do these schools have in common? Research…