The paper examines the role educators and members of school management teams (SMTs) play in transforming schools towards integrative learning environments. Data was collected through a survey and individual interviews that were administered to educators and members of SMTs (N = 88) in four multiracial schools. The survey included open-ended…

The objective of this research is to create a cross-national comparison of early childhood education beliefs and ideals in Switzerland and the United States. The goal is to interview teachers in Switzerland to gain insight into their perspective on various topics in early childhood education. Those responses will then be compared against commonly…

Planning in education is a structured activity that includes several phases and steps that take into account several kinds of information (Steyn, Steyn, De Waal & Wolhuter, 2002: 146). One of the sets of information that are usually considered is the (so-called) "benchmarks" and "benchmarking" regarding the focus of a…

There is no question that Ethiopia registered an extraordinary achievement in terms of increasing student enrolment, but quality education still remains a challenge and is becoming a bottleneck for the country. The efforts made to improve quality through Education Sector Development Plan (ESDP) are promising. But those changes are worse doing if…

At one time, Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) was virtually the only place students could come to study fashion design, merchandising, and buying. Currently, 22 institutions offer degrees in fashion design, and almost as many offer fashion buying and merchandising. This new competitive environment is making it necessary for FIT to become and…

The compatibility between community service and quality education is discussed. Variables that are indicators of quality education are: cost, or the yearly tuition rate; its distance from the consumer; the quotient of intelligence among those who are rejected as applicants; student/faculty ratio; and faculty degrees. Public service or community…

In this presidential address to the National Association of Gifted Children, the author presents a 10-step program that may be used by administrators at the program level and teachers at the classroom level to lead gifted education forward in its attempts to optimize learning for gifted learners as well as to address the needs of all learners.…

Attempts to improve urban school systems have been many and varied. Still there has been little appreciable improvement in the quality and/or results of urban education. One primary reason why the "innovations" have failed is that most of them have been introduced into an ongoing social system with little or no attempt to assess their effects on…

Examines some of the potentially negative effects of technological advancements in education on the human dimensions of the educational process. The personal needs of the individual learner and the responsibilities of the teacher are analyzed. Three references are listed. (JL)

In a wide-ranging speech on the question of educational quality in Great Britain, the author observes that the achievement of higher quality "demands the will to act in a hundred ways, even to the point of sacrifice, on the part of teachers, managers, governors, local authorities, the government, parents, newspapers, radio and T.V., and the…

Outside demands on universities to improve the manner in which they operate have placed increased pressure on faculty members to examine how they spend their time. Because administrators often resist any pressure to change the way they do business, faculty often find themselves in a situation of adjusting to a changing set of values and reward…

With a growing number of courses offered online and degrees offered through the Internet, there is a considerable interest in online education, particularly as it relates to the quality of online learning instruction. The major concerns are centering on the following questions: What will be the new role for instructor in online education? How will…

Increased emphasis on research and grantsmanship leaves college faculty with little time or inclination for undergraduate teaching. Concern for education has given way to concern for power. Higher education is now only distantly connected with shaping a citizenry. (Author/MSE)

Using British research related to the Open University's Postgraduate Certificate in Education (OU PGCE), a preservice teacher education program, this paper considers how open and distance learning (ODL) programs are evolving quality assurance systems and procedures across a range of elements, including student teacher assessment. The paper…

A survey examined the perceived influence of teacher educators on the 13 autonomous state teaching standard boards now in existence. A total of 125 board members, selected at random from the directories of the boards, received the mailed survey, and 73 percent responded. According to the results, all non-teacher educator board members rated the…