Empirical research suggests that school leaders' instructional leadership can make a difference in improving student achievement. We explored this issue in a mixed-method study that sought to verify whether or not, from participants' perspectives, school principals enact this type of leadership and whether or not they feel that it affects student…

School transportation may have important implications for academic success, but few studies examine how these variables are related. This systematic review is the first that synthesizes research linking school transportation with academic outcomes. Using the PRISMA framework, the authors conducted a literature search across multiple data sources…

Various changes in the spheres of education policy and school management over recent decades have sparked a renewed interest in the issue of school culture and its potential to understand processes of leadership and academic performance. What are the contributions and potentialities of organizational culture for understanding school organizations…

There is no doubt that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are now an integral part of the life of children and young people. Some of the recent literature studies on literacy in ICT show that this should incorporate Internet literacy, Computer literacy and Information literacy, and being these three forms of literacy indispensable in…

Principals (policy makers) have debated the progress in U.S. student performance for a half century or more. Informing these conversations, survey agents have administered seven million psychometrically linked tests in math and reading in 160 waves to national probability samples of selected cohorts born between 1954 and 2007. This study is the…

A large body of work in educational economics displays the tenuous relationship between school inputs and cognitive achievement. Among others, the inability to establish a strong link has been attributed to the difficulty of controlling for attributes such as ability, motivation, and interest. Against this background, and inspired by work in…

In this study, systems of teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) in different countries were compared. The focus country was Turkey, which has low achievement in English. Other countries compared were Denmark, Hungary, and Portugal, which had considerably higher achievements in teaching English. The selection of these countries was based on…

The article addresses the issue of children and young people's well-being at school. The issue has been known as topical for already some time. In recent decades, in order to be able to determine the true nature and essence of the phenomenon of well-being, the necessity to find the ways for identification of children and young people's…

Background: Educational neuroscience is a relatively new discipline. However, many obstacles persist in delaying the success of an interface between neuroscience and education. One such major obstacle has been the spread of neuromyths. Purpose: The main aim of this study was to verify whether Portuguese teachers are susceptible to misinterpreting…

This policy profile on education in Portugal is part of the "Education Policy Outlook" series, which presents comparative analysis of education policies and reforms across OECD countries. Building on the OECD's substantial comparative and sectoral knowledge base, the series offers a comparative outlook on education policy by providing…

This paper provides evidence on the sources of differences in inequality in educational scores and their evolution over time in four European countries. Using Programme for International Student Assessment data from the 2000 and the 2006 waves, the paper shows that inequality decreased in Germany and Spain (two "decentralised" schooling…

The "International Society for the Social Studies (ISSS) Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. The following papers are included in the 2014 proceedings: (1) Legal Profession in the Technological Era with Special Reference to Women Lawyers in…

The gross differences in scholastic achievement among public, private government-dependent, and private independent schools in 22 countries are analyzed with Programme for International Student Assessment 2000 data. In a multilevel approach, the authors estimate these sector effects, controlling for sociological characteristics of students and…

Examines the complex social and educational problem of school failure in Portugal. Defines school failure's place within the Portuguese educational system and traces its causes. Explores forms of assessment in elementary and secondary education, analyzing them in terms of student achievement rates and dropout rates. Discusses measures currently…

Analyzes the extent to which students (n=92) understand teachers' evaluation criteria and the relation of that understanding with social class, social context of the school, teachers' conceptual demand, teachers' explicitness of criteria, and science achievement. Results indicate that there is a clear relation between students' acquisition of…