As a final part of this special issue, six Contributing Editors of the magazine were asked to review the six articles and to briefly reflect on themes across fields, on ideas or areas that might have the most potential, and/or to offer other new ideas for our field that the articles and issue overall triggered. These senior scholars in our field…

This article discusses leaders who make a difference, especially in school districts where a single superintendent impacts the lives of so many children, teachers, staff, and community members every day. There is a need to mentor the ongoing professional learning and development of key leaders. The authors report on a process in Kansas, USA, which…

In this article the author explores how a new library classification system might be designed using some aspects of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and ideas from other systems to create something that works for school libraries in the year 2020. By examining what works well with the Dewey Decimal System, what features should be carried…

Increasingly, innovative collaboration between industry and schools is being exploited as a way of improving the quality and relevance of education. Even though these innovations appear to have substantial benefits, often the impact proves to fade away after their implementation. A better understanding of how to sustain complex innovations seems…

This study investigated the challenges Form III English language teachers face when implementing the revised integrated English language curriculum. A mixed-method descriptive design was used in Eldoret East SubCounty in Kenya. Data was collected through questionnaires, interviews and reflective conversations. Cluster, purposive and random…

Some of the most dramatic gains in urban education have come from school districts using what many call a "portfolio strategy." Others call it "reinvention," a "21st century approach," or "relinquishment." By whatever name, it generally means that districts negotiate performance agreements with some mix of…

Recently, technology-supported formative assessment has caught researchers' increasing attention. Most of the relevant studies have been carried out in experimental situations to demonstrate the effectiveness of technology-supported formative assessment for learning. However, little is still known about how technology-supported formative…

Although innovation policy usually follows the business cycle, it is both desirable and possible to reverse this trend. Perhaps the most telling commentary on contemporary Europe is the silence that met the presentation, at the recent European Parliament Innovation Conference, of the Chinese R&D spending curve passing the European Union curve…

Teachers are the most important school-level factor in student success--but as any parent knows, all teachers are not created equal. Reforms to the current quite cursory teacher evaluation system, if done well, have the potential to remove the worst-performing teachers and, even more important, to assist the majority in improving their craft.…

Although many cite the No Child Left Behind Act ([NCLB], 2002) as the first result of public outcry for accountability in American education, evidence of this change can be traced back more than three decades, to the Reagan administration and "A Nation at Risk" (National Commission on Excellence in Education [NCEE], 1983). This…

This article considers lessons learnt through involvement in several assessment projects. Early experience, in university work and in school examinations, led to an opportunity to help establish a novel system of assessment for an innovative school curriculum. Different lessons were then learnt from work on a national survey of school students'…

Russ Poulin is director of policy and analysis for Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET), the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Cooperative for Educational Technologies. He has been an outspoken advocate of treating distance education fairly in state and federal regulations. In recent years, he has…

Although over 80 percent of the 1.5 million students who enter community colleges each year indicate they intend to attain a bachelor's degree or higher, less than 40 percent earn any form of college credential within six years. This discussion starter is designed to help both higher education professionals and the average citizen work through how…

For the past two and one-half years I have been a practitioner participant in the National Center on Scaling Up Effective School's (NCSU's) work with Fort Worth Independent School District. I have a unique vantage point, being one of the few members remaining who has been involved since the very beginning. In addition, my work with NCSU has…

This case study documents a university and secondary school partnership designed to improve classroom management and student time on task at an urban charter high school. The initiative utilized the expertise and knowledge of college of education faculty to identify and ameliorate the high school's observed barriers to students' time on task, and…