The School Based Reform in Arab Countries (TAMAM) project aims to build leadership capacity for school-based reform. This paper asks: (a) To what extent can a design-based approach frame the design of school improvement projects such as TAMAM? (b) What characteristics of design-based approaches are most relevant to guide the design of school-based…

Education for learners with special education needs has become one of the major concerns of education policies in every corner of the world. In Macau, however, the transformation of schools into inclusive environments is reported to be slow because many teachers in Macau have not accepted the key values of inclusive education and possess little…

Thomas Freidman (2005) asserts that technology has created a transnational platform for communication, collaboration, and competition that is stimulating global opportunity for all individuals. After years of robust study abroad programs and the recent "bricks and mortar" expansion of U.S. higher education overseas, we are now seeing the true…

View through a power perspective, this article critically evaluates tensions involved in China's school-based curriculum development (SBCD) in middle schools: the state's concern about control, accountability, and schools' eagerness to struggle for more decision-making power. This article examines how a Chinese school and its teachers go beyond…

Educational reform in the United States is perpetually evolving. Much of the recent reforms have concentrated on high-stakes testing and assessment, but a parallel effort has been emerging in the field of vocational and career education. Prompted partly by federal legislation--most recently by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act…

With strong intention to enhance the global competitiveness of their university systems, the Singapore and Malaysia governments have made attempts to develop their societies into regional hubs of education. Specifically, they have invited foreign universities to set up their campuses to offer academic programs or to establish private institutions…

Collective bargaining must be transformed and encapsulated so that more effective vehicles can be used to pursue professional and school-reform goals. Trust agreements, waivers, and a season for bargaining are options needing further exploration. A professional union should reform both its contract language and its attitudes. The adversarial model…

The conventional wisdom about designing and operating school/university collaboratives has created a mythology of collaboration that obscures and distorts the reality. This article debunks four myths concerning planners' perceived need for clear goals, carefully planned activities, agreements about definitions, and group permanency. Four myths…

Like other public policies, education policies are laden with values and are often highly "ideologically charged." Given this close entanglement with value conflicts or dilemmas, it is no longer valid or feasible to pursue seemingly value-free or value-neutral analysis when studying policies. Since education policy is contested terrain,…

A good number of scholars have recently addressed concerns about the disconnect between higher education and K-12 practice. According to Goldring and Sims (2005), those involved with leadership preparation must connect thought to action. Although many have taken the position that collaboration is essential, it has been much more difficult to…

Project RE:LEARNING failed to gain state-agency support because there was no widespread sense of crisis in Delaware to prompt restructuring, no shared conviction that schools needed dramatic changes. The Delaware story should caution systemic reformers to "front load" their energy and publicize serious problems. It takes more than a…

Before 1994, South Africa had a complex education system, characterized by multiple, loosely connected bureaucracies; inequitable resource distribution; and concentrated, oligarchic power. The new government is striving to democratize education by dismantling and dismembering the old institution. Blacks and whites must cooperate to make it happen.…

Based on an interview, the vice president of public affairs of the Procter and Gamble Company, states that businesses can be a source of analytical skills to help school systems run more effectively. Stresses the need for early childhood programs, and continuous training for teachers and administrators. (MLF)

Review of literature on school leadership organized for the most part around the following topics: Building leadership capacity (organizational, managerial coordination, mentoring, collaborative, democratic, ethical, expanded view of schooling); redefining school leadership, for example, by fostering teacher development; and reforming principal…

As this case study shows, Western Samoa's Western-based educational system caters to a small minority of students' higher education interests and fails to prepare non-college-bound students to survive in their own culture. Educational philosophy and practice should be consistent with core Samoan cultural values, which center on respect,…