This article aims to show the value of the concept of policy trajectory to compare, from a long-term perspective, the transformations of education policies in the context of globalisation. After discussing the scope and limitations of the analyses of the concept in the literature -- descriptive, sequential, metaphorical and building on the works…

This review article focuses on perspectives from Canadian Indigenous literature about decolonizing education on behalf of Aboriginal populations. The research informs accountability, education, and policy in Canada and globally. Components of colonization parsed in sources are tribal injustice, dispossession, discrimination, conflict, and…

It's been nearly 25 years since the first MCAS tests were taken. Since then, the test and the state's accountability system have brought resources to underfunded schools, highlighted inequities in our education system, and pushed Massachusetts to first in the nation in academics. But, with progress stalling, a new understanding of the importance…

This article reports a study of the barriers faced by headteachers seeking to include young asylum seekers and refugees into secondary schools in England. We trace the new discourses and assemblages of authority created at city level by recent policy changes. Drawing on in-depth interviews with headteachers, we share their experiences of…

In this paper, the 2019 Polish Teachers Strike (PTS), joined by 75 percent of all public schools and kindergartens for over three weeks, gives rise to an investigation in teacher professionalism that is grounded in local activism. Reading the Polish Teacher Strike (PTS) as a moment of social upheaval (Buchowski, 2017), I claim that the strike…

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Education granted states the opportunity to apply for waivers from the core requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. In exchange, many states implemented systems of differentiated accountability that included a focus on schools with the largest achievement gaps between subgroups of students. We use…

Currently, in many developing countries, there have been intensified efforts by policymakers to push for decentralisation of education as part of a neo-liberal reform agenda to improve school management efficiency and cater to localised needs. In the Malaysian context, the government has attempted further decentralisation of autonomy in selected…

Since the mid-twentieth century, higher education systems worldwide went through huge transformations as a consequence of massification and the recognition of knowledge as key for economic development. The emergence of new teaching modes, the intensity of research, and performativity and accountability pressures impacted directly on academic work…

This article examines the changes taken place over the decades after a test-based accountability system was in place and proposes an agenda for consequential research of the testing program. The article starts with a review of theories of test-based accountability (Supovitz, Journal of Educational Change 10:211-227, 2009) and a socially grounded,…

Quality high-school advising is essential to ensuring access to higher education. However, while efforts are being made in a number of areas to improve access to higher education, there has not yet been enough work done to assess the impact of DEI initiatives on post-secondary advising and, in turn, on college access for underserved students.…

This paper examines how the policy process around initial teacher education (ITE) during the pandemic of 2020 was experienced by the leaders of ITE programmes across England. Education policies, it is argued, are solutions to perceived problems, revealing latent values that drive action. Group interviews with leaders of ITE programmes across the…

The purpose of this narrative study is to investigate the experiences of schoolteachers at autonomous schools in Hong Kong regarding school climate during the transition to autonomy and remote learning. The study explored the background of the Hong Kong education reform, which aimed to improve education through delegating authority to local…

Black students attending US K12 school districts have predictable results (Darling-Hammond, 2007). These schools demonstrate disproportionate results in all indicators of school success. Leaders of these schools are expected to improve student outcomes that disrupt and dismantle systems that have historically perpetuated these results by leading…

Purpose: As the federal government has retreated from taking a dominant role in encouraging implementation of common K-12 standards, states and districts have moved to fill this education policy vacuum. This study aims to understand how state and district leaders are navigating this new policy environment. Research Methods/Approach: Drawing upon…

School improvement in chronically under-performing schools remains a formidable challenge for school leaders. Recent policies in the U.S. have created incentives for school leaders to attempt new strategies to improve outcomes, and increasingly, school leaders of charter management organizations and other multi-school organizations (MSOs) are…