While fiscal year 2012-2013 was a year of transition for the Office of Early Learning (OEL), fiscal year 2013-2014 proved to be a year when new leadership, organizational structure, direction and vision coalesced, producing results that demonstrated the office was moving in the right direction. The first day of the fiscal year--July 1, 2013--was…

Members of organizations traditionally outside public school systems have begun to take on central, and in some cases internal, leadership roles and responsibilities in the implementation of ambitious educational improvement initiatives. How are these arrangements playing out in practice? This article explores that question with a 3-year…

This article examines "inter-ministerial cooperation" (IMC) in the education sector as a form of development cooperation, whereby a ministry of education in the north collaborates with counterpart(s) in the south for purposes of mutual interest and development. It explores the characteristics and dynamics of IMC, and addresses the…

2010 was a pioneering year for Massachusetts public schools. State leaders recognized that while the Commonwealth leads the nation in student achievement on national measures such as NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress), more needed to be done to close the persistent achievement gaps between our wealthy and poor students. Combining a…

One-hour telephone discussions with state school-to-work (STW) directors provided information on STW state governance, partnership formation and funding, and implementation progress in 27 states. The most obvious difference in structures at the state level for implementing STW was whether STW responsibilities were assigned to a governing entity…