Showing that one really "wants" the job entails more than just really wanting the job. An interview is part Broadway casting call, part intellectual dating game, part personality test, and part, well, job interview. When there are 300 applicants for a position, many of them will "fit" the required (and even the preferred) skills listed in the job…

This article provides a commentary on the text exemplar list for Grade bands 9-12 included in the Common Core documents in the United States. It is argued that a critical literacy perspective supports ELA teachers to assert a professional voice when making complex text selections based on diverse students' needs and interests. Implications…

This paper describes practical procedures in mentoring/tutoring students through self-assessment (SA) to establish and maintain partnership in learning. High school teachers ("n"?=?10) allow their students ("N"?=?515: 359 males) to engage in activities that help them identify standards and/or criteria to apply to their work and…

The nation's largest school districts have increasingly turned to building closures to address budget deficits, demographic shifts, and the movement of students to charter schools. Over the past decade, 70 large or mid-sized cities closed schools--averaging 11 buildings per closure. This trend shows no signs of slowing. Washington, D.C. closed 23…

This document, developed by the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) writing team, aims to support faithful CCSSM implementation by providing criteria for materials aligned to the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. These criteria are an attempt to sharpen the question of how alignment should be judged, and to make…

College sports is a billion-dollar enterprise whose leaders pride themselves on taking care of athletes. But lately many institutions have lost that focus. Broad proposals to change the game have historically fallen short. But what if the focus is narrowed, reorganizing around the needs of students? This article presents five ideas for doing that:…

Making furniture decisions can involve many factors, and they vary from institution to institution. For fixtures, furnishings and equipment, comparing initial cost with the cost of ownership over a life cycle can be more challenging. It may be the functionality of the furnishings that provides the greatest return on investment. In this article,…

The Taiwan Government launched the Hand-in-Hand After-School Care Program in 2006 with several goals: In addition to providing disadvantaged students with supplemental learning opportunities, this highly ambitious government program hopes to provide increased employment opportunities for substitute teachers and low-income college students, and…

In South Africa, foundation programmes are a well-established alternative access route to tertiary science study for educationally disadvantaged students. Student access to, and performance in, one such foundation programme has been researched by the authors seeking opportunities to improve student retention. The biology module in particular has…

Purpose: One bad hiring decision can lead to low student achievement. Research supports that teachers are the most influential factor in student success. As a result, principals' current practice of hiring teachers based on intuition and likeability must change. Given the current high stakes era, principals need reassurance that the teachers they…

Problem Statement: The "right selection" of doctoral candidates is of great importance for the effectiveness of doctoral programs. There are programs in which one can directly begin with the dissertation, as well as programs that require the completion of credits through mandatory and elective courses. It is widely accepted that academic…

Local school boards have the responsibility to select school superintendents to lead their districts. The process by which school boards go about searching for and selecting a superintendent varies. In Wisconsin, school boards have the option to hire a search firm or other outside assistance, or they can choose to search for and select a…

The community college system is beginning to see waves of retirements at all levels of the administrative structure. These retirements, in conjunction with expected growth in administrative positions, will result in system-wide administrative vacancies. Community colleges not already seeking new leaders are likely to find themselves in the midst…

In this report the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution presents the results of a self-developed Education Choice and Competition Index (ECCI) along with an interactive application that grades large school districts according to the ECCI. The index is composed of 13 pro choice criteria. The authors present the ECCI as a…

Once the world leader in educational attainment, the United States has slipped well into the middle of the pack. Countries that were considered little more than educational backwaters just a few years ago have leapt to the forefront of student achievement. There's no shortage of factors for America's educational decline: budget cutbacks,…