The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA or the Recovery Act) of 2009 provided an unprecedented level of funding for K-12 education. The program created a "historic opportunity to save hundreds of thousands of jobs, support states and school districts, and advance reforms and improvements that will create long-lasting results for our…

This article revisits the debate about school reform and homeownership-based strategies for neighborhood revitalization. It is based on an analysis of school districts in New York State using data from the American Community Survey (ACS) and the New York State Education Department (NYSED). Findings indicate that the relationship between schools…

Based on work with elementary grades teachers in mathematics professional development to prepare for the implementation of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, we offer a set of recommendations for school leaders who wish to assist teachers in adjusting their instruction to meet the challenges that the new standards present.

This retrospective interview study focused on the impact that training and implementation of Philosophy, in Lipman's tradition of Philosophy for Children, had on the pedagogy of 14 primary teachers at one school. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to document the impact of teaching Philosophy on pedagogy, the resources required to…

Professional educators in the classroom, library, counseling center, or anywhere in between share one overarching goal: ensuring all students receive the rich, well-rounded education they need to be productive, engaged, citizens. This regular feature explores the work of professional educators--their accomplishments and their challenges--so that…

For accreditation and programmatic decision making, education school administrators use inter-rater reliability analyses to judge credibility of student-teacher assessments. Although weak levels of agreement between university-appointed supervisors and cooperating teachers are usually interpreted to indicate that the process is not being…

Tamil Nadu has gained international recognition for reforming its government school classrooms into active, child-centered learning environments. Our exploration of the history of the Activity Based Learning movement suggests that this reform was achieved by social movement actors serving in and through the state's administration.…

In this critically reflective article, we share our perceptions of the epistemologies that shape our own understanding of successful ESL education and that of a school district that asked us to help redevelop its ESL program. Our differing epistemologies, ours critical and aimed toward social justice, theirs built on what we describe as neoliberal…

In this article, I critique the labels and terms used to frame practices aimed at closing the achievement gap. I examine how an unacknowledged "achievement gap Discourse" has emerged from the language that informs practices and policies of contemporary school reform. I use Gee's uppercase "Discourse" and a cultural…

In an age of globalization, the need exists to understand international affairs, to recognize cultural values other than our own, and to understand world events from a variety of perspectives. Community colleges can play an important role in this context in preparing students to meet the new demands of the 21st century knowledge-based economy. We…

National development conditions and goals in Uganda, as in many nations, are such that the robust establishment of community colleges could provide many solutions. Yet the creation of such has been inhibited by a number of factors including the historic roots of higher education in former colonial contexts and a lack of Ugandan familiarity with…

India is at the cusp of becoming an economic powerhouse. For that to happen, however, the country needs to alter its workforce education system by reengineering the Indian Vocational Education and Training (VET) System. India's VET strategy includes creating basic work-centered common curriculum for the unskilled; developing a more flexible…

Chinese vocational colleges are being compromised because the central government is moving more of its educational resources to the top-tier universities. Although vocational college enrollments have slowed in the increasingly high-tech eastern provinces, colleges in the western part of the country are poised for increased enrollments to address…

In this article, Vance Stevens describes how access to what he calls "star performer educators" as either up-­and­-coming in their field, or experienced and polished practitioners, have changed with access to the internet. They are clearly passionate about what they do, and what they do has become second nature. They touch hearts and…

This article presents findings from the first independent, third-party appraisal of the impact of the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) on student test score gains in mathematics. TAP is a comprehensive school reform model designed to attract highly effective teachers, improve instructional effectiveness, and elevate student achievement. We use a…