A district-level reform model created by the Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education (CDDRE) provided consultation with district leaders on strategic use of data and selection of proven programs. Fifty-nine districts in seven states were randomly assigned to CDDRE or control conditions. A total of 397 elementary and 225 middle schools were…

There has been a steady growth of the K-12 student population taking courses online. This study examined reasons for students to choose a public online charter school program and their perceptions of online discussion. A survey was sent to 1,500 students newly enrolled in a statewide public online charter school program. From those who responded,…

This study examines trends in American students' growth trajectories in reading and math achievement over the past three decades. Drawing upon multiple sources of national assessment data, cohort analyses provide new evidence on the stability and change of national academic growth curves. The emerging trends imply a tripartite pattern where…

This study tested a predictive and mediation model of teacher commitment. Teacher efficacy and sense of identification with school were hypothesized to mediate the relations of an individual antecedent (teaching experience) and two organizational antecedents (perceived organizational politics and reflective dialogue) to teacher commitment.…

Proponents of school restructuring often promote the purported benefits of professional forms of management that call for staff cooperation and collegiality, teachers' participation in school decision making, and supportive leadership by school principals. A theoretical perspective on organizations known as contingency theory refers to such…

School subjects are analogous to medieval alchemy. There is a magical change as mathematics, science, and social sciences move from their disciplinary spaces into the classroom. The educational and social psychologies have little or nothing to do with understanding disciplinary practices. They are intellectual inventions for normalizing and…

Charter schools elevate choice and competition to foster educational innovations. Indeed, these market-style mechanisms are intended to challenge standardized practices associated with district administration of schools. However, a comprehensive review of practices in charter schools indicates that, although some organizational innovations are…

Examined one school district's efforts to develop and implement a standards-based curriculum using rational and institutional perspectives. Findings show that the district took an expressly rationalistic approach in using standards, but lacking a clear instructional philosophy, the district also took an institutional approach. (SLD)

Identifies problems with the portrayals by R. Prawat of the reform effort in post-Revolutionary Russia, the career of Lev Vygotsky, the hypothesized exchange of ideas between Vygotsky and John Dewey, and the theoretical views of Vygotsky. (SLD)

Criticizes the evidence used by M. Gredler and C. Shields in their critique of Prawat's article about John Dewey and Lev Vygotsky and their educational philosophies. Notes specific problems with citations and interpretations. (SLD)

Used data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study to study school violence in 37 nations. Findings show that national patterns of school violence are not strongly related to general patterns of violence or lack of social integration in society , but that there is more violence in systems with more disparity between high- and…

This case study of a novice teacher used sociotransformative constructivism as the theoretical framework of the examination of the preservice year and first year of teaching. Presents insights into the issues and difficulties a beginning teacher of Anglo-European background faces working with predominantly Latino children in an impoverished…

Examines a nineteenth century recommendation by Matthew Arnold for democratic educational reform calling for a broadly accessible liberal education to cultivate a magnanimous and civic-minded democratic populace. Discusses how the old vision might become a new blueprint. (SLD)

Critical historical analysis of the apparently contradictory policies and practices within American Indian education reveals a patterned response to cultural and linguistic diversity, as the federal government has attempted to distinguish "safe" from "dangerous" Indian practices. (SLD)

Draws on data from research on charter schools to question the extent to which "democratic" and "market-based" schools are dichotomous. Makes the case that free-market and deregulatory educational reforms such as charter schools are perceived to be highly democratic by their neoliberal advocates. Suggests that progressive supporters of charter…