A handful of urban districts, such as Denver, the District of Columbia, Pittsburgh, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, are taking steps to practice "strategic hiring." The efforts consist of collecting a more-robust set of information on candidates, developing stronger relationships with teacher-preparation programs, and tracking new hires to determine their…

Billionaire businessman Eli Broad, one of the country's most active philanthropists, founded the "Broad Superintendents Academy" in 2002 with an extraordinarily optimistic goal: Find leaders from both inside and outside education, train them, and have them occupying the superintendencies in a third of the 75 largest school districts--all in just…

As Congress debates how to structure the next iteration of federal school accountability, a new national study has raised serious concerns about the effectiveness of test-based incentives to improve education. A blue-ribbon committee of the National Academies' National Research Council undertook a nearly decade-long study of test-based incentive…

State lawmakers voted in 2009 to completely revamp Kentucky's education accountability system. That means new academic standards, new assessments, and a new baseline for student achievement--a tall order for a school that's already under enormous pressure to demonstrate gains. This article reports on how a Kentucky high school takes stock after…

This paper presents 2011 edition of "Diplomas Count" which explores career-related study pathways for students that lie in the space between a high school diploma and a four-year degree-options such as community college, "early college," or high school career training that leads to occupational certification. It looks as well at what high schools…

As the clock ticks toward President Barack Obama's back-to-school deadline for rewriting the No Child Left Behind Act, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is preparing to grant states relief from key provisions of the federal school accountability law in exchange for what he calls "commitments to key reforms." The move comes as pressure mounts…

Thousands of educators, parent activists, and others are expected to convene in the heat and humidity of Washington next month for a march protesting the current thrust of education policy in the United States, especially the strong emphasis on test-based accountability. Organizers of the Washington say U.S. policymakers are moving in the wrong…

The author reports on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's plan to look closely at whether the food-service-management companies running many school cafeterias are passing along all the discounts and rebates they receive from their suppliers to the districts that hire them. The plan to probe companies will begin in August, said Alison Decker, a…

State-level momentum in support of vouchers and tax credits that help students go to private schools highlights what has been a largely theoretical issue: private school capacity to support voucher-financed enrollment. Academics say the national supply of seats in secular and religious private schools is sufficient to meet short-term demand from…

In science and math classes across the country, digital tools are being used to conduct experiments, analyze data, and run 3-D simulations to explain complex concepts. Language arts teachers are now pushing the definition of literacy to include the ability to express ideas through media. This report, "Multimedia Transformation," examines the many…

In 1998 the World Bank published a "Reform Agenda" for higher education in the new millennium designed to accelerate privatization and the restructuring of the academic workforce. Before analyzing the report, I consider how changes in Canadian universities reflect the growth of the "knowledge-based economy." I then provide a critique of the Bank's…

Twelve factors that are essential to consider when embarking on the process of transformative development are examined in the context of international development programming in education and training. Each factor raises a number of questions for the deliberations of policy makers, development practitioners, scholars, international educators,…

Abject generational hardship is a systemic phenomenon which denies people a higher quality of life by limiting their access to basic life necessities. The article focuses on a group of ten girls between the ages of 10 and 14 living in a peri-urban community outside of Maputo. The first part outlines the importance of engaging girls through…

Given the rapid development and large expatriate majority within the United Arab Emirates, the country is extremely reliant upon expatriate faculty to educate its people. Through the lens provided by Social Exchange Theory, this study examined the motivations of expatriate faculty to remain or leave their positions at institutions within the UAE.…

Ethiopia is a large country in the Horn of Africa. It has a diverse population of eighty million people who speak over thirty distinct languages. Approximately 80% of the population live in rural areas and rely on subsistence agriculture. Despite economic growth and an abundance of natural resources, it is a country with a per-capita income of…