Globalization has increased mobility of people, resources, and ideas. It is also affecting how governments think about education and what schools teach to their students. Attributes related to education for a knowledge society, sustainable development, or 21st century skills are parts of current national educational policies and reforms. A…

This article examines major trends in testing and accountability reform in the United States over the past decade. The review covers the apex and decline of the national experimentation with a range of alternative assessments and the rise of test-based accountability as a central policy initiative. These trends signify that testing has become a…

In fewer than 10 years since the year 2000, systems around the world have been affected by global changes and new understandings that challenge what it means to improve schools and build capacity for improvement. This article examines seven issues in the last decade and their implications for "building capacity for improvement". It concludes that…

Charter schools have garnered strong support over the past decade, however, opponents question this choice option on many grounds, including their effectiveness, accountability, equity, and sustainability. This paper addresses these concerns by synthesizing what we know from the literature on charter schools, exposing areas where evidence is…

Ten years ago community organizing as a form of educational change had only begun to challenge traditional models of school reform. Yet a decade later, community organizing has led to important changes in school and community relationships that have been documented by scholars in the areas of education, sociology, social work, and political…

This article reviews the history of large-scale education reform and makes the case that large-scale or whole system reform policies and strategies are becoming increasingly evident. The review briefly addresses the pre 1997 period concluding that while the pressure for reform was mounting that there were very few examples of deliberate or…

The two fields of leadership studies and school change have increasingly converged over the last 30 years. This paper reviews the origins of the intersection, and the development of research themes in three areas: The role of leaders in shaping and using organizational culture, the agency of teachers in the change process, and the importance of…

The last decade of education change has been characterized by the rise of evidence-based policy and practice agendas. Internationally, we are witnessing efforts to increase and incorporate research use in public services. This article examines efforts in education to address the research-practice gap through an emerging field we term knowledge…

What keeps students interested and engaged in school? Unfortunately, in today's climate of increased rigor in classrooms, we are simultaneously losing sight of the need to provide students with an education that is both challenging and stimulating. In this paper, we discuss youth disengagement and offer suggestions to improve our overall knowledge…

In 1971, Seymour Sarason published his now classic book on educational reform entitled, The Culture of the School and the Problem of Change. In the text, Sarason devotes an entire chapter to what he terms the modal process of change. The characteristics of this process, unfortunately, remain salient in today's educational climate. The Project in…