This paper studies the process of learning to write from an insider perspective, by adopting the framework of implicit theories of learning. We interviewed 160 children attending kindergarten or primary education in public schools in Argentina (20 children from each of the eight grades from kindergarten to seventh grade). Main questions explored…

This study, based on in-depth interview data from a sample of schools in the midlands of England, offers an analysis of UK teachers' perceptions and understandings of school self-evaluation at a point when national accountability procedures have required that all schools complete and constantly update a web-based self-evaluation schedule, which is…

In the USA there has been widespread growth in Two-Way Immersion (TWI) programmes in all states, including those who have outlawed bilingual education. The model offers language majority students the opportunity to become bilingual alongside their language minority peers. Research has shown TWI programmes to be the most equitable and effective for…

In 1989, the progressive introduction of a National Curriculum of subjects to all maintained schools in England and Wales brought compulsory science education into the primary sectors of these two countries for the first time. Such was its considered importance, science was placed alongside English and mathematics in what became known simply as…

In this paper, I will consider the lessons that can be learnt about literacy policy and its role in large-scale education reform programmes, with particular reference to policy-making in England since the election of New Labour in 1997. New Labour's promise to the electorate in 1997 was that state-funded education could be fixed and turned into a…

Combining two metaphors we argue that apart from official educational policy, there exists a "palimpsest" of cumulatively added prior policies sedimented in teachers' pedagogy, in addition to quasi-official "phantom" policies formed at the local level. We argue that these affect teachers' practices and beliefs in ways that may run counter to the…

In September 1998, the Education Department of the fledgling Hong Kong Special Administrative Region implemented a controversial medium-of-instruction policy which compelled around three-quarters of the territory's hitherto English-medium secondary schools to switch to Chinese-medium teaching in Forms 1-3 (years 7-9). Only 112 schools were…

It has long been established that marking accuracy in public examinations varies considerably among subjects and markers. This is unsurprising, given the diverse cognitive strategies that the marking process can entail, but what makes some questions harder to mark accurately than others? Are there distinct but subtle features of questions and…

This study investigates how the expectations of different types of financial aid affect the student college choice process from application through enrollment. We find that students from different race and income groups respond differentially to aid packages in their application and enrollment decisions depending on their levels of aid…

Using a conceptual model, this study examines the variables associated with the "U.S. News and World Report" peer assessment ratings of graduate and professional schools in business, education, engineering, law, and medicine. What are the correlates of prestige among the nation's leading graduate and professional schools, and are they consistent…

We sought to develop and psychometrically describe three new student engagement scales to measure college students' engagement with their faculty (student-faculty engagement: SFE), community-based activities (CBA), and transformational learning opportunities (TLO) using items selected from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), a widely…

This paper evaluates whether university-industry relationships (UIR) and academic research activities have complementary effects on the scientific production of university lecturers. The analysis is based on a case study of two Spanish universities. We find that the effects of R&D contracts with industry, and academic research activity on…

To what extent does state policy for student financial aid affect the distribution of institutional aid awarded to students at public institutions? Using data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey we employ a Tobit model to investigate the relationship between student characteristics, including family income and academic…

This study examines variability in the extent to which faculty members in the disciplinary-based academic environments of Holland's theory emphasize different student learning outcomes in their classes and whether such differences are comparable for those in "consistent" versus "inconsistent" environments. The findings show wide variation in the…

Recent studies have suggested that a causal link exists between college rankings and subsequent admissions indicators. However, it is unclear how these effects vary across institutional type (i.e., national universities vs. liberal arts colleges) or whether these effects persist when controlling for other factors that affect admissions outcomes.…