WorldWideScience

Sample records for sustained school reform

  1. 9 Hard Things to Do in Order to Sustain School Reform. Newsletter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement, 2005

    2005-01-01

    The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement invited Ann Chafin to share her thoughts and ideas about sustaining school reform. Chafin, chief of Program Improvement and Family Support Branch of the Maryland State Department of Education, was a speaker at the annual Institute for CSR State Coordinators held May 9-10 in Washington,…

  2. School as Community, Community as School: Examining Principal Leadership for Urban School Reform and Community Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Terrance L.

    2018-01-01

    For decades, reform has been a persistent issue in urban schools. Research suggests that urban school reforms that are connected to equitable community development efforts are more sustainable, and that principals play a pivot role in leading such efforts. Yet, limited research has explored how urban school principals connect school reform with…

  3. Small School Reform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carroll E. Bronson

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available This qualitative ethnographic case study explored the evolution of a public urban high school in its 3rd year of small school reform. The study focused on how the high school proceeded from its initial concept, moving to a small school program, and emerging as a new small high school. Data collection included interviews, observations, and document review to develop a case study of one small high school sharing a multiplex building. The first key finding, “Too Many Pieces, Not Enough Glue,” revealed that the school had too many new programs starting at once and they lacked a clear understanding of their concept and vision for their new small school, training on the Montessori philosophies, teaching and learning in small schools, and how to operate within a teacher-cooperative model. The second key finding, “A Continuous Struggle,” revealed that the shared building space presented problems for teachers and students. District policies remain unchanged, resulting in staff and students resorting to activist approaches to get things done. These findings offer small school reform leaders suggestions for developing and sustaining a small school culture and cohesion despite the pressures to revert back to top-down, comprehensive high school norms.

  4. Instructional Leadership in Indonesian School Reform: Overcoming the Problems to Move Forward

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sofo, Francesco; Fitzgerald, Robert; Jawas, Umiati

    2012-01-01

    The paper reviews the research on instructional leadership and, through identifying problems emerging in Indonesian school reform, suggests some sustainable solutions. There are some discrepancies in the processes of Indonesia's school reform, and the objectives of the national education reform do not seem to have been reflected in the actual…

  5. Implementing and Sustaining School Improvement. The Informed Educator Series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Protheroe, Nancy

    2011-01-01

    This "Informed Educator" examines research-proven strategies for implementing and sustaining school improvement by looking at the key elements of the process, enabling conditions for improvement, issues of school culture, and implementation. It also looks at school turnarounds and how to sustain school improvement once reforms are implemented.

  6. Reforming Social Policy: Changing Perspectives on Sustainable ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Reforming Social Policy: Changing Perspectives on Sustainable Human Development. Book cover Reforming Social Policy: Changing Perspectives on Sustainable Human Development. Directeur(s):. Daniel Morales-Gómez, Necla Tschirgi, and Jennifer L. Moher. Maison(s) d'édition: IDRC. 1 janvier 1999. ISBN :.

  7. Linking health education and sustainability education in schools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Katrine Dahl; Nordin, Lone Lindegard; Simovska, Venka

    2015-01-01

    , the focus is on transformation processes occurring on the trajectory from international policy frameworks to the national context. The chapter considers the consequences of these transformation processes for educational practices within schools in light of the current major reform of basic general education......This chapter addresses the relationships between international and national (Danish) policies regarding sustainability and health promotion which have the potential to affect school-based health education/promotion and education for sustainable development. Based on policy mapping and analysis...... in Denmark with its aims of ensuring overall school improvement, increasing pupil wellbeing and improving academic outcomes. Analysis of international policy documents, as well as of research literature in both fields, shows that school-based health education (HE) and education for sustainable development...

  8. Unpacking Resistance to Change within-School Reform Programmes with a Social Justice Orientation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hynds, Anne

    2010-01-01

    Previous research in the area of resistance has inadequately described opposition to change within-school reform initiatives with a social justice orientation. A lack of attention to, and agreement on, the nature and causes of resistance may explain why so many equity-minded educational reforms fail to be sustained. This article highlights various…

  9. Energy Reforms in The Developing World: Sustainable Development Compromised?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Said Mbogo Abdallah

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Energy sector reforms with an emphasis on electricity growth have been taking place extensively and rapidly worldwide Particularly, motivated chiefly by classical economics’ standpoint of efficiency and market considerations, reforms have been made in the developed North. Models of reforms in the North have in turn been replicated in developing countries. However, questions arise as to whether the models used are suitable for the mostly rural and socioeconomically disadvantaged economies in the South. It is argued in this paper that a sustainability focused mode of reforms guided by futures studies is needed for such economies. Reforms taking place in Kenya and neighbouring countries are in particular examined from a sustainable future perspective; and appropriate improvements and further research are recommended.

  10. Adequacy, accountability, autonomy and equity in a Middle Eastern school reform: The case of Qatar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guarino, Cassandra M.; Tanner, Jeffery C.

    2012-04-01

    This study examines Qatar's recent and ambitious school reform in the early stages of its implementation against a set of four criteria for successful education systems drawn from guidelines developed by the international community: adequacy, accountability, autonomy and gender equity. We investigate both the initial structure of the reform and its sustainability in light of concerns that movements in these directions might be politically unfeasible. To some degree, these concerns are substantiated by the developments we trace. However, it is important to note that the reform has changed the landscape of primary and secondary education in Qatar and that many reform principles, though diluted, have been retained. This paper highlights lessons learned - both hopeful and cautionary - in the first few years of reform and presents a methodology for evaluating progress along key dimensions that can be applied to school systems in many nations.

  11. The Implementation and Impact of Evidence-Based Mathematics Reforms in High-Poverty Middle Schools: A Multi-Site, Multi-Year Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balfanz, Robert; Mac Iver, Douglas J.; Byrnes, Vaughan

    2006-01-01

    This article reports on the first 4 years of an effort to develop comprehensive and sustainable mathematics education reforms in high poverty middle schools. In four related analyses, we examine the levels of implementation achieved and impact of the reforms on various measures of achievement in the first 3 schools to implement the Talent…

  12. Reforming Schools: A Case Study of New Basics in a Primary School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jorgensen, Robyn; Walsh, Lynne; Niesche, Richard

    2009-01-01

    Reforming schools is a challenging aspect of contemporary education. The role of leadership within reform agendas is critical. This article presents a case study of one school that has been highly successful in the implementation of this reform. The processes employed by the school at various levels demonstrate the ways in which effective…

  13. Improving Schools through Networks: A New Approach to Urban School Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wohlstetter, Priscilla; Malloy, Courtney L.; Chau, Derrick; Polhemus, Jennifer L.

    2003-01-01

    Data from an evaluation of the Annenberg Challenge in Los Angeles, a reform effort that experimented with school networks as a vehicle for improving schools, revealed that when school networks created structures that decentralized power and distributed organizational resources throughout the network, they also enhanced school capacity for reform.…

  14. School Reform Unplugged: The Bensenville New American School Project, 1991-93.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirel, Jeffrey

    1994-01-01

    This examination of the New American Schools Development Corporation initiative in Bensenville (Illinois) details the controversy over the reform effort and argues that factors such as school governance, local control, and school finance played major roles in determining program outcomes. The importance of political influences in reform efforts is…

  15. Curriculum reform at Chinese medical schools: what have we learned?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Lei; Cheng, Liming; Cai, Qiaoling; Kosik, Russell Olive; Huang, Yun; Zhao, Xudong; Xu, Guo-Tong; Su, Tung-Ping; Chiu, Allen Wen-Hsiang; Fan, Angela Pei-Chen

    2014-12-01

    Curriculum reform at Chinese medical schools has attracted a lot of attention recently. Several leading medical schools in China have undergone exploratory reforms and in so doing, have accumulated significant experience and have made considerable progress. An analysis of the reforms conducted by 38 Chinese medical colleges that were targeted by the government for upgrade was performed. Drawing from both domestic and international literature, we designed a questionnaire to determine what types of curricular reforms have occurred at these institutions and how they were implemented. Major questions touched upon the purpose of the reforms, curricular patterns, improvements in teaching methods post-reform, changes made to evaluation systems post-reform, intra-university reform assessment, and what difficulties the schools faced when instituting the reforms. Besides the questionnaire, relevant administrators from each medical school were also interviewed to obtain more qualitative data. Out of the 38 included universities, twenty-five have undergone major curricular reforms. Among them, 60.0% adopted an organ system-based curriculum model, 32.0% adopted a problem-based curriculum model, and 8.0% adopted a hybrid curriculum model. About 60.0% of the schools' reforms involved both the "pre-clinical" and the "clinical" curricula, 32.0% of the schools' reforms were limited to the "pre-clinical" curricula, and 8.0% of the schools' reforms only involved the "clinical" curricula. Following curricular reform, 60.0% of medical schools experienced an overall reduction in teaching hours, 76.0% reported an increase in their students' clinical skills, and 60.0% reported an increase in their students' research skills. Medical curricular reform is still in its infancy in China. The republic's leading medical schools have engaged in various approaches to bring innovative teaching methods to their respective institutions. However, due to limited resources and the shackle of traditional

  16. Science teachers' beliefs about teaching and reform: Case studies from a restructured high school

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Elizabeth A.

    A qualitative research study of the beliefs of three science teachers about teaching and educational reform was carried out at a restructured high school belonging to the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES), a nationally prominent restructuring movement. One problem of educational reform is to sustain change in the science classroom. A new wave of reform is shifting the focus away from curriculum changes and towards professionalism of teachers empowered to restructure schools. The beliefs of the teachers are key to decisions made in the classroom. The teachers and staff of Metro High School adopted the Ten Common Principles of CES as their guide to restructuring and sustaining change. Changes included increased authority for teachers in shared decision making, increased staff time for professional development, grouping students heterogeneously, grouping students and faculty in teams for extended time periods, and organizing instruction around small group and individual student study (student-centered). The theoretical framework centers on the constructivist theory of learning, particularly Vygotsky's socio-cultural model, and Bakhtin's dialogic function of language. Nespor's belief system model was used to describe the four characteristic features of beliefs: episodic memories, alternativity, existential presumption, and evaluative loading. My research questions were: What memories of teaching have influenced the teachers? What are the teachers' beliefs about the learning environment? What are the teachers' beliefs about their students? What are the teachers' beliefs about student activities? Interviews were the primary data source for the case studies of the three teachers, with additional data from lesson plans, photo-voice, and other artifacts. The teachers shared many common beliefs including that strong peer support is necessary for reform. The teachers' beliefs allied themselves to the majority of the common principles of CES, especially personalization and

  17. A Classroom Observational Study of Qatar's Independent Schools: Instruction and School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer, Douglas J.; Sadiq, Hissa M.; Lynch, Patricia; Parker, Dawn; Viruru, Radhika; Knight, Stephanie; Waxman, Hersh; Alford, Beverly; Brown, Danielle Bairrington; Rollins, Kayla; Stillisano, Jacqueline; Abu-Tineh, Abdullah M. Hamdan; Nasser, Ramzi; Allen, Nancy; Al-Binali, Hessa; Ellili, Maha; Al-Kateeb, Haithem; Al-Kubaisi, Huda

    2016-01-01

    Qatar initiated a K-12 national educational reform in 2001. However, there is limited information on the instructional practices of the teachers in the reform schools. This project was an observational study of classrooms with a stratified random sample of the first six cohorts of reform schools. Specifically, 156 classrooms were observed in 29…

  18. Testing and school reform in Danish education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kousholt, Kristine; Hamre, Bjørn

    2016-01-01

    This chapter will focus on shared characteristics of the Danish national standardized testing in public school and the ideals of being a student according to the Danish School Reform of 2014. In the chapter we argue that both kinds of materials (documents regarding the newly implemented national ...... and that this intermingles with the explicated intentions of the Danish school reform as a more profound educational intervention....

  19. Free-Market School Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrington-Lueker, Donna

    1997-01-01

    In Uxbridge, Massachusetts, a small working-class mill town, free-market reform rhetoric has become reality. The tiny district has adopted controversial changes, such as giving vouchers to parents of Title I students, reimbursing home-schooling parents, lengthening the school day and year, adopting flexible scheduling, allowing credit for Internet…

  20. Curricular Reform: Systems Modeling and Sustainability in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Vermont

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rizzo, D. M.; Hayden, N. J.; Dewoolkar, M.; Neumann, M.; Lathem, S.

    2009-12-01

    Researchers at the University of Vermont were awarded a NSF-sponsored Department Level Reform (DLR) grant to incorporate a systems approach to engineering problem solving within the civil and environmental engineering programs. A systems approach challenges students to consider the environmental, social, and economic aspects within engineering solutions. Likewise, sustainability requires a holistic approach to problem solving that includes economic, social and environmental factors. Our reform has taken a multi-pronged approach in two main areas that include implementing: a) a sequence of three systems courses related to environmental and transportation systems that introduce systems thinking, sustainability, and systems analysis and modeling; and b) service-learning (SL) projects as a means of practicing the systems approach. Our SL projects are good examples of inquiry-based learning that allow students to emphasize research and learning in areas of most interest to them. The SL projects address real-world open-ended problems. Activities that enhance IT and soft skills for students are incorporated throughout the curricula. Likewise, sustainability has been a central piece of the reform. We present examples of sustainability in the SL and modeling projects within the systems courses (e.g., students have used STELLA™ systems modeling software to address the impact of different carbon sequestration strategies on global climate change). Sustainability in SL projects include mentoring home schooled children in biomimicry projects, developing ECHO exhibits and the design of green roofs, bioretention ponds and porous pavement solutions. Assessment includes formative and summative methods involving student surveys and focus groups, faculty interviews and observations, and evaluation of student work.

  1. School Reform in the United States: Frames and Representations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shannon, Patrick

    2012-01-01

    This essay reviews six competing positions on U.S. school reform: a speech from Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan; Diane Ravitch's "The Death and Life of the Great American School System"; Frederick Hess's "The Same Thing Over and Over"; Charles Payne's "So Much Reform, So Little Change"; Anthony Byrk and others' "Organizing School for…

  2. The Need for Transformational Leadership in Singapore's School-Based Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Retna, Kala S.; Ng, Pak Tee

    2009-01-01

    In Singapore, "decentralization" and "school-based reforms" are key words within the current education reform agenda. This article argues that a key success factor in this agenda is transformational leadership in school. With more autonomy given to the school, transformational leadership at the school level will facilitate the…

  3. The New Technology and Educational Reform: Guidelines for School Administrators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matthews, Mark; Karr-Kidwell, PJ

    This paper presents the results of a literature review on educational methodology reforms. The first section discusses five factors in broad-based school reforms: change theory; organizational theory; state/national politics; local politics/governance; and leadership theory. Five types of reforms for school-wide success are described in the second…

  4. Cost-Effectiveness of Comprehensive School Reform in Low Achieving Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ross, John A.; Scott, Garth; Sibbald, Tim M.

    2012-01-01

    We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of Struggling Schools, a user-generated approach to Comprehensive School Reform implemented in 100 low achieving schools serving disadvantaged students in a Canadian province. The results show that while Struggling Schools had a statistically significant positive effect on Grade 3 Reading achievement, d = 0.48…

  5. Neoliberalism and Corporate School Reform: "Failure" and "Creative Destruction"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saltman, Kenneth J.

    2014-01-01

    In the United States, corporate school reform or neoliberal educational restructuring has overtaken educational policy, practice, curriculum, and nearly all aspects of educational reform. Although this movement began on the political right, the corporate school model has been heralded across the political spectrum and is aggressively embraced now…

  6. Scaling up Education Reform: Addressing the Politics of Disparity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bishop, Russell; O'Sullivan, Dominic; Berryman, Mere

    2010-01-01

    What is school reform? What makes it sustainable? Who needs to be involved? How is scaling up achieved? This book is about the need for educational reforms that have built into them, from the outset, those elements that will see them sustained in the original sites and spread to others. Using the Te Kotahitanga Project as a model the authors…

  7. Two Roads to School Finance Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berke, Joel S.; And Others

    1976-01-01

    Research on legislative and electoral consideration of school finance reforms identifies three important elements; the art of compromise, the fiscal context, and political leadership. Adoption of new school finance formulas is far more likely through the legislative process than through a referendum. (Author/AM)

  8. Perspectives on High School Reform. NCREL Viewpoints, Volume 13

    Science.gov (United States)

    Learning Point Associates / North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL), 2005

    2005-01-01

    Viewpoints is a multimedia package containing two audio CDs and a brief, informative booklet. This volume of Viewpoints focuses on issues related to high school reform. This booklet offers background information explaining the issues surrounding high school reform with perspectives from research, policy, and practice. It also provides a list of…

  9. School-Based Management: The Next Needed Education Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guthrie, James W.

    1986-01-01

    Recommends the implementation of school-based management systems as one way to meet government demands for educational reform. Describes the functions of principals, school advisory councils, school-site budgeting and accounting, and annual planning and performance reports in successful school-based management systems. Presents examples of…

  10. Factors affecting sustainability of land reform projects in Ehlanzeni ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The study evaluated factors affecting sustainability of land reform projects in Mpumalanga Province in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality (BLM) of Ehlanzeni District. The study was conducted between July and September 2014. A random sampling technique was used in selecting 31 key informants from the projects.

  11. Analysis of curricular reform practices at Chinese medical schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Lei; Cai, Qiaoling; Cheng, Liming; Kosik, Russell; Mandell, Greg; Wang, Shuu-Jiun; Xu, Guo-Tong; Fan, Angela P

    2014-01-01

    A comprehensive search of the literature published between 2001 and 2010 was performed to gain a greater understanding of curricular reform practices at Chinese medical schools. There were 10,948 studies published between 2001 and 2010 that were retrieved from the database. Following preliminary screening, 76 publications from 49 different medical schools were selected. Thirty-one publications regarding clinical medicine curricular reforms were analyzed further. Of the 76 studies, 53 described curricular reforms that were instituted in theoretical courses, 22 described curricular reforms that were instituted in experimental courses, and 1 described curricular reforms that were instituted in a clinical skills training course. Of the 31 clinical medicine publications, 2 described reforms that were implemented for 3-year program medical students, 12 described reforms that were implemented for 5-year program medical students, 6 described reforms that were implemented for 7-year program medical students, and 2 described reforms that were implemented for 8-year program medical students. Currently, the majority of medical schools in China use the discipline-based curriculum model. Thirteen studies described transition to an organ-system-based curriculum model, 1 study described transition to a problem-based curriculum model, and 3 studies described transition to a clinical presentation-based curriculum model. In 7 studies educators decided to retain the discipline-based curriculum model while integrating 1 or several new courses to remedy the weaker aspects of the traditional curriculum, in 7 studies educators decided to integrate the preclinical courses with the clinical courses by using the systemic-integrating curricular system that dilutes classical disciplines and integrates material based on organ systems, and in 2 studies educators limited reforms to clinical courses only. Eight studies discussed the implementation of a formative evaluation system, 4 studies

  12. Teacher Identity and Reform: Intersections within School Culture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bower, Heather Ann; Parsons, Eileen R. Carlton

    2016-01-01

    In the era of school accountability, school reform programs aimed at shifting school culture are often implemented in an attempt to increase student achievement as measured by standardized test scores. This ethnographic case study was conducted in Hawk Elementary, a low-performing, high-poverty school. Quantitative and qualitative data collected…

  13. Inside the Black Box of School Reform: Explaining the How and Why of Change at "Getting Results" Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDougall, Dennis; Saunders, William M.; Goldenberg, Claude

    2007-01-01

    This article reports key findings from a process-focused external evaluation that compared a subset of "Getting Results" project schools and comparison schools in order to understand the dynamics of school-wide reform efforts at these primary schools. Findings shed light on the "black box" of school reform and illuminate the…

  14. Leading for Urban School Reform and Community Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Terrance L.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: Improving urban schools of color and the communities where they are located requires leadership that spans school and community boundaries. The purpose of this study is to understand how principal and community leader actions support urban school reform along with community development at two community schools in the urban Midwest and…

  15. Food sustainability education as a route to healthier eating: evaluation of a multi-component school programme in English primary schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, M; Dailami, N; Weitkamp, E; Salmon, D; Kimberlee, R; Morley, A; Orme, J

    2012-06-01

    Promising approaches to the promotion of healthier eating among children in primary school settings include the opportunity to practise practical cooking and growing, promoting the take up of healthier school meals and nutritional education. However, less is known about the potential for strategies that integrate approaches through a focus on food sustainability issues--such as the promotion of awareness about local, seasonal, organic, fair trade and higher animal welfare foods. This paper presents an evaluation of the Food for Life Partnership, a multi-component programme that sought to address both the health and sustainability aspects of food. The study consisted of a two-stage cross-sectional survey of Years 5 and 6 students (ages 9-11) in 30 primary schools at enrolment and after 18-24 months, combined with an analysis of programme delivery. Higher self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption in the second stage survey was associated with a range of indicators of school participation in the programme. These included the reform of school meal procurement and preparation; experiential food growing, cooking and farm-based education and improved opportunities for stakeholder engagement. The study therefore develops a case for multilevel programmes that incorporate sustainability issues alongside experiential food education in primary school settings.

  16. Leading Inclusive Reform for Students with Disabilities: A School- and Systemwide Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theoharis, George; Causton, Julie

    2014-01-01

    It is of great importance to maximize access to general education for all students with disabilities. This article focuses on how leaders create inclusive schools for all students--inclusive school reform. Inclusive school reform can result in all students with disabilities being placed into general education settings (including students with…

  17. Parents' Participation and Chicago School Reform: Issues of Race, Class and Expectations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rollow, Sharon G.; Bennett, Michael

    Most studies of the early implementation of Chicago (Illinois) school reform have focused on the creation and early functioning of the Local School Councils (LSCs). This study is concerned with understanding the resources that different school communities have to embrace the LSC reform, the time frame needed to promote educational change, and the…

  18. Mentorship a key success factor in sustainable Land Reform ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The Land Reform Program is a priority program in South Africa to redress the matter of land ownership. However the number of failures of projects implemented is alarmingly high and the majority of projects are not sustainable. Some popular articles and reports however indicated successes and the positive role that the ...

  19. Radical Social Democracy and School Reform in Wilhelmian Germany

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olson, James M.

    1977-01-01

    The article describes how the German Social Democratic Party promoted educational reform in Germany before World War I. It demanded state support for a secularized school program, suggested curricular reforms to instill socialist values, and promoted adult education and socialist training in the home. (AV)

  20. Irrational Exuberance for Market-Based Reform: How Federal Turnaround Policies Thwart Democratic Schooling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trujillo, Tina; Renée, Michelle

    2015-01-01

    Background: In 2009, the Obama Administration announced its intention to rapidly "turn around" 5,000 of the nation's lowest-performing schools. To do so, it relied on the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program to provide temporary funding for states and schools, and to mandate drastic, school-level reforms. Most of these reforms require…

  1. The Influence of News Framing on Support for Charter School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feuerstein, Abe

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the influence of media framing on attitudes toward charter school reform. Participants in an Internet-based experiment were presented, at random, with one of three manipulated news articles framing charter school reform as (a) supportive of values such as freedom, choice, and innovation; (b) conflicting with values such as…

  2. It's Our School Too: Youth Activism as Educational Reform, 1951-1979

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ajunwa, Kelechi

    2011-01-01

    Activism has the potential for reform (Howard, 1976). Unlike previous studies on high school activism this study places a primary focus on underground newspapers and argues that underground newspapers allowed high school students to function as activists as well as educational reformers. In order to make this argument, this study examined over 150…

  3. Creating a Comprehensive School Reform Model: The Talent Development High School with Career Academies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordan, Will J.; McPartland, James M.; Legters, Nettie E.; Balfanz, Robert

    2000-01-01

    Discusses the need for comprehensive reforms in school organization, curriculum and instruction, and professional development to address the problems of large urban high schools. Describes the Talent Development High School with Career Academies model being developed to meet the needs of such schools. (SLD)

  4. Arab Parents' Involvement in School Reform in Israel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arar, Khalid; Abu-Asbah, Khaled; Nasra, Muhammed Abu

    2014-01-01

    Current research indicates that parental involvement positively influences children's academic success. This study investigates parental involvement in the Arab education system in Israel, highlighting involvement in the New Horizon reform. We interviewed school principals and parent committee chairpersons from 15 Arab schools. The study confirmed…

  5. The golden 45 minutes – School Reforms and Physical Activity in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Johansen, Danielle Louise Nørager; Skovgaard, Thomas; Runge Larsen, Lisbeth

    Introduction: In August 2014 the biggest reshaping of primary schools in forty years was implemented in Denmark. From the very early stages of the reform process, there was broad agreement among key stakeholders that children and young people should be more physically active during the school day....... Therefore, it is part of the reform program that physical activity (PA) form part of the syllabus for all year groups at primary schools corresponding on average to 45 minutes per day. Methods: The reform states, that the 45 minutes of daily, school-based PA must serve a pedagogical purpose – e.g. including...... to implement PA as part of the school day: How to include brain breaks in formal teaching sessions, making recess more active and using the physical school environment to promote PA are some of the initiatives currently in play in Denmark. Results: Available data indicates that Danish schools have acted...

  6. Intersections between School Reform, the Arts, and Special Education: The Children Left Behind

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hourigan, Ryan M.

    2014-01-01

    Arts education and special education within public schools have faced similar challenges in the wake of school reform. Services and programming have been reduced, leaving a larger gap in resources and accessibility. Because of loopholes in policy, new reform initiatives such as vouchers and charter schools will continue to marginalize students…

  7. Comprehensive School Reform and Standardized Test Scores in Illinois Elementary and Middle Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    McEnroe, James D.

    2010-01-01

    The study examined the effects of the federally funded Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program on student performance on mandated standardized tests. The study focused on the mathematics and reading scores of Illinois public elementary and middle and junior high school students. The federal CSR program provided Illinois schools with an annual…

  8. Education for Sustainable Development in Malaysia's National Curriculum Reformation: A Theoretical Exploration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aai Sheau Yean

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to examine the feasibility and potential of including appropriate Education for Sustainable Development (ESD elements in the National Curriculum Reformation of Malaysia that is set to be introduced in the year 2017. This is done through the proposal of a theoretical approach for understanding ESD fit for Malaysia from an environmental epistemology. To start with, this article outlines dominant ideologies and epistemologies revolving around the concept of Sustainable Development (SD and focuses on critiquing the underlying anthropocentric tendencies found within. Drawing principally from the ideas of Schumacher (1973, Orr (2004, and Sterling (1992, the article then sets out to examine the ideologies and epistemologies needed to support education reformation that are more environmentally sensitive in nature.

  9. Educational Management Organizations as High Reliability Organizations: A Study of Victory's Philadelphia High School Reform Work

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, David E.

    2013-01-01

    This executive position paper proposes recommendations for designing reform models between public and private sectors dedicated to improving school reform work in low performing urban high schools. It reviews scholarly research about for-profit educational management organizations, high reliability organizations, American high school reform, and…

  10. Advances in Schoolwide Inclusive School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sailor, Wayne

    2015-01-01

    This article highlights three significant advances in schoolwide inclusive school reform and suggests three next steps to improve educational outcomes for "all" students, particularly for students for whom typical instruction is not effective. Significant advances are as follows: (a) a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) with embedded…

  11. Putting "The System" into a School Autonomy Reform: The Case of the Independent Public Schools Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gobby, Brad

    2016-01-01

    The Australian Federal and state governments have been introducing neoliberal reforms to the governance of their education systems for a number of decades. One of the most recent programs of reform is the Western Australian Independent Public Schools (IPS) initiative. Similar to decentralizing reforms around the world, the IPS program seeks…

  12. A Broader and Bolder Approach to School Reform: Expanded Partnership Roles for School Counselors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steen, Sam; Noguera, Pedro A.

    2010-01-01

    This article describes a broader, bolder approach to education reform aimed at addressing the social and economic disadvantages that hinder student achievement. Central principles of this approach to reform include the provision of supports such as early childhood and preschool programs, after-school and summer enrichment programs, parent…

  13. Schooling Reforms in England: From Quasi-Markets to Co-Opetition?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adnett, Nick; Davies, Peter

    2003-01-01

    Economic analysis of the impact of recent schooling reforms in England designed to promote competition or cooperation between schools. Outlines the theoretical relationships between school competition and cooperation and school effectiveness. Briefly describes the development of policy in England and analyzes the interaction between the incentives…

  14. School Sector and Student Achievement in the Era of Standards Based Reforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carbonaro, William; Covay, Elizabeth

    2010-01-01

    The authors examine whether standards based accountability reforms of the past two decades have closed the achievement gap among public and private high school students. They analyzed data from the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS) to examine sector differences in high school achievement in the era of standards based reforms. The authors found…

  15. Comprehensive School Reform with a Focus on Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zyburt, Gina M.

    2010-01-01

    Within the past years of Comprehensive School Reform (CSR), educators have begun to be innovative and employ strategies to support teaching and learning by incorporating high standards and inspiring high performance. Unfortunately, student achievement is not increasing and the achievement gap is continuing to widen. The next step for schools is to…

  16. "Turnaround" as Shock Therapy: Race, Neoliberalism, and School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Amanda Walker

    2013-01-01

    "Turnaround" strategies of educational reform promise that school closure, reconstitution, privatizing, and reopening them will bring miraculous results. Questioning the implications, this article situates "turnaround" strategies locally, following the closure of a predominantly minority high school in 2008, in Austin, Texas.…

  17. Statistical Reform in School Psychology Research: A Synthesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swaminathan, Hariharan; Rogers, H. Jane

    2007-01-01

    Statistical reform in school psychology research is discussed in terms of research designs, measurement issues, statistical modeling and analysis procedures, interpretation and reporting of statistical results, and finally statistics education.

  18. Jump-Starting Educational Reform. Implementing British Columbia's Comprehensive School Act.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldman, Paul

    An educational reform effort to implement a comprehensive school act in British Columbia (Canada) is analyzed with a focus on some sociotechnical and political aspects. An overview of the content, background, and implementation of the reform effort is followed by identification of seven contradictions inherent in the plan. Contradictions are as…

  19. Leading Sustainability in Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carr, Katie

    2016-01-01

    What is the role of schools, and more specifically school leadership, in the transition to a sustainable future for humankind? What different forms of leadership are needed to enable this role? The challenges are huge and complex and for those of us engaged in promoting sustainability learning, it is clear that the issue has never been more…

  20. Use of clickers and sustainable reform in upper-division physics courses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubson, Michael

    2008-03-01

    At the University of Colorado at Boulder, successful reforms of our freshmen and sophomore-level physics courses are now being extended to upper-division courses, including Mechanics, Math Methods, QM, E&M, and Thermal Physics. Our course reforms include clicker questions (ConcepTests) in lecture, peer instruction, and an added emphasis on conceptual understanding and qualitative reasoning on homework assignments and exams. Student feedback has been strongly positive, and I will argue that such conceptual training improves rather than dilutes, traditional, computationally-intensive problem-solving skills. In order for these reforms to be sustainable, reform efforts must begin with department-wide consensus and agreed-upon measures of success. I will discuss the design of good clicker questions and effective incorporation into upper-level courses, including examples from materials science. Condensed matter physics, which by nature involve intelligent use of approximation, particularly lends itself to conceptual training. I will demonstrate the use of a clicker system (made by iClicker) with audience-participation questions. Come prepared to think and interact, rather than just sit there!

  1. Democratic School Leadership Reforms in Kenya: Cultural and Historical Challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jwan, Julius; Anderson, Lesley; Bennett, Nigel

    2010-01-01

    In this article we discuss students', teachers' and school principals' perceptions of democratic school leadership reforms in Kenya. The article is based on a study that was conducted in two phases. In phase one (conducted between September and December 2007), interviews were undertaken with 12 school principals in which understandings of…

  2. New York City's Children First: Lessons in School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelleher, Maureen

    2014-01-01

    Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City's education system embarked on a massive change effort, known as Children First, that produced significant results: new and better school options for families, more college-ready graduates, and renewed public confidence in New York City's schools. New York City's reform effort has also produced…

  3. How to Develop Sustainable Public Administration Reforms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liviu RADU

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Public administration reform and reform in general is a never ending story. The human so-cieties are evolving and so do their needs. Pub-lic administration has to keep the pace with the changes that are taking place in society. Specifc issues like ageing of the population and the mi-gration from small to larger communities, or from poor to wealthy regions are placing supplemen-tary burdens on modern administrative systems for decades. The economic crisis that started in 2008 made administrative matters even more complicated. Functional economies and consol-idated democracies proved to be vulnerable to what was considered by many as a market failure. The crisis and the responses of the governments around the world raised a number of questions related to the role that state and public authority in general should play in a modern democracy. The paper is briefy exploring the challenges that administrative systems from the new European Union member states and from the candidatestates were or are facing in their attempt to meet the requirements of the European Union mem-bership, and is proposing a challenging measure: the development of an acquis communautaire for the feld of public administration and consequent-ly the establishment of a correspondent structure inside the European Commission. The acquis communautaire will comprise of a minimum set of principles, widely accepted, that should rep-resent a ‘to do list’ for new member states that are having diffculties in promoting a sound and sustainable reform in public administration.

  4. Making Good Choices: Districts Take the Lead. Comprehensive School Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    North Central Regional Educational Lab., Oak Brook, IL.

    Public schools across the country are aiming to improve student performance by engaging in comprehensive school reform (CSR). This guide was created to help school districts make CSR an integral part of their strategies for improving student achievement. Five components for CSR are described: (1) Strategizing, whereby the district supports CSR by…

  5. Fast Capitalism, School Reform, and Second Language Literacy Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gebhard, Meg

    2004-01-01

    This 2-year qualitative study explores the ironies of educational reform in the United States as experienced by three second language learners attending a school attempting to transform itself into a high-performance elementary school in California's Silicon Valley. Drawing on the concept of fast capitalism in a globalized economic work order…

  6. Improving Public Education through Comprehensive School Reform: An Issue Brief from the International Reading Association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    International Reading Association, Newark, DE.

    The Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program is a new initiative that could affect International Reading Association members in the United States--but will benefit only those who take advantage of it. The purpose of the CSR initiative is to provide financial incentives for schools to develop comprehensive school reforms. Funding is available to…

  7. California teachers' perceptions of standards-based reform in middle school science: A mixed-methods study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leggett, Allison Gail Wilson

    The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 presented one of the most significant and comprehensive literacy reforms in many years (McDonnell, 2005; U.S. Department of Education, 2006). The era of school accountability and standards based reform has brought many challenges and changes to public schools. Increasingly, public officials and educational administrators are asked to use standards based assessments to make high-stakes decisions, such as whether a student will move on to the next grade level or receive a diploma (American Psychological Association, 2005). It is important to understand any shifts in teachers' perceptions and to identify the changes teachers are making as they implement standards-based reform. This mixed-methods study was designed to assess teachers' perceptions of changes related to standards-based reform as supported by Fullan's (2001) change theory and transformational leadership theory. Survey questions sought to identify teacher perceptions of changes in curriculum, instruction and daily practice as schools documented and incorporated standards-based reform and began focusing on preparing students for the California Standards Test in Science (CSTS). Using descriptive statistical analysis and in-depth interviews, results show favorable insight towards standards-based reform. The survey was distributed to 30 middle school science teachers from 10 low-performing schools in Los Angeles, California. Results were analyzed using Spearman rank-ordered correlations. Interviews were conducted on middle school teachers represented by each grade level. Teachers who receive more support from administrators have more positive attitudes toward all aspects of SBR and the CSTS as measured in this study. No school should overlook the potential of a supportive administration in its effort to improve school programs.

  8. Comprehensive Reform for Urban High Schools: A Talent Development Approach. Sociology of Education Series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Legters, Nettie E.; Balfanz, Robert; Jordan, Will J.; McPartland, James M.

    This book offers an alternative to current reform efforts, the talent development approach, detailing organizational, curricular, and instructional strategies that provide practitioners with a blueprint for whole school reform. The book presents the story of what happened in urban high schools when this approach was implemented. There are eight…

  9. Cutting through the Hype: The Essential Guide to School Reform. Revised, Expanded, and Updated Edition

    Science.gov (United States)

    David, Jane L.; Cuban, Larry

    2010-01-01

    "Cutting Through the Hype: The Essential Guide to School Reform" is a revised, expanded, and updated version of the classic work by Jane L. David and Larry Cuban. It offers balanced analyses of 23 currently popular school reform strategies, from teacher performance pay and putting mayors in charge to turnaround schools and data-driven instruction.…

  10. Standards, Accountability, and School Reform: Perils and Pitfalls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheldon, Kennon M.; Biddle, Bruce J.

    1998-01-01

    Examines current debates about educational standards, accountability, and school reform from the perspective of Deci and Ryan's Self-Determination Theory. Research reveals various perils associated with rigid standards, narrow accountability, and tangible sanctions that can debase student and teacher motivation and performance. Alternative…

  11. Deciding Who Decides Questions at the Intersection of School Finance Reform Litigation and Standards-Based Accountability Policies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Superfine, Benjamin Michael

    2009-01-01

    Courts hearing school finance reform cases have recently begun to consider several issues related to standards-based accountability policies. This convergence of school finance reform litigation and standards-based accountability policies represents a chance for the courts to reallocate decision-making authority for each type of reform across the…

  12. The Need for District Support for School Reform: What the Researchers Say. Research Brief.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Appelbaum, Deborah

    This article focuses on the school district's role in implementing Comprehensive School Reform (CSR). Research shows that effective district support for CSR varies from district to district. This is due, in part, to the fact that many prior models bypassed the district, operating under the belief that reform would be more effective if it targeted…

  13. Education Inputs, Student Performance and School Finance Reform in Michigan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaudhary, Latika

    2009-01-01

    This paper estimates the impact of the Michigan school finance reform, "Proposal A," on education inputs and test scores. Using a difference-in-difference estimation strategy, I find that school districts in Michigan used the increase in educational spending generated through "Proposal A" to increase teacher salaries and reduce…

  14. Leadership practices and inclusive education reform in primary schools in Bangladesh

    OpenAIRE

    Mullick, Jahirul

    2017-01-01

    This study was undertaken to investigate leadership practices for Inclusive Education (IE) reform in primary schools in Bangladesh. Specifically, the study investigated leadership practice structures, views of school leaders about the accountability approach in primary schools, school leaders’ opinions on challenges to implementing IE and possible strategies to address the identified challenges. The study also explored the relationships between school variables, teachers’ demographic variabl...

  15. Converging Paths or Ships Passing in the Night? An "English" Critique of Japanese School Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Andy

    2000-01-01

    Examines origins and potential effects of liberalizing reforms in Japanese secondary education in light of British experiences with policies such as local school management and school choice. Argues that Japanese reform involves necessary diversification of curriculum and pedagogic practices, but administrative shifts toward deregulation and…

  16. School Stakeholders' Experience with Navigating ICT Policy Reforms in Singapore

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reyes, Vicente Chua, Jr.; Kheng, Catherine Chua Siew

    2015-01-01

    Using qualitative research inquiry methods, this inquiry attempts to explore how school stakeholders cope with incessant and seemingly endless transformations in schools. The central phenomenon to be studied focuses on how school stakeholders "make sense" of educational reform. In order to do this, an exploratory case study of two target…

  17. Using symbolic interactionism to analyze a specialized STEM high school teacher's experience in curriculum reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teo, Tang Wee; Osborne, Margery

    2012-09-01

    In this paper, we present a microanalysis of a specialized STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) high school teacher's experience of self-initiated science inquiry curriculum reform. We examine the meanings of these two constructs: inquiry curriculum and curriculum change through the process lens of interactions, actions, and interpretations. Symbolic interactionism is the theoretical framework we used to frame our analysis of how this teacher, Darren Daley (a pseudonym) and various stakeholders purposefully and strategically engaged in "face-work" and act out lines of actions to advocate or oppose curriculum change. Symbols are used in this world of face-to-face encounters to communicate, imply, and assert, meanings through socially flexible and adjustable processes. We scrutinize how Daley (un)consciously engaged all of these to defend his decisions, actions, and outcomes and "look" to others as doing inquiry reform. The meanings of such work are not intrinsically driven or reactions to psychological and extraneous factors and forces, but emergent through interactions. The data collection methods include interviews with Daley, school administrators, students, and parents, lesson observations in Daley's class, and gathering of school website pages, brochures, and curriculum materials. We represent data in narratives describing storied history, voices, interactions, anecdotal accounts from individuals' experiences, and interpretations. The analysis and findings illuminate the nature of teacher agency—how it is reclaimed, sustained, reinforced, contested, exercised, and modified in more nuanced ways, hence offering an alternative lens to theorizing and empirically analyzing this construct.

  18. Equitable science education in urban middle schools: Do reform efforts make a difference?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hewson, Peter W.; Butler Kahle, Jane; Scantlebury, Kathryn; Davies, Darleen

    2001-12-01

    A central commitment of current reforms in science education is that all students, regardless of culture, gender, race, and/ or socioeconomic status, are capable of understanding and doing science. The study Bridging the Gap: Equity in Systemic Reform assessed equity in systemic reform using a nested research design that drew on both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. As part of the study, case studies were conducted in two urban middle schools in large Ohio cities. The purpose of the case studies was to identify factors affecting equity in urban science education reform. Data were analyzed using Kahle's (1998) equity metric. That model allowed us to assess progress toward equity using a range of research-based indicators grouped into three categories critical for equitable education: access to, retention in, and achievement in quality science education. In addition, a fourth category was defined for systemic indicators of equity. Analyses indicated that the culture and climate of the case study schools differentially affected their progress toward equitable reform in science education.

  19. High School Diversification against Educational Equality: A Critical Analysis of Neoliberal Education Reform in South Korea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Jeongran

    2011-01-01

    Recent reforms of high school education in Korea have focused on transforming the uniform and standardized system into a deregulated and diversified system that has an emphasis on school choice and competition. Situating the high school diversification policy in the context of the recent controversy of the neoliberal educational reform, this study…

  20. Implementing Marzano's Model: The Reality of Educational Leadership and School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keaveny, Stacy M.

    2013-01-01

    Federal and state guidelines for school reform dominate the landscape of public education. Florida and its school districts, as a Race to the Top state, are in the process of fully implementing a value-added model of teacher evaluation. Effective school leaders are calling upon the theoretical framework of transformational, visionary and…

  1. Reforming Preschools and Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duncan, Greg J; Magnuson, Katherine; Murnane, Richard J

    2016-04-01

    Compared with their higher-income counterparts, children growing up in low-income families in the United States typically complete less schooling, report worse health, and work and earn less in adulthood. Moreover, changes in the American economy over the last 40 years have raised the level of skills and qualifications that children need to obtain a good middle-class job, as well as making it much more difficult for children from low-income families to attend schools that support their learning of these skills. We first review strategies used in the past to improve K-12 schooling-including investing more money, introducing more accountability, and putting in place new governance structures (eg, charter schools)-and show why these strategies have been relatively ineffective. Drawing on the research literature and case studies, we then describe education reform strategies for prekindergarten programs and for elementary, middle, and high schools that may help meet these challenges. All of the initiatives described in our case studies provide ample opportunities for teachers and school leaders to improve their skills through coaching and other professional development activities; incorporate sensible systems of accountability, including requiring teachers to open their classrooms to the scrutiny of colleagues and school leaders and to work with their colleagues to improve their teaching practices; and incorporate high academic standards, such as those described in the Common Core State Standards. By focusing directly on improving teaching and promoting learning, these successful initiatives have boosted the achievement of low-income children. They show that it is indeed possible to make a real difference in the life chances of low-income children. Copyright © 2016 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. School Performance, Accountability and Waiver Reforms: Evidence from Louisiana. CEPA Working Paper No. 17-06

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dee, Thomas; Dizon-Ross, Elise

    2017-01-01

    States that received federal waivers to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act were required to implement reforms in designated "Focus Schools" that contribute to achievement gaps. In this study, we examine the performance effects of such "differentiated accountability" reforms in the state of Louisiana. The Focus School reforms…

  3. School Finance and Courts: Does Reform Matter, and How Can We Tell?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Bruce D.; Welner, Kevin G.

    2011-01-01

    Background/Context: School finance litigation has often prompted funding reforms, but what happens as a result is the subject of considerable dispute. Purpose: This article explores design problems encountered in studies examining the nature and effects of those reforms. Analysis: After describing the development and current status of school…

  4. Negotiating Tensions: Grassroots Organizing, School Reform, and the Paradox of Neoliberal Democracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nygreen, Kysa

    2017-01-01

    Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork at a community-based organization (CBO) engaged in parent organizing for urban school reform, this paper examines how organizers engaged with the imperatives of neoliberal reform and the broader neoliberal policy context. It highlights organizers' agency but also shows how hegemonic discourse constrained their…

  5. Sustainable Administrative Reform Movements Policy in Joko Widodo's Administration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yogi Suprayogi Sugandi

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Joko Widodo (Jokowi is a leader that is widely expected to transform Indonesia into a better country. Hopes and wishes were rising when he was elected as the president of Indonesia. This paper will describe various innovations undertaken before and after his presidential inauguration as well as the assorted innovations made in reforming the administration of his cabinet. As the president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo is required to realize the aspirations of the people in freeing the government from corruption, collusion, and nepotism. The management of ministerial and non-ministerial institutions becomes the very first crucial issue undertaken by Joko Widodo. This led to a polemic in regards to reducing or increasing the number of institutions, as the Jokowi administration actually increased the amount. In Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration, several policies were made systematically and based on legislations that had been approved by the lagislature. Joko Widodo's administration in more partial in nature. The administrative reform program that is highly anticipated is the continuation of the Public Service Act. This law is a step forward from the administrative reform program that aims at the creation of good governance. Changes is career path, salary system, pension and benefits for civil servants, performance-based staffing are various efforts of sustainability carried out by Joko Widodo's administration.

  6. Multisite Case Study of Florida's Millennium High School Reform Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carol A. Mullen

    2002-10-01

    Full Text Available This study should have immediate utility for the United States and beyond its borders. School-to-work approaches to comprehensive reform are increasingly expected of schools while legislative funding for this purpose gets pulled back. This multisite case study launches the first analysis of the New Millennium High School (NMHS model in Florida. This improvement program relies upon exemplary leadership for preparing students for postsecondary education

  7. School Reform and the Emotional Demands of Principals: Lorna's Story

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mills, Martin; Niesche, Richard

    2014-01-01

    The issue of emotions in school leadership is one that has received increasing attention in recent years. In this paper we present a case study of the emotional demands upon one principal as she undertakes a programme of school reform. This case study works against the common discourse of "emotional maturity" inherent in an individual…

  8. Sustained School Improvement: A Case of How School Leaders ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Sustained School Improvement: A Case of How School Leaders Strategise for School Improvement in Zimbabwean Primary Schools. ... Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL · Advanced Search ...

  9. Toward an Understanding of How Teachers Change during School Reform: Considerations for Educational Leadership and School Improvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaniuka, Theodore Stefan

    2012-01-01

    As the concept of distributed leadership and its concomitant organizational structures become more prevalent in schools, studying how teacher capacity can be enhanced and can be used as a catalyst for reform is important. This article documents the nature of how the implementation of a research-validated reform influenced what teachers thought…

  10. Creating a Learning Environment to Promote Food Sustainability Issues in Primary Schools? Staff Perceptions of Implementing the Food for Life Partnership Programme

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Judy Orme

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available There is increasing interest in the role that schools can play in promoting education for sustainable development (ESD, and evidence is emerging that schools can be influential in the emerging agenda around the ecological, ethical and social aspects of food, diet and nutrition. With regard to such food sustainability issues, this paper analyses the role of the Food for Life Partnership national programme in supporting garden and farm-based learning activities in 55 primary schools in England, UK. Using a mixed methods approach, the study examined the programme’s implementation through staff perceptions and a range of school change indicators. The study found that the programme delivery was associated with widespread institutional reforms. According to staff, implementation of the programme provided a range of opportunities for pupils to learn about food production and sustainability, but addressing these issues was challenging for teachers and raised a number of questions concerned with effective, equitable and on-going implementation. At a pedagogical level, teachers also reflected on conceptually challenging aspects of food sustainability as a topic for primary school education. The study identified ways that ESD programmes could support schools to think about and implement learning opportunities as well as identifying significant barriers related to resourcing such programmes.

  11. Educating for Freedom and Responsibility: Lessons From the First Amendment Schools Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Cynthia

    2016-01-01

    The First Amendment Schools project holds rich lessons in how to change school cultures into "laboratories of democracy"--as well as in how to increase the odds of success for any school reform effort. School reform programs of any sort need to make sure to build in sustainability, to provide ways to spread their lessons beyond the…

  12. Educational Partnership and the Dilemmas of School Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seeley, David

    Today's educational reform proposals are undermined by four dilemmas. First, the public may demand visible results before it will provide the funding needed to achieve them. Second, higher academic standards will increase failure rates, while more attainable standards will inadequately educate students. Third, the current focus on high schools may…

  13. Comprehensive School Reform and Achievement: A Meta-Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borman, Geoffrey D.; Hewes, Gina M.; Overman, Laura T.; Brown, Shelly

    2003-01-01

    This meta-analysis reviews research on the achievement effects of comprehensive school reform (CSR) and summarizes the specific effects of 29 widely implemented models. There are limitations on the overall quantity and quality of the research base, but the overall effects of CSR appear promising. The combined quantity, quality, and statistical…

  14. Rodriquez V. San Antonio Independent School District: Gathering the Ayes of Texas--The Politics of School Finance Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yudof, Mark G.; Morgan, Daniel C.

    1974-01-01

    An historical account is given of movements toward educational finance reform in Texas, culminating in the Rodriquez v. San Antonio Independent School District case and its aftermath. The role of political pressures applied by various interest groups is traced and the prospects for future reform assessed. (EH)

  15. Achieving and Sustaining Universal Health Coverage: Fiscal Reform of the National Health Insurance in Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lan, Jesse Yu-Chen

    2017-12-01

    The paper discusses the expansion of the universal health coverage (UHC) in Taiwan through the establishment of National Health Insurance (NHI), and the fiscal crisis it caused. Two key questions are addressed: How did the NHI gradually achieve universal coverage, and yet cause Taiwanese health spending to escalate to fiscal crisis? What measures have been taken to reform the NHI finance and achieve moderate success to date? The main argument of this paper is that the Taiwanese Government did try to implement various reforms to save costs and had moderate success, but the path-dependent process of reform does not allow increasing contribution rates significantly and thereby makes sustainability challenging.

  16. Profiling Sustainability Curriculum in AACSB Schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mukesh Srivastava

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available This article describes the landscape of Sustainability Curriculum being used across the Association of Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB–accredited schools in the United States on the basis of a non-probabilistic sample (n = 119. Using hierarchical cluster analysis, four clusters were obtained based on sustainability-related courses in management, marketing, entrepreneurship, finance, accounting, information systems/information technology, strategy, globalization, communication, and miscellaneous. Cluster 1 had uniform dispersion on sustainability courses in all business courses except marketing. Clusters 2 and 4 were the largest ones with most sustainability courses in the management area, whereas, Cluster 3 had weak, but uniform, dispersion of sustainability courses in most business disciplines. Based on their characteristics and strength of dispersion among 10 business subject areas, these were labeled as Sustainability Prominent, Sustainability Moderate, Sustainability Meek, and Sustainability Quiescent.

  17. Turnaround, Transformational, or Transactional Leadership: An Ethical Dilemma in School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mette, Ian M.; Scribner, Jay P.

    2014-01-01

    This case was written for school leaders, specifically building-level principals and central office administrators attempting to implement school turnaround reform efforts. Often, leaders who embark on this type of organizational change work in intense environments that produce high levels of pressure to demonstrate improvement in student…

  18. Place Matters: Mathematics Education Reform in Urban Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rousseau Anderson, Celia

    2014-01-01

    While mathematics education research has often focused at the level of the classroom (Rousseau Anderson & Tate, 2008), there are emerging calls for attention to shift from individual classrooms to consider the process of reform at the school or district level. Investigating the role of the institution and conditions of the organization becomes…

  19. Changing by Design: A Comprehensive Approach to School Reform. [Booklet with Audiotapes].

    Science.gov (United States)

    North Central Regional Educational Lab., Oak Brook, IL.

    Comprehensive school reform (CSR) focuses on reorganizing and revitalizing entire schools, rather than on implementing individual programs. The idea behind CSR is that schools cannot educate all students to high levels unless all the education system's components work together toward a common goal. Choosing a CSR model can be difficult and…

  20. Sustainability in School Building Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Ece ŞAHİN

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable construction is important for the continuation of life in a healthy world for futuregenerations; many issues affecting the quality of life such as effective use of resources, take advantage ofrenewable energy, the choice of recyclable materials that do not harm the environment and waterconservation are considered in the context of sustainable design. Implementations carried out in thisframework are regarded as valuable due to providing the consciousness of sustainability to the society.Creating the awareness of sustainability is given a great importance by educators; thus, “education forsustainability” are included from the preschool program so that children can learn the gainings of suchperspective in their early ages. In support of this concept, it is believed that education structures should bea laboratory where children can practice theoretical knowledge learned at school. In that respect, studiesneed to be considered in the context of sustainable construction are studied in this research. In the study,after a description of the importance of sustainable design as a learning mean, significant subjects such asusing natural light, heating, cooling and air-conditioning methods, wind energy, water protection andmaterial selection are analyzed in terms of designing sustainable schools. It is criticized worldwide thatstructures ground on sustainable design principles are relatively few in numbers. Despite, there is anincreasing interest to the subject in Turkey later years; a lot more steps are required in terms ofimplementation and research of the issue. Thus, the purpose of the study is to provide a supplementaryreference for school designs.

  1. Curricular Reform in Schools: The Importance of Evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agrawal, Mamta

    2004-01-01

    Evaluation plays a pivotal role in deciding what the learners learn and what the teachers teach in schools. The paper reports a study of English-language teaching conducted in Delhi State of India that sought to examine the assumption that a change in an evaluation pattern can trigger curricular reform. Did concomitant changes take place in the…

  2. Learning Science and English: How School Reform Advances Scientific Learning for Limited English Proficient Middle School Students

    OpenAIRE

    Minicucci, Catherine

    1996-01-01

    This article presents findings from the School Reform and Student Diversity Study, a 4-year project to locate and analyze schools offering exemplary science and mathematics programs to middle school students with limited proficiency in English. In contrast to the vast majority of schools, the four schools described in this article give these students access to stimulating science and mathematics curricula by instructing them either in the students' primary language or in English using shelter...

  3. A Reformed CDM - including new mechanisms for sustainable development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Holm Olsen, K; Fenhann, J

    2009-07-01

    The annual CD4CDM Perspectives Series features a topic of pivotal importance to the global carbon market. The series seeks to communicate the diverse insights and visions of leading actors in the carbon market to better inform the decisions of professionals and policymakers in developing countries. The second theme of the series focuses on how the CDM can be reformed in a post-2012 climate regime, including new mechanism for sustainable development. Seventeen contributors from the private sector, Designated National Authorities, the Executive Board, research, and development agencies present their perspective on meeting challenges such as the unequal regional distribution of CDM projects, concerns about environmental integrity and technology transfer, complex governance procedures, and questions about the CDM's contribution to sustainable development. The new ideas and solutions to these challenges proposed by the authors in this edition of Perspectives have been solicited to help professionals and policy makers make the best decisions in the lead-up to COP 15 in Copenhagen and beyond. (au)

  4. A Reformed CDM - including new mechanisms for sustainable development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Holm Olsen, K.; Fenhann, J.

    2009-07-01

    The annual CD4CDM Perspectives Series features a topic of pivotal importance to the global carbon market. The series seeks to communicate the diverse insights and visions of leading actors in the carbon market to better inform the decisions of professionals and policymakers in developing countries. The second theme of the series focuses on how the CDM can be reformed in a post-2012 climate regime, including new mechanism for sustainable development. Seventeen contributors from the private sector, Designated National Authorities, the Executive Board, research, and development agencies present their perspective on meeting challenges such as the unequal regional distribution of CDM projects, concerns about environmental integrity and technology transfer, complex governance procedures, and questions about the CDM's contribution to sustainable development. The new ideas and solutions to these challenges proposed by the authors in this edition of Perspectives have been solicited to help professionals and policy makers make the best decisions in the lead-up to COP 15 in Copenhagen and beyond. (au)

  5. The Court versus Consent Decrees? Schools, "Horne v. Flores" and Judicial Strategies of Institutional Reform Litigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chilton, Bradley; Chwialkowski, Paul

    2014-01-01

    Is the U.S. Supreme Court inviting litigants to take aim at unraveling injunctions in institutional reform litigation--especially consent decrees in the schools? In "Horne v. Flores" (2009), the court remanded a 17-year-old school reform case to a federal judge with orders to look beyond consent decrees on financing, reducing class…

  6. Reforming Social Policy: Changing Perspectives on Sustainable ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Reforming Social Policy presents an overview of social policy reforms currently ... It shows how some experimental approaches to reform have worked in different ... and students in development studies and social sciences; policymakers and ...

  7. The New Basic Education and Whole School Reform: A Chinese Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bu, Yuhua; Li, Jiacheng

    2013-01-01

    Since the 1980s, China has entered an era of transformation which has extended its reach to education and school reforms. The "New Basic Education" (NBE) was born in this era and implemented by the East China Normal University together with schools around the country. NBE aims at nurturing the active, healthy development of a new…

  8. Barriers and Facilitators to Sustaining School Health Teams in Coordinated School Health Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheung, Karen; Lesesne, Catherine A; Rasberry, Catherine N; Kroupa, Elizabeth; Fisher, Deborah; Robin, Leah; Pitt Barnes, Seraphine

    2017-05-01

    Coordinated school health (CSH) programs address multiple factors related to students' overall health, thereby increasing their physical and mental readiness to learn. A formative evaluation of three school districts in 2010-2011 examined strategies for sustaining the school health teams (SHTs) that lead CSH efforts. Qualitative data from 39 interviews and 13 focus groups revealed facilitators and barriers for sustaining SHTs. Quantitative data from 68 questionnaires completed by SHT members and school principals examined factors associated with having more active SHTs and district and school characteristics SHT members believed to be important to their schools' efforts to implement CSH. Facilitators of sustaining SHTs included administrative support, staff engagement in the SHT, and shared goals and responsibility. Barriers to sustaining SHTs included limited time and competing priorities, budget and funding constraints, and staff turnover. Findings provide valuable insight into challenges and potential solutions for improving the sustainability of SHTs to enable them to better support CSH efforts.

  9. Sustaining inquiry-based teaching methods in the middle school science classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Amy Fowler

    This dissertation used a combination of case study and phenomenological research methods to investigate how individual teachers of middle school science in the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) program sustain their use of inquiry-based methods of teaching and learning. While the overall context for the cases was the AMSTI program, each of the four teacher participants in this study had a unique, individual context as well. The researcher collected data through a series of interviews, multiple-day observations, and curricular materials. The interview data was analyzed to develop a textural, structural, and composite description of the phenomenon. The Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) was used along with the Assesing Inquiry Potential (AIP) questionnaire to determine the level of inquiry-based instruction occuring in the participants classrooms. Analysis of the RTOP data and AIP data indicated all of the participants utilized inquiry-based methods in their classrooms during their observed lessons. The AIP data also indicated the level of inquiry in the AMSTI curricular materials utilized by the participants during the observations was structured inquiry. The findings from the interview data suggested the ability of the participants to sustain their use of structured inquiry was influenced by their experiences with, beliefs about, and understandings of inquiry. This study contributed to the literature by supporting existing studies regarding the influence of teachers' experiences, beliefs, and understandings of inquiry on their classroom practices. The inquiry approach stressed in current reforms in science education targets content knowledge, skills, and processes needed in a future scientifically literate citizenry.

  10. Sustainability and public health nutrition at school: assessing the integration of healthy and environmentally sustainable food initiatives in Vancouver schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, Jennifer L; Velazquez, Cayley E; Ahmadi, Naseam; Chapman, Gwen E; Carten, Sarah; Edward, Joshua; Shulhan, Stephanie; Stephens, Teya; Rojas, Alejandro

    2015-09-01

    To describe the development and application of the School Food Environment Assessment Tools and a novel scoring system to assess the integration of healthy and environmentally sustainable food initiatives in elementary and secondary schools. The cross-sectional study included direct observations of physical food environments and interviews with key school personnel regarding food-related programmes and policies. A five-point scoring system was then developed to assess actions across six domains: (i) food gardens; (ii) composting systems; (iii) food preparation activities; (iv) food-related teaching and learning activities; and availability of (v) healthy food; and (vi) environmentally sustainable food. Vancouver, Canada. A purposive sample of public schools (n 33) from all six sectors of the Vancouver Board of Education. Schools scored highest in the areas of food garden and compost system development and use. Regular integration of food-related teaching and learning activities and hands-on food preparation experiences were also commonly reported. Most schools demonstrated rudimentary efforts to make healthy and environmentally sustainable food choices available, but in general scored lowest on these two domains. Moreover, no schools reported widespread initiatives fully supporting availability or integration of healthy or environmentally sustainable foods across campus. More work is needed in all areas to fully integrate programmes and policies that support healthy, environmentally sustainable food systems in Vancouver schools. The assessment tools and proposed indicators offer a practical approach for researchers, policy makers and school stakeholders to assess school food system environments, identify priority areas for intervention and track relevant changes over time.

  11. Bridges, Tunnels, and School Reform: It's the System, Stupid

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Thomas F.

    2007-01-01

    After almost three decades of school reform, student achievement nationally is about where it was when it started, and student behavior has declined dramatically. Numbers of dropouts, especially in cities and among the poor and minorities, have gotten much higher. Yet many billions of dollars have been spent; countless professionals have carried…

  12. Sustainable Environmental Management Indicators in South African Primary Schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luiza O. de Sousa

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This research explores sustainable environmental management indicators in South African primary schools. Of key interest is the comparison of a township, farm and urban primary school that identify indicators that promote education for sustainable development in schools that implement an environmental management system. Data are drawn from one-on-one interviews, focus group interviews, observations and document analysis from 35 participants in three schools. A comparison of the three schools was done by content and thematic analysis of a within-case analysis. Data from the township school revealed that socioeconomic factors and organisational structure promote education for sustainable development. The farm school data revealed that health promotion can be managed within an environmental management system within a hierarchical school structure. The urban school data revealed that an economic inducement brings a school to realise that it can reduce its carbon footprint, gain financially and utilize its resources with innovation. A case is made that the four pillars of sustainable development (environment, society, economy, and governance endorse education for sustainable development. Furthermore, the objectives of environmental education ought to remain nested in an environmental management system to ensure that the global goal of quality education is achieved.

  13. Sustainability of outdoor school ground smoking bans at secondary schools: a mixed-method study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rozema, A D; Mathijssen, J J P; Jansen, M W J; van Oers, J A M

    2018-02-01

    Although increasing numbers of countries are implementing outdoor school ground smoking bans at secondary schools, less attention is paid to the post-implementation period even though sustainability of a policy is essential for long-term effectiveness. Therefore, this study assesses the level of sustainability and examines perceived barriers/facilitators related to the sustainability of an outdoor school ground smoking ban at secondary schools. A mixed-method design was used with a sequential explanatory approach. In phase I, 438 online surveys were conducted and in phase II, 15 semi-structured interviews were obtained from directors of relevant schools. ANOVA (phase I) and a thematic approach (phase II) were used to analyze data. Level of sustainability of an outdoor school ground smoking ban was high at the 48% Dutch schools with an outdoor smoking ban. Furthermore, school size was significantly associated with sustainability. The perceived barriers/facilitators fell into three categories: (i) smoking ban implementation factors (side-effects, enforcement, communication, guidelines and collaboration), (ii) school factors (physical environment, school culture, education type and school policy) and (iii) community environment factors (legislation and social environment). Internationally, the spread of outdoor school ground smoking bans could be further promoted. Once implemented, the ban has become 'normal' practice and investments tend to endure. Moreover, involvement of all staff is important for sustainability as they function as role models, have an interrelationship with students, and share responsibility for enforcement. These findings are promising for the sustainability of future tobacco control initiatives to further protect against the morbidity/mortality associated with smoking. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association.

  14. Pension reform in the European periphery: the role of EU reform advocacy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stepan, M.; Anderson, K.A.

    2014-01-01

    SUMMARY: This paper analyzes the impact of international reform advocacy on national pension reforms. We analyze European Union (EU) reform advocacy in two EU member states: Greece and Hungary. Although the EU has articulated a fairly coherent template for sustainable pensions, its use of soft

  15. Market Accountability in Schools: Policy Reforms in England, Germany, France and Italy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mattei, Paola

    2012-01-01

    This article concentrates on the policy reforms of schools in England, Germany, France and Italy, from 1988 to 2009, with a focus on the introduction of market accountability. Pressing demands for organisational change in schools, shaped by the objectives of "efficiency" and competition, which were introduced in England in the 1980s,…

  16. School Autonomy Reform and Public Education in Australia: Implications for Social Justice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keddie, Amanda

    2017-01-01

    The renewed commitment to school autonomy reform in Australia is based on the view that it will drive up academic standards. There remains, however, little conclusive evidence to support this view. Simply instating the structural changes to bring about greater autonomy for schools within public education systems across the world has not led…

  17. Social Foundations and School Reform Networks: The Case Against E.D. Hirsch.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ognibene, Richard

    1998-01-01

    Critiques the views of E.D. Hirsch, highlighting limitations of his book, "The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them." The paper acknowledges Hirsch's influence on public opinion about school reform, but details flaws and errors Hirsch makes, asking foundational scholars in teacher education to better prepare students to respond to…

  18. Curriculum reform and evolution: Innovative content and processes at one US medical school.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischel, Janet E; Olvet, Doreen M; Iuli, Richard J; Lu, Wei-Hsin; Chandran, Latha

    2018-03-11

    Curriculum reform in medical schools continues to be an ever-present and challenging activity in medical education. This paper describes one school's experiences with specific curricular innovations that were developed or adapted and targeted to meet a clear set of curricular goals during the curriculum reform process. Those goals included: (a) promoting active learning and learner engagement; (b) establishing early professional identity; and (c) developing physician competencies in an integrated and contextual manner while allowing for individualized learning experiences for the millennial student. Six specific innovations championed by the school are described in detail. These included Themes in Medical Education, Translational Pillars, Stony Brook Teaching Families, Transition Courses, Educational Continuous Quality Improvement Processes, and our Career Advising Program. Development of the ideas and design of the innovations were done by faculty and student teams. We discuss successes and ongoing challenges with these innovations which are currently in the fourth year of implementation. Our curriculum reform has emphasized the iterative process of curriculum building. Based on our experience, we discuss general and practical guidelines for curriculum innovation in its three phases: setting the stage, implementation, and monitoring for the achievement of intended goals.

  19. Sustainability Reporting at Schools: Challenges and Benefits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carbach, Eva; Fischer, Daniel

    2017-01-01

    Despite advances made there is still an implementation gap with regard to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in formal educational systems at the school level. The present paper focuses on sustainability reporting as a recently emerging practice in the school sector. It presents the approach and findings of an exploratory interview study…

  20. Success for All and Comprehensive School Reform: Evidence-Based Policies for Urban Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slavin, Robert E.; Madden, Nancy A.

    This paper discusses comprehensive school reform (CSR), which accepts the importance of standards and accountability but adds to these strategies for introducing innovations in curriculum, instruction, school organization, governance, parent interactions, and other core features of practice. The paper reviews research on the nature and quality of…

  1. Expanding Knowledge Gaps: The Function of Fictions in Teaching Materials after the 2011 Swedish High School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graeske, Caroline

    2016-01-01

    The aim in the study is to analyze how work with fiction is organized in six textbooks for senior high school in Sweden after the school reform 2011. Research into Swedish teaching materials has been neglected in recent years and there is a knowledge gap about how the work with fictions is affected by the reform in 2011. In the study quantitative…

  2. Journalism and Urban School Reform: Versions of Democratic Decision Making in Two American Cities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shipps, Dorothy; Fowlkes, Elizabeth; Peltzman, Alissa

    2006-01-01

    School reform involves the public: its expectation of participation and its support for a reform agenda. In theory, the press influences both. To explore this link, we compare education coverage in four press outlets, two each in Chicago and Cleveland. Articles and editors are interrogated for (1) style of journalism and (2) assumptions about the…

  3. School Finance Reform: Do Equalized Expenditures Imply Equalized Teacher Salaries?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Streams, Meg; Butler, J. S.; Cowen, Joshua; Fowles, Jacob; Toma, Eugenia F.

    2011-01-01

    Kentucky is a poor, relatively rural state that contrasts greatly with the relatively urban and wealthy states typically the subject of education studies employing large-scale administrative data. For this reason, Kentucky's experience of major school finance and curricular reform is highly salient for understanding teacher labor market dynamics.…

  4. Circulation and Internationalisation of Pedagogical Concepts and Practices in the Discourse of Education: The Hamburg School Reform Experiment (1919-1933)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayer, Christine

    2014-01-01

    In the context of the international exchange of school reform ideas and concepts, the new schools in Hamburg were recognised as exemplary instances of a revolutionary and forceful reform in the public elementary school systems. Based on studies of transfer and their premise that the transnational transfer of ideas, practices and objects does not…

  5. Learning From Rudolf Steiner: The Relevance of Waldorf Education for Urban Public School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oberman, Ida

    2007-01-01

    The author of this paper investigates the relevance of Waldorf education for public urban school reform. Based on analysis of survey data from over 500 graduates of private U.S. Waldorf schools, review of documents from the Gates Foundation, and staff-interview and student-achievement data from four public Waldorf-methods schools, she develops…

  6. Transforming an Urban School System: Progress of New Haven School Change and New Haven Promise Education Reforms (2010-2013). Research Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, Gabriella C.; Bozick, Robert; Daugherty, Lindsay; Scherer, Ethan; Singh, Reema; Suárez, Mónica Jacobo; Ryan, Sarah

    2014-01-01

    In 2009, the City of New Haven and New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) announced a sweeping K-12 educational reform, New Haven School Change. The district had three primary goals for School Change: (1) close the gap between the performance of NHPS students' and Connecticut students' averages on state tests, (2) cut the high school dropout rate in…

  7. Will Mayor De Blasio Turn Back the School Reform Clock?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Peter

    2014-01-01

    While heads were spinning, policy watchers seemed genuinely perplexed by New York City's Mayor de Blasio's education opinions. De Blasio opposed many of Bloomberg's reform efforts despite the achievement gains realized by the nation's largest school district during the last 12 years. Yet on close reading, de Blasio's nine-page education plan…

  8. School Reforms In Ghana: A Challenge To Teacher Quality And ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The role of the teacher in the modern school system is increasingly important and complex. A teacher needs a high level of professional knowledge and autonomous decision making when faced with professional challenges. Educational reform in Ghana like any other parts of the world calls for the type of teacher who is ...

  9. A case study of systemic curricular reform: A forty-year history

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laubach, Timothy Alan

    What follows is a description of the development of a particular inquiry-based elementary school science curriculum program and how its theoretical underpinnings positively influenced a school district's (K-12) science program and also impacted district- and state-wide curriculum reform initiatives. The district's science program has evolved since the inception of the inquiry-based elementary school science curriculum reform forty years ago. Therefore, a historical case study, which incorporated grounded theory methodology, was used to convey the forty-year development of a science curriculum reform effort and its systemic influences. Data for this study were collected primarily through artifacts, such as technical and non-technical documents, and supported and augmented with interviews. Fifteen people comprised the interview consortium with professional responsibilities including (a) administrative roles, such as superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, and curriculum consultants/coordinators; (b) classroom roles, such as elementary and secondary school teachers who taught science; (c) partnership roles, such as university faculty who collaborated with those in administrative and classroom positions within the district; and (d) the co-director of SCIS who worked with the SCIS trial center director. Data were analyzed and coded using the constant comparative method. The analysis of data uncovered five categories or levels in which the curriculum reform evolved throughout its duration. These themes are Initiation, Education, Implementation, Confirmation, and Continuation. These five categories lead to several working hypotheses that supported the sustaining and continuing of a K-12 science curriculum reform effort. These components are a committed visionary; a theory base of education; forums promoting the education of the theory base components; shared-decision making; a university-school partnership; a core group of committed educators and teachers

  10. Adequacy, Accountability, Autonomy and Equity in a Middle Eastern School Reform: The Case of Qatar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guarino, Cassandra M.; Tanner, Jeffery C.

    2012-01-01

    This study examines Qatar's recent and ambitious school reform in the early stages of its implementation against a set of four criteria for successful education systems drawn from guidelines developed by the international community: adequacy, accountability, autonomy and gender equity. We investigate both the initial structure of the reform and…

  11. Tobephobia Experienced by Teachers in Secondary Schools: An Exploratory Study Focusing on Curriculum Reform in the Nelson Mandela Metropole

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, P.

    2011-01-01

    Because of its history from apartheid to democracy, the aspiration to reform schools is a recurrent theme in South African education. Efforts to reform education in schools based on the outcomes-based education (OBE) curriculum approach created major challenges for policy makers in South Africa. The purpose of this exploratory research was…

  12. A Place Called Home: Educational Reform in a Concord, Massachusetts School, 1897-1914

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morice, Linda C.

    2012-01-01

    This paper examines the role of place in the reform efforts of two teachers who established Miss White's Home School in Concord, Massachusetts (USA). Flora and Mary White rebelled against the prevailing industrial model of instruction in tax-supported schools where they taught. As a solution, they moved to Concord--a nonconformist town with a…

  13. No Child Left Behind and the Spectacle of Failing Schools: The Mythology of Contemporary School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Granger, David A.

    2008-01-01

    This article discusses what David Berliner (2005) has called the perverse "spectacle of fear" (208) surrounding issues of teacher quality and accountability in contemporary school reform. Drawing principally on the critical semiotics of Roland Barthes' essay, "The World of Wrestling" (1957), it examines the way that this…

  14. Sustainability Education: Researching Practice in Primary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Monica; Somerville, Margaret

    2015-01-01

    Many teachers are keen to implement sustainability education in primary schools but are lacking the confidence, skills and knowledge to do so. Teachers report that they do not understand the concept and cannot integrate sustainability into an already overcrowded curriculum. Identifying how teachers successfully integrate sustainability education…

  15. The Epistemic Role of Novel Metaphors in Teachers' Knowledge Constructions of School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Craig, Cheryl J.

    2005-01-01

    In this article, a parallel is drawn between Steven Hawking's use of common and novel metaphors in his evolving explanation of the theory of the universe and the similar use of common and novel metaphors by educators in four school contexts attempting to illuminate their experiences of school reform storied and restoried over time. The epistemic…

  16. Improving low-performing high schools: searching for evidence of promise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleischman, Steve; Heppen, Jessica

    2009-01-01

    Noting that many of the nation's high schools are beset with major problems, such as low student reading and math achievement, high dropout rates, and an inadequate supply of effective teachers, Steve Fleischman and Jessica Heppen survey a range of strategies that educators have used to improve low-performing high schools. The authors begin by showing how the standards-based school reform movement, together with the No Child Left Behind Act requirement that underperforming schools adopt reforms supported by scientifically based research, spurred policy makers, educators, and researchers to create and implement a variety of approaches to attain improvement. Fleischman and Heppen then review a number of widely adopted reform models that aim to change "business as usual" in low-performing high schools. The models include comprehensive school reform programs, dual enrollment and early college high schools, smaller learning communities, specialty (for example, career) academies, charter high schools, and education management organizations. In practice, say the authors, many of these improvement efforts overlap, defying neat distinctions. Often, reforms are combined to reinforce one another. The authors explain the theories that drive the reforms, review evidence of their reforms' effectiveness to date, and suggest what it will take to make them work well. Although the reforms are promising, the authors say, few as yet have solid evidence of systematic or sustained success. In concluding, Fleischman and Heppen emphasize that the reasons for a high school's poor performance are so complex that no one reform model or approach, no matter how powerful, can turn around low-performing schools. They also stress the need for educators to implement each reform program with fidelity to its requirements and to support it for the time required for success. Looking to the future, the authors suggest steps that decision makers, researchers, and sponsors of research can take to promote

  17. How Leadership for an ICT Reform Is Distributed within a School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seong, David Ng Foo; Ho, Jeanne Marie

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of information communication technology (ICT) reform in a government school in Singapore. The focus is on the distributed leadership actions performed by various individuals, and how the multiple leaders and their leadership practices interacted with one another.…

  18. Sustainable School Leadership: The Teachers' Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cook, John W.

    2014-01-01

    Sustainable school leadership is essential to the academic growth of students and professional growth of faculty and staff. Shedding light on what constitutes sustainable leadership from the perspective of teachers will increase our understanding of how specific leadership practices and processes impact those in the learning community who are…

  19. Identifying Effective Policy and Technologic Reforms for Sustainable Groundwater Management in Oman

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madani, K.; Zekri, S.; Karimi, A.

    2014-12-01

    Oman has gone through three decades of efforts aimed at addressing groundwater over-pumping and the consequent seawater intrusion. Example of measures adopted by the government since the 1990's include a vast subsidy program of irrigation modernization, a freeze on drilling new wells, delimitation of several no-drill zones, a crop substitution program, re-use of treated wastewater and construction of recharge dams. With no major success through these measures, the government laid the ground for water quotas by creating a new regulation in 1995. Nevertheless, groundwater quotas have not been enforced to date due to the high implementation and monitoring costs of traditional flow meters. This presentation discusses how sustainable groundwater management can be secured in Oman using a suit of policy and technologic reforms at a reasonable economic, political and practical cost. Data collected from farms with smart meters and low-cost wireless smart irrigation systems have been used to propose sustainable groundwater withdrawal strategies for Oman using a detailed hydro-economic model that couples a MODFLOW-SEAWAT model of the coastal aquifers with a dynamic profit maximization model. The hydro-economic optimization model was flexible to be run both as a social planner model to maximize the social welfare in the region, and as an agent-based model to capture the behavior of farmers interested in maximizing their profits independently. This flexibility helped capturing the trade-off between the optimality of the social planner solution developed at the system's level and its practicality (stability) with respect to the concerns and behaviors of the profit-maximizing farmers. The idetified promising policy and technolgical reforms for Oman include strict enforcement of groundwater quotas, smart metering, changing crop mixes, improving irrigation technologies, and revising geographical distribution of the farming activities. The presentation will discuss how different

  20. Examining Relational Engagement across the Transition to High Schools in Three US High Schools Reformed to Improve Relationship Quality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Heather A.; Chang, Mei-Lin; Andrzejewski, Carey E.; Poirier, Ryan R.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine changes in students' relational engagement across the transition to high school in three schools reformed to improve the quality of student-teacher relationships. In order to analyze this data we employed latent growth curve (LGC) modeling techniques (n = 637). We ran three LGC models on three…

  1. International School Director Turnover as Influenced by School Board/Director Relationship

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palsha, Zakariya S.

    2017-01-01

    In recent years, public school superintendents have faced increased demands from rigorous federal and state accountability standards. Yet, researchers have reported that academic improvement does not happen by chance but rather through effective leaders with ample time to implement broad, sustainable reform. The purpose of this study was to…

  2. New Orleans's Unique School Reform Effort and Its Potential Implications for Special Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morse, Timothy E.

    2010-01-01

    Four years following the decimation of the New Orleans Public Schools by Hurricane Katrina the city has been described as the center of a unique urban public school reform effort. This effort is a combination of events that transpired just before the storm and those that have occurred as a result of it. In particular some claim that the emerging…

  3. Development and Implementation of Inquiry-Based and Computerized-Based Laboratories: Reforming High School Chemistry in Israel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnea, Nitza; Dori, Yehudit Judy; Hofstein, Avi

    2010-01-01

    Reforms in science education in general and in chemistry education in particular have been introduced in many countries since the beginning of the 21st Century. Similarly, at this time in Israel both the content and pedagogy of the chemistry curriculum in high schools were reformed. New content and pedagogical standards emerged, fostering…

  4. The Principals' Perspective of Sustainable Partnerships in New York City's New School Initiative

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Robert

    2010-01-01

    New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg and school's Chancellor Joel Klein made the creation of new schools an essential part of their Children First reform policy. In September 2002, 13 high schools opened replacing the lowest performing large high schools throughout the City. As of 2010, more than 400 new district and charter schools are in…

  5. Sustainability Education in Indian Business Schools: A Status Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    PD JOSE

    Full Text Available Sustainability issues, given their potential scale of impact and urgency, have captured the imagination of both corporations and academic institutions everywhere. This paper examines how such problems and their potential solutions have been incorporated into higher education, particularly business school education in India. With over 3,600 business schools in the public and private sector, business education in India has proliferated. However, students by and large still remain unexposed to sustainability and disaster management concepts in their curriculum. The underlying factors for this include, lack of institutional capacity, issues related to faculty motivation and incentives, lack of recruiter interest and limited availability to high quality resource material. Further, while several schools in India focus on sectors relevant to sustainability, inter-organizational linkages have not developed and business school generally operate independently. This paper examines the way forward to deeply integrate sustainability principles into the core curriculum of business schools. Measures suggested include creating communities of practice among academia and industry, building a resource base of teaching materials for easy access by faculty, and several measures to strengthen institutional capacity.

  6. Changing classroom practices: the role of school-wide capacity for sustainable improvement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sleegers, P.J.C.; Thoonen, E.E.J.; Oort, F.J.; Peetsma, T.T.D.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: Elementary schools have been confronted with large-scale educational reforms as strategies to improve the educational quality. While building school-wide capacity for improvement is considered critical for changing teachers’ classroom practices, there is still little empirical evidence for

  7. Changing classroom practices: the role of school-wide capacity for sustainable improvement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sleegers, P.J.C.; Thoonen, Eric E.J.; Oort, Frans J.; Peetsma, Thea T.D.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose – Elementary schools have been confronted with large-scale educational reforms as strategies to improve the educational quality. While building school-wide capacity for improvement is considered critical for changing teachers’ classroom practices, there is still little empirical evidence for

  8. Meeting the Demands of Science Reforms: A Comprehensive Professional Development for Practicing Middle School Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pringle, Rose M.; Mesa, Jennifer; Hayes, Lynda

    2018-03-01

    Preparing teachers to teach science consistent with current reforms in science education is a daunting enterprise given a lack of high-quality science professional development (PD) adaptable across various contexts (Wilson 2013). This study examines the impact of a comprehensive professional development program on middle school teachers' disciplinary content knowledge and instructional practices. In this mixed methods investigation, data sources included classroom observations, content knowledge assessments, surveys, and a range of interviews. The teachers in the program showed significant improvements in their disciplinary content knowledge and demonstrated through their enactment of a reform-based curriculum, a range of ability levels to translate their knowledge into instructional practices consistent with the principles espoused in the PD. We conclude that programs that attend to elements of effective PD identified in the literature can positively impact middle school science teachers' enactment of reform-based science teaching. Our findings extend these elements to include the strategic engagement of school and district leadership and the provision of a safe learning space for teachers to collectively engage in reciprocal learning and critical practice. This study has worldwide implications for designing PD for science teachers and for extending our understanding of the impact of each element.

  9. Examining Barriers to Sustained Implementation of School-Wide Prevention Practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turri, Mary G.; Mercer, Sterett H.; McIntosh, Kent; Nese, Rhonda N. T.; Strickland-Cohen, M. Kathleen; Hoselton, Robert

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine if an experimental 5-item measure of barriers to implementing and sustaining school-wide prevention practices, the "Assessment of Barriers to Implementation and Sustainability in Schools" (ABISS), would relate to objective measures of school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports…

  10. Key Aspects of Current Educational Reforms in Islamic Educational Schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ibrahim Hashim

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper is based on the premise that Islamic education plays a significant role in producing an integrated personality of young generation in order to fulfil the needs of present society. This study is important to address the key educational changes in pedagogy, curricular and teaching approach that relate directly to the effectiveness of the implementation of Islamic Education in Islamic schools. Questions raised in this writing is whether and how Muslim schools have transformed to meet the changes and challenges of the globalizing world and what should be done to ensure Islamic schools meet current needs. Thus, it argues that there is a need for reform in contemporary Islamic schools with particular reference to the changes in the curriculum, teaching style, role of Islamic schools and gender participation. The paper considers the possibility of integrating new perspectives across the curriculum and outlines the integrated approach to ensure the quality and excellence of their graduates.

  11. Where Sustainable School Meets the ‘Tthird Teacher’: Primary School Case Study From Barcelona, Spain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta Brkovic

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Participatory evaluation of aspiring sustainable schools and their pedagogical potential has recently come into focus. A few authors have made a significant start in examining schools as both environmentally and socially sustainable environments, which might simultaneously represent the ‘third teacher’. However, discussion around this idea is new in Spain. This paper describes a participatory post-occupancy study conducted with teachers and pupils in Fort Pienc School, Barcelona, Spain. Findings reveal the pedagogical potential of the school’s spaces and fabric, characterised as ‘sustainable’, and highlight the aspects that the research participants feel are performing and underperforming. The paper concludes that if we want sustainable schools to be a strategy for renovating the educational process and for leading us towards a better tomorrow globally and locally,  new models for exploring the pedagogical potential of sustainable schools should be developed and the efforts of all relevant parties synchronised; from architects to governments, from pupils to teachers.

  12. Reforming Science and Mathematics Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lagowski, J. J.

    1995-09-01

    fundamental reforms in public education is challenging. The coalition must be able to reach consensus on a vision of reform and, then, sustain the reform over an extended period of time. This is not easy when power and authority are highly fragmented (and perhaps at odds), where interest groups live or die on confromtation politics, when public and private sectors exhibit a basic distrust of one another, and when everyone is an expert--real or imagined--on topics more-or-less related to education. In addition, the SSI's are operating in a turbulent climate. Policy makers may be working on standards-based reforms in K-12 education at the same time they are seeking efficiencies in state government, consider deregulation, and experiment with integrated social services. Criminal justice, health, and welfare are competing in state capitols for the resources required to bring about education reforms. And, within this shifting policy landscape, the SSI's are seeking higher priority for mathematics and science, as well as attempting to develop the infrastructure and capacity to support change in the schools. Simply keeping mathematics and science education high on the agenda of state policy-makers is a challenge. Each of these component strategies of the SSI's is important. The critical question is whether, in a given state, the SSI strategies, when combined with other state reform initiatives, form a coherent, comprehensive plan for improving public education. While the oldest of the SSI's are only in their fourth year of activity, it is already clear that the reforms they are seeking will take longer than five years to accomplish. (The SSI's are supported by five-year grants from the NSF.) The instructional reforms advocated by the SSI's require time to implement, and once in place, additional time to produce results. Elected officials often focus on the short-term, and they can become impatient when the results are slow. There appears to be no ready solution to the conflict

  13. From pedagogy to timeagogy? Leisure-time pedagogues handling time in the reformed Danish Primary School and Leisure-time Center

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gravesen, David Thore; Ringskou, Lea Thomsen

    for effectiveness contributes to increasing amounts of discipline techniques and new requirements in relation to the pedagogues’ skills in classroom management. Seemingly, the enhanced encounter between time and pedagogy both provide potentials and pitfalls, triggering different, often ambivalent, emotional......, Denmark. E-mail: dtg@viauc.dk Research topic/aim: In 2014, the Danish Primary School was reformed. A reform that meant longer school days, emphasizing varied learning environments and better results for each pupil regardless of social background. In general, the reform matches other educational reforms...... effectiveness and academic outcomes. In our presentation, launching the concept of timeagogy, we analyze and discuss the encounter between time and pedagogy. Which strategies, techniques and action evolve when time challenges pedagogy? How do pedagogues handle time demands and in which way does time constitute...

  14. Linking Curriculum and Learning to Facilities: Arizona State University's GK-12 Sustainable Schools Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elser, Monica M.; Pollari, Lynette; Frisk, Erin; Wood, Mark

    2011-01-01

    Arizona State University's "Sustainability Science for Sustainable Schools program" brings together graduate students, sustainability researchers, high school teachers and students, and school or district administrators in a project designed to address the challenge of becoming a "sustainable school." Funded by the National…

  15. Community Organizing as an Education Reform Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renee, Michelle; McAlister, Sara

    2011-01-01

    Community organizing for school reform offers an urgently needed alternative to traditional approaches to school change. Many current reforms fail to thrive due to lack of trust, understanding, or cultural relevance to the community being targeted. The high turnover of reformers (superintendents, principals, or outside organizations) in high-need…

  16. Teacher Nostalgia and the Sustainability of Reform: The Generation and Degeneration of Teachers Missions, Memory, and Meaning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodson, Ivor; Moore, Shawn; Hargreaves, Andy

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: This article focuses on the sustainability of reform through the lens of teachers' nostalgia--the major form of memory among a demographically dominant cohort of experienced older teachers. Unwanted change evokes senses of nostalgia for these lost missions that take two forms: social and political. As teachers age, their responses to…

  17. Two decades of reforms. Appraisal of the financial reforms in the Russian public healthcare sector.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordeev, Vladimir S; Pavlova, Milena; Groot, Wim

    2011-10-01

    This paper reviews the empirical evidence on the outcomes of the financial reforms in the Russian public healthcare sector. A systematic literature review identified 37 relevant publications that presented empirical evidence on changes in quality, equity, efficiency and sustainability in public healthcare provision due to the Russian public healthcare financial reforms. Evidence suggests that there are substantial inter-regional inequalities across income groups both in terms of financing and access to public healthcare services. There are large efficiency differences between regions, along with inter-regional variations in payment and reimbursement mechanisms. Informal and quasi-formal payments deteriorate access to public healthcare services and undermine the overall financing sustainability. The public healthcare sector is still underfinanced, although the implementation of health insurance gave some premises for future increases of efficiency. Overall, the available empirical data are not sufficient for an evidence-based evaluation of the reforms. More studies on the quality, equity, efficiency and sustainability impact of the reforms are needed. Future reforms should focus on the implementation of cost-efficiency and cost-control mechanisms; provide incentives for better allocation and distribution of resources; tackle problems in equity in access and financing; implement a system of quality controls; and stimulate healthy competition between insurance companies. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. The Relationship Between Reformed Teaching and Students' Creativity in a Chinese Middle School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Chenglin

    Current education reform in both the United States and China promotes a reformed inquiry-based approach based on the constructivist learning theory. This study contributes to the research literature by exploring the relationship between reformed science teaching and students' creativity. Chinese education is often criticized for a lack of creativity by some news media (Stack, 2011). This study was designed to explore the creativity of students and the extent to which inquiry instruction is used in the science classroom. The study used a convenience sample of two classes from a middle school located in Wuhu city, Anhui province, China. A total of 120 students and 3 science teachers participated. A mixed-methods research approach was adopted for integrated explanation. Student surveys, the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT), Verbal, Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP), and semi-structured interview were utilized as research tools for collecting quantitative and qualitative data. The findings indicate that there was a positive relationship between reformed teaching and students' creativity (F (2, 117) = 19.760, pteaching but also revealed several challenges. The findings from the Verbal TTCT and classroom observation provided evidence of Chinese students' creativity. Directions for future research are provided.

  19. Do American and Korean Education Systems Converge? Tracking School Reform Policies and Outcomes in Korea and the USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jaekyung; Park, Daekwon

    2014-01-01

    This study examines key school reform policies and outcomes of the USA and Korea over the past three decades from comparative perspectives. Since the two nations' unique educational problems brought divergent educational reform paths--standardization versus differentiation, high-stakes testing versus individualized assessment, and centralization…

  20. The Implementation of Entrepreneurship Education through Curriculum Reform in Finnish Comprehensive Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seikkula-Leino, Jaana

    2011-01-01

    How has entrepreneurship education been implemented in Finnish comprehensive schools. A two-part survey was undertaken in 43 municipalities with different educational and socio-economic backgrounds. The first part, in 2005, dealt with the local curriculum reform with a focus on the development of entrepreneurship education. The second part, in…

  1. Evaluating School-Community Participation in Developing a Local Sustainability Agenda

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eilam, Efrat; Trop, Tamar

    2013-01-01

    Increasingly, international and national statements are calling for the development of local sustainability scenarios within partnerships between schools and their communities. The present study addresses the question of reciprocity in such partnerships, by comparing the sustainability agendas underlying schools' educational programs to the…

  2. Steam Reforming of Bio-oil Model Compounds

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Trane, Rasmus; Jensen, Anker Degn; Dahl, Søren

    The steam reforming of bio-oil is a sustainable and renewable route to synthesis gas and hydrogen, where one of the main hurdles is carbon formation on the catalyst.......The steam reforming of bio-oil is a sustainable and renewable route to synthesis gas and hydrogen, where one of the main hurdles is carbon formation on the catalyst....

  3. Curricular constraints, high-stakes testing and the reality of reform in high school science classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coble, Jennifer

    Through a series of open-ended interviews, this study investigated the beliefs of six third year high school science teachers about how they implement science education reform ideals in their practice and the contextual challenges they face as they attempt to implement reform. The teachers argue that the lack of connection between their curricula and students' lives serves as a significant obstacle to them utilizing more inquiry-based and student-centered strategies. In their science classes that are not subject to a high stakes exam, the teachers shared instances where they engage students in inquiry by refraining the focus of their curricula away from the decontextualized factual information and onto how the information relates to human experience. In their science classes subject to a high stakes test, however, the teachers confessed to feeling no choice but to utilize more teacher-centered strategies focused on information transmission. This study provides an in depth analysis of how the presence of high stakes tests discourages teachers from utilizing reform based teaching strategies within high school science classrooms.

  4. Measurement invariance of an instrument assessing sustainability of school-based universal behavior practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mercer, Sterett H; McIntosh, Kent; Strickland-Cohen, M Kathleen; Horner, Robert H

    2014-06-01

    The purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which the School-Wide Universal Behavior Sustainability Index: School Teams (SUBSIST; McIntosh, Doolittle, Vincent, Horner, & Ervin, 2009), a measure of school and district contextual factors that promote the sustainability of school practices, demonstrated measurement invariance across groups of schools that differed in length of time implementing school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS; Sugai & Horner, 2009), student ethnic composition, and student socioeconomic status (SES). School PBIS team members and district coaches representing 860 schools in 14 U.S. states completed the SUBSIST. Findings supported strong measurement invariance, for all items except 1, of a model with two school-level factors (School Priority and Team Use of Data) and 2 district-level factors (District Priority and Capacity Building) across groups of schools at initial implementation, institutionalization, and sustainability phases of PBIS implementation. Schools in the sustainability phase were rated significantly higher on School Priority and Team Use of Data than schools in initial implementation. Strong measurement invariance held across groups of schools that differed in student ethnicity and SES. The findings regarding measurement invariance are important for future longitudinal investigations of factors that may promote the sustained implementation of school practices. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  5. Teens, Power Tools, and Green Schools: Education for Sustainability through a University Environmental Design Program and Middle School Partnership

    Science.gov (United States)

    Derr, Victoria

    2017-01-01

    This article explores the role of green schools in promoting education for sustainability by reflecting on a university-middle school partnership focused on sustainable design. Undergraduates and middle school students met weekly for a semester to learn about sustainability through simple design projects and activities that focused on…

  6. The Meaning(s) of Teacher Leadership in an Urban High School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scribner, Samantha M. Paredes; Bradley-Levine, Jill

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the meaning of teacher leadership from teachers' perspectives. The authors examine teachers' practice of and talk about legitimate sources of power and influence in the context of an urban high school reform. Design: This is an interpretive study of teacher leadership situated in one small high…

  7. Sustainable School Improvement: Suburban Elementary Principals' Capacity Building

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Alison J.

    2017-01-01

    The increase of intense pressures to ensure long-term education reforms have created a challenge for school leaders as they direct and nurture the abilities of others. The purpose of this research was to understand and describe suburban elementary principals' practices and perceptions as change leaders related to capacity building through the…

  8. Sustaining School-Based Asthma Interventions through Policy and Practice Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carpenter, Laurie M.; Lachance, Laurie; Wilkin, Margaret; Clark, Noreen M.

    2013-01-01

    Background: Schools are an ideal setting for implementation of asthma interventions for children; however, sustaining school-based programs can be challenging. This study illustrates policy and practice changes brought about through the Childhood Asthma Linkages in Missouri (CALM) program to sustain such programs. Methods: Researchers analyzed…

  9. Introducing Teacher Mentoring in Kosovo Schools – Potential and Challenges for Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eda Vula

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This study examined the lessons learned from the introduction of a teacher mentoring culture within a teacher professional development program in selected pilot schools in Kosovo. Four mentor teachers and four mentee focus groups were involved in the open interviews, and their portfolios were examined. The important themes in terms of developing a school mentoring culture in a system that had lacked mentoring practices and is embarking on an ambitious curricular reform were identified. The study revealed that individual, collegial and institutional dimensions are critical in attempting to introduce the mentoring culture. The study concluded that mentoring is a mixed concept and is viewed as hierarchical but is, nevertheless, an important professional development tool for teachers who are facing the pressure of the reform. This formalized way, known as “Balkanization” culture, marks a critical step towards developing a collaborative school culture as the desired end point.

  10. Transforming Sustainability Development Education in Malaysian Schools through Greening Activities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanifah, Mahat; Shaharudin, Idrus; Mohmadisa, Hashim; Nasir, Nayan; Yazid, Saleh

    2015-01-01

    This article aims to evaluate the practice of sustainability among Malaysian Secondary Schools involved in the Sustainable Schools Program Environmental Award (SLAAS). The research attempts to identify the SLAAS effects on teachers' and students' behaviors after direct involvement with the activities of the program. The cluster sampling technique…

  11. Reforming the Discipline Management Process in Schools: An Alternative Approach to Zero Tolerance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kajs, Lawrence T.

    2006-01-01

    There is a need for educational reform of zero tolerance policies in school disciplinary management procedures. Zero tolerance policies are rigid mandates of predetermined consequences for specific student misconduct. Common sense and fairness are not necessarily served by the application of inflexible disciplinary rules that do not address the…

  12. Principals' Leadership Orientation in Relationship to the Classification of Their Schools in New Jersey

    Science.gov (United States)

    dela Cruz, Samuel

    2016-01-01

    The relationship of principals' leadership orientations to the classification of their schools in New Jersey were examined in this study. While their role has expanded over the years, school principals continue to be essential in school reform and sustainability efforts. However, they are often overshadowed by the role of teachers. This…

  13. The Effect of Implementation of Education for Sustainable Development in Swedish Compulsory Schools--Assessing Pupils' Sustainability Consciousness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olsson, D.; Gericke, N.; Chang Rundgren, S.-N.

    2016-01-01

    During the past decade, numerous schools in Sweden have implemented education for sustainable development (ESD) as an explicit guiding approach in teaching. In this paper, we investigate the effect of this approach in comparison with that of pupils taught in ordinary schools. Accordingly, we introduce the concept of sustainability consciousness to…

  14. Sustainable Schools in the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Within UNESCO's conception of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), schools should be implementing approaches to teaching and learning that integrate goals for conservation, social justice, appropriate development and democracy into a vision and a mission of personal and social change. ESD also involves ...

  15. Sustainability of the good behaviour game in Dutch primary schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dijkman, Marieke A M; Harting, Janneke; van Tol, Lenneke; van der Wal, Marcel F

    2017-02-01

    Sustainability of health promotion programs is essential to maintain their positive effects. However, few studies have examined the extent of program sustainability and the factors influencing it. We examined these issues through the Good Behaviour Game (GBG), a classroom-based program in primary schools with beneficial behavioural and health-related effects that was implemented in 2008. GBG coordinators of 17 participating schools were invited in the study 2 years after the initial program implementation. Sustainability was measured using a 20-item checklist comprised of four dimensions of routinization including: memory, adaptation, values and rules. A semi-structured interview was then completed with 16 of the GBG coordinators to discuss the checklist scores and to probe in more depth the current level of sustainability. Based on the checklist scores, sustainability of the GBG was considered ‘high’ in five schools, ‘medium’ in another five and ‘weak’ in six. Factors influencing sustainability identified by GBG coordinators were organizational strength, strong leadership, program championship and the perceived modifiability and effectiveness of the GBG. Also, different factors were related to different dimensions of routinization. The combination of a sustainability checklist and an interview about influential factors may help to further clarify the sustainability construct and reveal which implementation sites, routinization dimensions and influential factors should be explored to further facilitate the sustaining of programs with proven effectiveness.

  16. School Facilities and Sustainability-Related Concepts: A Study of Hellenic Secondary School Principals’, Teachers’, Pupils’ and Parents’ Responses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vasiliki Zepatou

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Effective building environment sustainability frameworks and practices need to take users’ opinions into account. For this purpose, a survey questionnaire was developed and the “Panhellenic survey of school spaces, materials and environmental-comfort conditions in secondary schools and perceptions, stances and attitudes of pupils, teachers, principals and parents towards sustainable construction and the selection and use of materials in schools that are friendly to the environment and human health” was conducted nationwide with a random stratified sample of 170 Hellenic public secondary schools. Selected findings are presented and discussed here. These show that existing school facilities are primarily rated as good and that selection and use of materials friendly to the environment and human health are extremely important. User groups believe that they should participate in planning/selecting sustainable solutions for schools. An Index of 10 School Environment Desired Outcomes associated with environmentally friendly and health-friendly materials selection and use was devised. Relevant factors were extracted and interpreted. The research establishes users’ subjective opinions that may be considered and integrated into procedures for improving school buildings, assessing and selecting environmentally friendly materials and implementing strategies for sustainable school design, building and operation.

  17. Reform of investment policy in the function of sustainable development with special emphasis on investment in information technologies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dragičević-Radičević Tatjana

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Global economy still records a decline in FDI. The main causes are increased economic instability and geopolitical risks. Given the continued negative trend, it is clear that it is necessary to reform the investment policies at the national, regional, bilateral, multilateral and international level, to ensure sustainable economic development. Key elements of the reforms are: to provide instruments to reduce risks, create mechanisms of responsible investment, improve the structural coherence and promote regional investments. Refer to the current dates of the sectors investments (according to the report of UNCTAD from 2015th shows that the services sector recorded double growth compared to the investment in the manufacturing sector in 2012. Also, if we take into consideration the fact that investment in IT sector investment involves three aspects: transactional (minimizing costs, strategic (innovation technologies, achieving competitiveness and information (improving access to information and communications, it may be assumed that the reforms in the investment policies should be directly correlated with investments in information technology.

  18. Neoliberalism as Nihilism? A Commentary on Educational Accountability, Teacher Education, and School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tuck, Eve

    2013-01-01

    In this article, the author discusses neoliberalism as an extension of settler colonialism. The article provides commentary on five recent articles on teacher education and the neoliberal agenda. The article presents an analysis of neoliberalism as despair, and as a form of nihilism. The author discusses an indigenous model of school reform and…

  19. The Hope for American School Reform: The Cold War Pursuit of Inquiry Learning in Social Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, Ronald W.

    2010-01-01

    As the issue of school reform grows ever more intense, it is imperative that we learn what we can from previous efforts. The new social studies was a 1960's attempt to transform the teaching of history and the social sciences in schools. With origins in the Cold War, the movement sought to develop critical thinkers through "inquiry" and…

  20. Mathematics training for the teaching of basic knowledge in times of teaching school reform of Parana (Year 1920

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iara da Silva França

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The article discusses the mathematical training of primary teachers in Paraná and aims to understand how elementary mathematical knowledge was included in the reform carried out by Lysimaco Ferreira da Costa, in the 1920’s and directed by Prieto Martinez for the modernization of the state’s primary education. Supported by theoretical and methodological framework of cultural history, this study is guided by the question: Considering the Reform of teaching school and thinking about the mathematics education of Paraná teachers, what has changed, why has it changed and what for? With the reform subjects more focused on practical teaching in primary school were introduced, and that favored the renewal of teaching methods and teaching resources, curriculum reorganization which reflected in the quality of Math education of future teachers in the state’s primary education. Keywords: Mathematics Teaching. Primary Education Teacher. History of Education.

  1. Towards sustaining performance in a Gauteng secondary school

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nonceba P. Ntuta

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Orientation: Poor school performance is a major problem in South Africa. To date the success of intervention strategies that were aimed at turning the situation around in dysfunctional schools have been short lived and were not sustainable. Research purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the reasons for the failure of an intervention programme in a school that managed to perform well for the time when it received assistance. Motivation: It is essential to determine the reasons for this continuous failure of school intervention programmes if we want to address the serious problems experienced by the South African education system. Research design, approach and method: In this study, a qualitative research approach within a case-study design was used. Main findings: The main reasons for the inability of the school to sustain its performance were not internal (within the school itself but external (within the education system. Practical and managerial implications: The findings of this study highlight the importance of external leadership and support by the districts and the Department of Education in changing the poor performance of schools at large. Main contribution: Contrary to literature emphasising the lack of leadership at school level as the main problem of poor school performance, this study found that the problem was mainly due to a lack of leadership at departmental level.

  2. The ethical Dilemma of lifestyle change: designing for sustainable schools and sustainable citizenship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Wheeler

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper explores how participation and sustainability are being addressed by architects within the Building Schools for the Future (BSF programme in the UK. The intentions promoted by the programme are certainly ambitious, but the ways to fulfil these aims are ill-explored. Simply focusing on providing innovative learning technologies, or indeed teaching young people about physical sustainability features in buildings, will not necessarily teach them the skills they will need to respond to the environmental and social challenges of a rapidly changing world. However, anticipating those skills is one of the most problematic issues of the programme. The involvement of young people in the design of schools is used to suggest empowerment, place-making and to promote social cohesion but this is set against government design literature which advocates for exemplars, standard layouts and best practice, all leading to forms of standardisation. The potentials for tokenistic student involvement and conflict with policy aims are evident. This paper explores two issues: how to foster in young people an ethic towards future generations, and the role of co-design practices in this process. Michael Oakeshott calls teaching the conversation of mankind. In this paper, I look at the philosophy of Hannah Arendt, Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Luce Irigaray to argue that investigating the ethical dilemmas of the programme through critical dialogue with students offers an approach to meeting government objectives, building sustainable schools, and fostering sustainable citizenship.

  3. The 1921 Agrarian Reform in Transylvania and its Reflection in the Considerations of the Members of the Bucharest School of Sociology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    TELEGDY, Balázs

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The 1921 agrarian reform aimed to be a significant step towards Romania’s agricultural development. The main motive of this reform – at least on a declarative level – was a socially oriented one: to expropriate a part of the big landowners’ estates, and to distribute in among the poverty-stricken people, with a special concern towards the First World War veterans, or their widows. At the same time, the agrarian reform recognised the differences in development between the different regions of the newly-formed Greater Romania, and as such there were two different laws regulating the reform processes in the Old Kingdom and in the newly annexed territories. The members of the Bucharest School of Sociology, based on the scarce data available to them to the time, approached the economically questionable results of this reform in a critical manner. József Venczel, who had acquired the bases of his professional knowledge at the same school, also proves, with regard to the Transylvanian land reform, that this had a second, national policy oriented goal, and its implementation was also ethnically biased.

  4. Beyond the curriculum: Integrating sustainability into business schools

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Painter-Morland, M.; Sabet, E.; Molthan-Hill, P.; Goworek, H.; de Leeuw, S.L.J.M.

    2016-01-01

    This paper evaluates the ways in which European business schools are implementing sustainability and ethics into their curricula. Drawing on data gathered by a recent large study that the Academy of Business in Society conducted in cooperation with EFMD conducted, we map the approaches that schools

  5. Elementary school teachers perspective about educative reform in Zacatecas, México

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Cristina Bañuelos Sánchez

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The results of a research carried out in the state of Zacatecas, México, aiming at probing teachers perceptions about the Educative Reform (RE to elementary school education approved in 2013 in the country are presented. Structural reforms served as the research theoretical frame and are the starting point to analyze changes that reorganized educative institutions in general. The information gathering was conducted by an interview with open answers, focusing on the aspects which have direct effects on teachers: evaluation, entry requirements and the job continuity. The results show that most teachers do not oppose the evaluation, provided that it is used as a tool for improving their teaching practice. Yet they do mistrust the transparency of the system, since they consider that the RE is a hidden mechanism to fire teachers, instead of a mechanism to improve the quality of education.

  6. Education Governance for the Twenty-First Century: Overcoming the Structural Barriers to School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manna, Paul, Ed.; McGuinn, Patrick, Ed.

    2013-01-01

    America's fragmented, decentralized, politicized, and bureaucratic system of education governance is a major impediment to school reform. In this important new book, a number of leading education scholars, analysts, and practitioners show that understanding the impact of specific policy changes in areas such as standards, testing, teachers, or…

  7. Big Business as a Policy Innovator in State School Reform: A Minnesota Case Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazzoni, Tim L.; Clugston, Richard M., Jr.

    1987-01-01

    The Minnesota Business Partnership (MBP) was studied as a policy innovator in state school reform (for kindergarten through grade 12) in relation to agenda setting, alternative formulation, and authoritative enactment. Focus is on the MBP's policy-making involvement during the 1985 state legislative session. Overall, the MBP's influence was…

  8. Distributed Leadership for ICT Reform in Singapore

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ng, David; Ho, Jeanne

    2012-01-01

    This study examines distributed leadership in Information Communication Technology reform in a government school in Singapore. The study adopts a naturalistic inquiry approach, drawing upon a case study of the aforementioned school for much of its data. The study found that leadership for Information Communication Technology reform is distributed…

  9. An Interpretive Framework for Assessing and Monitoring the Sustainability of School Gardens

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francesco Sottile

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available School gardens are, increasingly, an integral part of projects aiming to promote nutritional education and environmental sustainability in many countries throughout the world. In the late 1950s, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization and UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund had already developed projects to improve the dietary intake and behavior through school and community gardens. However, notwithstanding decades of experience, real proof of how these programs contribute to improving sustainability has not been well-documented, and reported findings have mostly been anecdotal. Therefore, it is important to begin a process of collecting and monitoring data to quantify the results and possibly improve their efficiency. This study’s primary goal is to propose an interpretive structure—the “Sustainable Agri-Food Evaluation Methodology-Garden” (SAEMETH-G, that is able to quantifiably guide the sustainability evaluation of various school garden organizational forms. As a case study, the methodology was applied to 15 school gardens located in three regions of Kenya, Africa. This application of SAEMETH-G as an assessment tool based on user-friendly indicators demonstrates that it is possible to carry out sustainability evaluations of school gardens through a participatory and interdisciplinary approach. Thus, the hypothesis that the original SAEMETH operative framework could be tested in gardens has also been confirmed. SAEMETH-G is a promising tool that has the potential to help us understand school gardens’ sustainability better and to use that knowledge in their further development all over the world.

  10. Introducing teacher mentoring in Kosovo schools - potential and challenges for sustainability

    OpenAIRE

    Vula, Eda; Berisha, Fatlume; Saqipi, Blerim

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the lessons learned from the introduction of a teacher mentoring culture within a teacher professional development program in selected pilot schools in Kosovo. Four mentor teachers and four mentee focus groups were involved in the open interviews, and their portfolios were examined. The important themes in terms of developing a school mentoring culture in a system that had lacked mentoring practices and is embarking on an ambitious curricular reform were identified. The st...

  11. Development and validation of sustainability criteria of administrative green schools in Iran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meiboudi, Hossein; Lahijanian, Akramolmolok; Shobeiri, Seyed Mohammad; Jozi, Seyed Ali; Azizinezhad, Reza

    2017-07-15

    Environmental responsibility in school has led to the emergence of a variety of criteria to administer green schools' contributions to sustainability. Sustainability criteria of administrative green schools need validity, reliability and norms. The aim of the current study was to develop and validate assessment criteria for green schools in Iran based on the role of academia. A national survey was conducted to obtain data on sustainability criteria initiatives for green schools and the Iranian profile was defined. An initial pool of 71 items was generated and after its first edition, 63 items were selected to comprise the sustainability criteria. Engineering-architectural and behavioral aspects of this sustainability criteria were evaluated through a sample of 1218 graduate students with environmental degrees from Iran's universities. Exploratory factor analysis using principal components and promax rotation method showed that these 9 criteria have simple structures and are consistent with the theoretical framework. The reliability coefficients of subscales ranged between 0.62 (participation) and 0.84 (building location and position). The study's survey of correlation coefficients between items and subscales illustrated that those coefficients varied between 0.24 and 0.68. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Re-Engineering Primary School Teachers for Sustainable ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    engineer primary school teachers for sustainable development in Onitsha North Local Government Area. Three research questions and a hypothesis were formulated to guide the study. Descriptive survey research design was used. 300 primary ...

  13. Changes in educational inequalities in Poland. Comments on Zbigniew Sawiński’s article “Education reform and inequality: fifteen years of new lower secondary schools in Poland”

    OpenAIRE

    MICHAŁ SITEK

    2017-01-01

    In his text published in Edukacja, 141(2), 2017 („Education reform and inequality: fifteen years of new lower secondary schools in Poland”), Zbigniew Sawiński analyses data from the 2000 to 2012 editions of the OECD PISA study and argues that lower secondary school reform has not reduced educational inequalities in Poland. The importance of students’ social origin remained at the same level as before the reform, the impact of social origin on the choice of type of secondary school remained th...

  14. A thermally self-sustained micro-power plant with integrated micro-solid oxide fuel cells, micro-reformer and functional micro-fluidic carrier

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scherrer, Barbara; Evans, Anna; Santis-Alvarez, Alejandro J.; Jiang, Bo; Martynczuk, Julia; Galinski, Henning; Nabavi, Majid; Prestat, Michel; Tölke, René; Bieberle-Hütter, Anja; Poulikakos, Dimos; Muralt, Paul; Niedermann, Philippe; Dommann, Alex; Maeder, Thomas; Heeb, Peter; Straessle, Valentin; Muller, Claude; Gauckler, Ludwig J.

    2014-07-01

    Low temperature micro-solid oxide fuel cell (micro-SOFC) systems are an attractive alternative power source for small-size portable electronic devices due to their high energy efficiency and density. Here, we report on a thermally self-sustainable reformer-micro-SOFC assembly. The device consists of a micro-reformer bonded to a silicon chip containing 30 micro-SOFC membranes and a functional glass carrier with gas channels and screen-printed heaters for start-up. Thermal independence of the device from the externally powered heater is achieved by exothermic reforming reactions above 470 °C. The reforming reaction and the fuel gas flow rate of the n-butane/air gas mixture controls the operation temperature and gas composition on the micro-SOFC membrane. In the temperature range between 505 °C and 570 °C, the gas composition after the micro-reformer consists of 12 vol.% to 28 vol.% H2. An open-circuit voltage of 1.0 V and maximum power density of 47 mW cm-2 at 565 °C is achieved with the on-chip produced hydrogen at the micro-SOFC membranes.

  15. Sponsors of Policy: A Network Analysis of Wealthy Elites, Their Affiliated Philanthropies, and Charter School Reform in Washington State

    Science.gov (United States)

    Au, Wayne; Ferrare, Joseph J.

    2014-01-01

    Background/Context: Charter school policy has evolved into a major component of the current education reform movement in the United States. As of 2012, all but nine U.S. states allowed charter schools, and in one of those nine, Washington State, charter school legislation was passed by popular vote in November 2012. There is a substantial, if…

  16. Comprehensive School Reform Models: A Study Guide for Comparing CSR Models (and How Well They Meet Minnesota's Learning Standards).

    Science.gov (United States)

    St. John, Edward P.; Loescher, Siri; Jacob, Stacy; Cekic, Osman; Kupersmith, Leigh; Musoba, Glenda Droogsma

    A growing number of schools are exploring the prospect of applying for funding to implement a Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) model. But the process of selecting a CSR model can be complicated because it frequently involves self-study and a review of models to determine which models best meet the needs of the school. This study guide is intended…

  17. Autonomy and Accountability in Standards-Based Reform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susan Watson

    2001-08-01

    Full Text Available In this article we discuss the effects of one urban school district's efforts to increase the autonomy and accountability of schools and teams of teachers through a standards-based reform known as team- based schooling. Team-based schooling is designed to devolve decision-making authority down to the school level by increasing teachers' autonomy to make decisions. Increased accountability is enacted in the form of a state-level standards-based initiative. Based on our evaluation over a two-year period involving extensive fieldwork and quantitative analysis, we describe the ways that teachers, teams and school administrators responded to the implementation of team-based schooling. What are the effects of increasing school-level autonomy and accountability in the context of standards- based reform? Our analysis highlights several issues: the "lived reality" of teaming as it interacts with the existing culture within schools, the ways that teachers respond to the pressures created by increased internal and external accountability, and the effects of resource constraints on the effectiveness of implementation. We conclude by using our findings to consider more broadly the trade-off between increased autonomy and accountability on which standards-based reforms like team-based schooling are based.

  18. Proactive educational reforms in South Korea: Schools for Improvement and multicultural education

    OpenAIRE

    Lee, Hye-Won

    2014-01-01

    Introduction This paper discusses the educational issues and societal changes that have led to proactive reforms in the education system of South Korea. Korean pupils achieve high academic levels, but there have been some criticisms relating to sociocultural issues. In addition, Korea is being transformed into a multicultural society. Here we consider two examples of Korea’s educational interventions, introduced in response to contextual demands and societal changes: firstly, the Schools for...

  19. The Impact of School Finance Litigation on Resource Distribution: A Comparison of Court-Mandated Equity and Adequacy Reforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Springer, Matthew G.; Liu, Keke; Guthrie, James W.

    2009-01-01

    While there is a wealth of research on school finance equity and adequacy, and school finance theory clearly documents differences between the two concepts, no study has examined whether the reforms engendered by each approach actually differ in terms of resource distribution. The present study examines the issues using district-level data on…

  20. Supporting Structures for Education for Sustainable Development and School-Based Health Promotion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madsen, Katrine Dahl; Nordin, Lone Lindegaard; Simovska, Venka

    2016-01-01

    The article aims to explore the following question: "How is education for sustainable development and health education in schools approached and contextualized at a municipal level, and what contradictions and tensions might local structures imply for sustainable health promoting school development?" Based on interviews with key agents…

  1. Dewey and Italian School Policy: Proposals for Reform by Scuola e Città (1950–1960

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Mariuzzo

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyses the role of Ernesto Codignola’s «Florence School of Pedagogy» in the renewal of Italian democratic and secular education after World War II, particularly its commitment to the diffusion of John Dewey’s educational thinking across Italy, previously dominated by the influence of traditional neo-idealism. Through a systematic analysis of the journal Scuola e Città, the group’s mouthpiece, the paper highlights the importance of Dewey’s ideas in the elaboration of educational policy proposals and potential legislative measures for school reform. It analyses the extent to which the «Deweyan laboratory» in Florence contributed to the emergence and foundation of the positions held by one of its exponents, Ernesto Codignola’s son Tristano – the Italian Socialist Party’s Education minister, in the parliamentary debate of the Sixties. The paper focuses on three main themes: (i assessment of the government’s primary school curricula, drawn up in the mid-fifties, characterized by an overhaul of the existing educational practices, which Scuola e città authors considered to be insufficient and contradictory; (ii universal access to a junior secondary education along the lines of the comprehensive school model to guide the active stimulation of students’ abilities and interests; and (iii school administration reform in response to the persistence of pre-war centralism and the authoritarian character of traditional Italian pedagogy.

  2. EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    PÉTER BAGOLY-SIMÓ

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Over the last three decades, the concept of sustainable development has enjoyed growing attention. Transporting sustainable development into all forms of education is connected to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD. Due to its role in society, formal education plays a special part in the process of ESD implementation. This paper takes a closer look at the interconnectedness between sustainable development, ESD, and formal education by focusing on school geography, a subject with special affinity to both concepts and topics of ESD.

  3. Sustainability of outdoor school ground smoking bans at secondary schools : A mixed-method study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rozema, A. D.; Mathijssen, J. J. P.; Jansen, M. W. J.; Van Oers, J. A. M.

    2017-01-01

    Although increasing numbers of countries are implementing outdoor school ground smoking bans at secondary schools, less attention is paid to the post-implementation period even though sustainability of a policy is essential for long-term effectiveness. Therefore, this study assesses the level of

  4. Building and Sustaining Successful School Leadership in New Zealand

    Science.gov (United States)

    Notman, Ross; Henry, D. Annie

    2011-01-01

    This article outlines success factors of six New Zealand primary and secondary school principals. These factors are grouped under principals' personal characteristics, leadership skills that connect with their teachers, leadership strategies that impact positively on school stakeholder needs, and factors that sustain leadership success. Emerging…

  5. Using Symbolic Interactionism to Analyze a Specialized STEM High School Teacher's Experience in Curriculum Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teo, Tang Wee; Osborne, Margery

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, we present a microanalysis of a specialized STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) high school teacher's experience of self-initiated science inquiry curriculum reform. We examine the meanings of these two constructs: "inquiry curriculum" and "curriculum change" through the process lens of interactions, actions,…

  6. A School in Every Village: Educational Reform in a Northeast China County, 1904-31. Contemporary Chinese Studies Series

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanderVen, Elizabeth R.

    2012-01-01

    In the early 1900s, the Qing dynasty implemented a series of institutional reforms to shore up its power. The most important were a nationwide school system and the abolition of the centuries-old civil examinations. "A School in Every Village" recounts how villagers and local state officials in Haicheng County enacted orders to establish…

  7. Using Assessment to Drive the Reform of Schooling: Time to Stop Pursuing the Chimera?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torrance, Harry

    2011-01-01

    Internationally, over the last 20-30 years, changing the procedures and processes of assessment has come to be seen, by many educators as well as policy-makers, as a way to frame the curriculum and drive the reform of schooling. Such developments have often been manifested in large scale, high stakes testing programmes. At the same time…

  8. School-community learning partnerships for sustainability: Recommended best practice and reality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wheeler, Leone; Guevara, Jose Roberto; Smith, Jodi-Anne

    2018-05-01

    Effective partnerships across different stakeholders are essential to the collaboration required for learning cities to contribute to sustainable development. Through partnerships, formal educational institutions, such as schools and universities, play a vital role in establishing and sustaining learning cities, often by facilitating the meaningful participation of different local community members. The research presented in this article examines the characteristics of effective school-community partnerships in the literature and compares it to the results of a three-year research study which examined 16 case studies of school-community partnerships in the state of Victoria in Australia. Using participatory action research, the researchers identified four approaches to implementing partnerships for sustainability, explored challenges to achieving an idealised partnership, and made recommendations for establishing successful partnership networks. The researchers propose that partnerships be viewed as a dynamic resource rather than merely a transactional arrangement that addresses the identified challenges of time, funding, skills and personnel. Furthermore, the use of "partnership brokers", such as local government or non-government organisations, is recommended to expand the current school-centred approach to partnerships. These insights aim to contribute to providing quality education and lifelong learning through partnerships - outcomes crucial for establishing and sustaining learning cities.

  9. Community Responses to School Reform in Chicago: Opportunities for Local Stakeholder Engagement. A Report by Public Agenda for the Joyce Foundation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Public Agenda, 2012

    2012-01-01

    This is a report on how community stakeholders, including parents, teachers, community leaders and advocates, think about current efforts by Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to "turn around" Chicago's lowest-performing schools, and their expectations for future school reform actions. It was prepared by Public Agenda, with support from the…

  10. Mediating Global Reforms Locally: A Study of the Enabling Conditions for Promoting Active Learning in a Maldivian Island School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Biase, Rhonda

    2017-01-01

    This paper explores active learning reform in the small state of the Maldives. Acknowledging the implementation challenges of active learning approaches globally, the study explored the policy-practice intersection by examining the experiences of one island school and its approach to promoting active learning pedagogy. The school was selected for…

  11. Improving Finance for Qatari Education Reform. Research Brief

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guarino, Cassandra M.; Galama, Titus; Constant, Louay; Gonzalez, Gabriella; Tanner, Jeffery C.; Goldman, Charles A.

    2009-01-01

    Qatar's education reform, which included implementation of a new finance system, appears to be providing schools with adequate funding but is still struggling with issues of transparency and swift policy shifts that have been difficult to accommodate. [For full report, "Developing a School Finance System for K-12 Reform in Qatar", see…

  12. Critical Race Feminism and the Complex Challenges of Educational Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Childers-McKee, Cherese D.; Hytten, Kathy

    2015-01-01

    Throughout the past several decades, there has been an abundance of research about school reform, particularly in schools predominated by students of color and students experiencing poverty. Critics acknowledge that many reform efforts have failed and comprehensive solutions to school change remain elusive. In this article, we provide an overview…

  13. On being African and Reformed? Towards an African Reformed ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2014-06-17

    Jun 17, 2014 ... It is furthermore our contention that the notion of culture and African worldviews was always perceived negatively ..... dean of the South East Asia Graduate School of Theology. He later .... Another Reformed church for Indian.

  14. Leadership and Context Connectivity: Merging Two Forces for Sustainable School Improvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marishane, Nylon Ramodikoe

    2016-01-01

    School improvement is admittedly the main business of school leadership. However, while there is agreement on the importance of school improvement, sustaining this improvement remains a challenge. The challenge seems to lie in the disconnection between the leader and the context in which the school operates. This chapter presents contextual…

  15. High School Principal Transformational Leadership Behaviors and Teacher Extra Effort during Educational Reform: The Mediating Role of Teacher Agency Beliefs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boberg, John Eric

    2013-01-01

    Transformational leadership has been shown to affect organizational commitment, capacity development, and performance. However, these relationships have received very little attention in schools, especially high schools in the United States that are experiencing educational reform initiatives under No Child Left Behind. Using a sample of 1403 high…

  16. Abortion law in Nepal: the road to reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thapa, Shyam

    2004-11-01

    In 2002 Nepal's parliament passed a liberal abortion law, after nearly three decades of reform efforts. This paper reviews the history of the movement for reform and the combination of factors that contributed to its success. These include sustained advocacy for reform; the dissemination of knowledge, information and evidence; adoption of the reform agenda by the public sector and its leadership in involving other stakeholders; the existence of work for safe motherhood as the context in which the initiative could gain support; an active women's rights movement and support from international and multilateral organisations; sustained involvement of local NGOs, civil society and professional organisations; the involvement of journalists and the media; the absence of significant opposition; courageous government officials and an enabling democratic political system. The overriding rationale for reforming the abortion law in Nepal has been to ensure safe motherhood and women's rights. The first government abortion services officially began in March 2004 at the Maternity Hospital in Kathmandu; services will be expanded gradually to other public and private hospitals and private clinics in the coming years.

  17. Water Policy Reforms in South Korea: A Historical Review and Ongoing Challenges for Sustainable Water Governance and Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ik-Chang Choi

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to provide an opinion on the state-of-the-art of changes and reforms of water policies in South Korea, as well as the challenges along with their implications for sustainable water governance and management. In parallel with change in water resource characteristics generated by physical, environmental and socio-economic challenges such as: (1 uncertainties about climate change (flooding and drought including seasonal and regional variation in precipitation; (2 significant increase in water use caused by rapid urbanization and population growth in industrialized urban areas; (3 inadequate water pricing mechanism which covers only around 80% of the production cost and makes it harder to maintain water systems; and (4 recursive water quality degradation and conflicts over water rights between regions resulting from non-point source pollution in highland versus lowland areas, Korean water policies have been developed through diverse reforms over 100 years. Nevertheless, new challenges for sustainable water management are continuously emerging. To meet those challenges we provide two ideas: (i provider-gets-principle (payment for ecosystem services of cost-benefit sharing among stakeholders who benefit from water use; and (ii water pricing applying full-cost pricing-principle internalizing environmental externalities caused by the intensive water use. Funds secured from the application of those methods would facilitate: (1 support for upstream (rural low income householders suffering from economic restrictions; (2 improvement in water facilities; and (3 efficient water use and demand management in South Korea’s water sectors. We expect that this paper can examine the lessons relevant to challenges that South Korea faces and offer some implications on the formulation of new integration and further reforms of the institutions, laws and organizations responsible for managing water resources in South Korea.

  18. From Government to Governance: Teach for India and New Networks of Reform in School Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Subramanian, Vidya K.

    2018-01-01

    The Teach for India (TFI) programme, an important offshoot of the Teach for All/Teach for America global education network, began as a public-private partnership in 2009 in poorly functioning municipal schools in Pune and Mumbai. Like its American counterpart, the programme in India has similar ideas of reform and recruits college graduates and…

  19. The pedagogical and ethical legacy of a "successful" educational reform: The Citizen School Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischman, Gustavo E.; Gandin, Luis Armando

    2016-02-01

    The Citizen School Project (Escola Cidadã) was implemented from 1993 to 2004 in Porto Alegre, capital of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. This article presents the conception behind the Citizen School Project, the basic mechanisms created to implement and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, and some of its contradictions. After contextualising the educational reforms in Brazil during the 1980s and 1990s, the authors demonstrate how the Citizen School Project's emphasis on participation and democratisation was a radical departure from Brazil's traditional public education system. Next, they present the three main goals and structures of the Citizen School Project - democratisation of access to schools, democratisation of schools' administration, and democratisation of access to knowledge. They conclude by discussing some pedagogic, social and political dynamics which appear to be strong legacies of this pedagogical project. The authors also argue that the Citizen School Project has both improved the quality of education in Porto Alegre and is an important contribution to our collective thinking about the politics of "successful" educational policies.

  20. Documenting Elementary Teachers' Sustainability of Instructional Practices: A Mixed Method Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cotner, Bridget A.

    School reform programs focus on making educational changes; however, research on interventions past the funded implementation phase to determine what was sustained is rarely done (Beery, Senter, Cheadle, Greenwald, Pearson, et al., 2005). This study adds to the research on sustainability by determining what instructional practices, if any, of the Teaching SMARTRTM professional development program that was implemented from 2005--2008 in elementary schools with teachers in grades third through eighth were continued, discontinued, or adapted five years post-implementation (in 2013). Specifically, this study sought to answer the following questions: What do teachers who participated in Teaching SMARTRTM and district administrators share about the sustainability of Teaching SMARTRTM practices in 2013? What teaching strategies do teachers who participated in the program (2005--2008) use in their science classrooms five years postimplementation (2013)? What perceptions about the roles of females in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) do teachers who participated in the program (2005--2008) have five years later (2013)? And, What classroom management techniques do the teachers who participated in the program (2005--2008) use five years post implementation (2013)? A mixed method approach was used to answer these questions. Quantitative teacher survey data from 23 teachers who participated in 2008 and 2013 were analyzed in SAS v. 9.3. Descriptive statistics were reported and paired t-tests were conducted to determine mean differences by survey factors identified from an exploratory factor analysis, principal axis factoring, and parallel analysis conducted with teacher survey baseline data (2005). Individual teacher change scores (2008 and 2013) for identified factors were computed using the Reliable Change Index statistic. Qualitative data consisted of interviews with two district administrators and three teachers who responded to the survey in both

  1. Potential consequences of discard reform for seabird communities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bicknell, A.W.J.; Oro, D.; Camphuysen, K.; Votier, S.C.

    2013-01-01

    Upcoming reform of the European Union (EU) Common Fisheries Policy will be the biggest change in European fisheries management for a generation. A central plank of this reform is a proposed ban on discards, to aid the creation of economically and environmentally sustainable fisheries. This, together

  2. Reforming the 4th-Year Curriculum as a Springboard to Graduate Medical Training: One School's Experiences and Lessons Learned.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wackett, Andrew; Daroowalla, Feroza; Lu, Wei-Hsin; Chandran, Latha

    2016-01-01

    Concerns regarding the quality of training in the 4th year of medical school and preparation of graduates to enter residency education persist and are borne out in the literature. We reviewed the published literature regarding Year 4 concerns as well as institutional efforts to improve the 4th-year curriculum from several schools. Based on input from key stakeholders, we established 4 goals for our Year 4 curriculum reform: (a) standardize the curricular structure, (b) allow flexibility and individualization, (c) improve the preparation for residency, and (d) improve student satisfaction. After the reform, we evaluated the outcomes using results from the Association of American Medical Colleges Questionnaire, student focus groups, and program director surveys. This article describes the context, process, and outcomes of the reform of the Year 4 curriculum at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. We were able to achieve all four stated goals for the reform. The significant components of the change included a flexible adaptable curriculum based on individual needs and preferences, standardized learning objectives across the year, standardized competency-based evaluations regardless of discipline, reinforcement of clinical skills, and training for the transition to the workplace as an intern. The reform resulted in increased student satisfaction, increased elective time, and increased preparedness for residency training as perceived by the graduates. The Program Director survey showed significant changes in ability to perform a medical history and exam, management of common medical conditions and emergencies, clinical reasoning and problem-solving skills, working and communication with the healthcare team, and overall professionalism in meeting obligations inherent in the practice of medicine. Lessons learned from our 4th-year reform process are discussed. Listening to the needs of the stakeholders was an important step in ensuring buy-in, having an institutional

  3. Holistic Approach as Viewed by the Basic School Teachers in Latvia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badjanova, Jelena; Iliško, Dzintra

    2015-01-01

    The article points to new competencies required from basic school teachers, reinforced by the reform processes in the educational system in Latvia, the quality assurance of educational process, and modernisation and critical re-evaluation of educational materials and standards. The authors view sustainability as an integral part of reform…

  4. Fostering sustainable dietary habits through optimized school meals in Sweden – OPTIMAT

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eustachio Colombo, Patricia; Schäfer-Elinder, Liselotte; Parlesak, Alexandr

    2017-01-01

    The fulfilment of commitments to international agreements that relate to sustainable development requires fundamental changes in food consumption. This project aims to promote healthy and sustainable dietary habits in Sweden through optimized school meals. Several studies are planned. The first...... to contribute to more sustainable procurement and consumption patterns, a more efficient use of public resources, and to fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development....... is an analysis of children’s dietary intake in relation to school meal quality. The second is a modelling study where nutritious, affordable and theoretically acceptable food baskets, optimized for low emissions of greenhouse gases, are developed. Menus based on these baskets will be developed and tested...

  5. Win-Win transportation solutions price reforms with multiple benefits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Litman, T.

    2001-01-01

    Reform strategies in the transportation market, such as the Win-Win Transportation Solutions, can provide several economic, social and environmental benefits. The strategies are cost effective, technically feasible reforms based on market principles which help create a more equitable and efficient transportation system that supports sustainable economic development. The benefits they provide include reduced traffic congestion, road and parking facility savings, consumer savings, equity, safety and environmental protection. They also increase economic productivity. If fully implemented, they could reduce motor vehicle impacts by 15 to 30 per cent and could help achieve the Kyoto emission reduction targets. Examples of Win-Win strategies at the federal level include: (1) removal of subsidies to oil production and internalized costs, and (2) tax exempt employer provided transfer benefits. Examples of Win-Win strategies at the state/provincial level include: (1) distance-based vehicle insurance and registration fees, (2) least-coast transportation planning and funding, (3) revenue-neutral tax shifting, (4) road pricing, (5) reform motor carrier regulations for competition and efficiency, (6) local and regional transportation demand management programs, (7) more efficient land use, (8) more flexible zoning requirements, (9) parking cash out, (10) transportation management associations, (11) location-efficient housing and mortgages, (12) school and campus trip management, (13) car sharing, (14) non-motorized transport improvements, and (15) traffic calming. It was noted that any market reform that leads to more efficient use of existing transportation systems can provide better economic development benefits. 9 refs., 1 tab., 1 fig

  6. Schools That Sustain: Lessening the Environmental Impact of New Construction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peele, Katherine N.; Malone, Sara

    2002-01-01

    Discusses sustainable school design and its benefits to the environment, offering examples of illustrative schools. Provides suggestions on site selection (such as using smaller sites and recycling existing buildings), sharing facilities with the community, and construction elements that improve environmental impact (such as flexibility,…

  7. Education Reform in Hong Kong

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chris Dowson

    2000-05-01

    Full Text Available Since the early 1990s, the pace of educational reform in Hong Kong has accelerated and broadened to incorporate almost all areas of schooling. The reforms introduced during this period can be subsumed under what has generally been labelled the quality movement. In this paper, we review and comment on a number of policy reform initiatives in the four areas of "Quality Education," English Language Benchmarking, Initial Teacher Training and the Integration of Pupils with Special Needs into Ordinary Classrooms. Following a brief description of each policy initiative, the reforms are discussed in terms of their consistency, coherence and cultural fit.

  8. Energy consumption restricted productivity re-estimates and industrial sustainability analysis in post-reform China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Shiyi; Santos-Paulino, Amelia U.

    2013-01-01

    This paper investigates the impact of energy on China's industrial sustainability by using a novel approach to estimate real total factor productivity. The growth accounting indicates that the substantial industrial reforms in China have led to productivity growth. Energy and capital are also important factors driving China's industrial growth. Productivity growth in China's industry is mostly attributable to the high-tech light industrial sectors. - Highlights: ► Productivity has become the most important growth engine in majority of sectors. ► Energy and capital are also important factors promoting China's industrial growth. ► The productivity improvement is more attributable to high-tech light industry. ► The heavy industry performs worse than the light one in terms of productivity

  9. Changes in educational inequalities in Poland. Comments on Zbigniew Sawiński’s article “Education reform and inequality: fifteen years of new lower secondary schools in Poland”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MICHAŁ SITEK

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available In his text published in Edukacja, 141(2, 2017 („Education reform and inequality: fifteen years of new lower secondary schools in Poland”, Zbigniew Sawiński analyses data from the 2000 to 2012 editions of the OECD PISA study and argues that lower secondary school reform has not reduced educational inequalities in Poland. The importance of students’ social origin remained at the same level as before the reform, the impact of social origin on the choice of type of secondary school remained the same, and an increasing differentiation of lower secondary schools did not lead to an increase in educational inequalities. I present methodological arguments and the results of a re-analysis of PISA data, indicating changes in wider educational inequalities. Between 2000 and 2012: (a the strength of association in the performance of 15-year-olds with the socio-economic status of students’ families did not change, but (b the variation of results decreased, which was mainly due to the improved performance of the lowest performing students, (c the differences between students of high and low socio-economic status decreased, (d the influence of social origin on the choice of the type of upper secondary school decreased. The effects of socio-economic status on upper secondary school choice is largely direct: it is not mediated by the educational achievements of students. The commentary also highlights the complexity of lower secondary school reform, which was not limited to the introduction of such schools. I indicate the role of factors that make it difficult to interpret the results of the reform in causal terms – particularly the role of unobserved variables related to the changes in the learning environments of subsequent cohorts of students.

  10. Turning Lightning into Electricity: Organizing Parents for Education Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Andrew P.

    2014-01-01

    Families are the primary clients of public schools, but they are one of many constituencies who have a say in how schools actually operate. In all the technocratic fervor around "education reform"--the broad effort to implement standards and accountability, reform teacher tenure and evaluation, and increase parental choice--it is easy to…

  11. A Decade of Education Reform in Thailand: Broken Promise or Impossible Dream?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hallinger, Philip; Lee, Moosung

    2011-01-01

    This study addresses the perceived gap between the vision of education reform in Thailand embodied in its Education Reform Law of 1999 and the results of implementation a decade later. Drawing upon opportunistic data obtained from a sample of 162 Thai school principals, we analyze trends in reform implementation across schools in all regions and…

  12. Achieving Flourishing City Schools and Communities--Corporate Reform, Neoliberal Urbanism, and the Right to the City

    Science.gov (United States)

    Means, Alexander

    2014-01-01

    This essay critiques the ideological assertions of corporate school reform and discusses how these logics perpetuate failure in urban education. Drawing on theories of neoliberal urbanism, the right to the city, and the commons, the essay argues that educational researchers and advocates need to reframe the values of urban education in line with a…

  13. Financial reform lessons and strategies

    OpenAIRE

    Caprio Jr, Gerard; Atiyas, Izak; Hanson, James

    1993-01-01

    The argument in favor of gradual - but sustained - financial reform is based on two factors. First, the development of borrower net worth will determine the health of the real and, ultimately, the financial sector. Thus, speeding up reforms when borrower net worth is subject to positive shocks - or slowing them when it is subject to negative shocks - appears sensible and appears to have worked better in practice. Second, the initial conditions of the banking sector - not just its net worth bu...

  14. Factors affecting science reform: Bridging the gap between reform initiatives and teaching practices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pensak, Karl John

    In response to the perceived deficiencies in science education today, and to the expressed need for research into the culture of schools (due primarily to the failure of many science reforms in the past), this study used a broad based approach to study the gap between science education research and science education practice. This study identified 47 factors that may encourage or inhibit science curriculum reform. A survey was conducted to determine which factors were perceived to be important by local and national K-12 classroom teachers, science supervisors/coordinators, and college/university professors. Continual staff development (scheduled as part of teachers' work day/week/month), funding (for long-term staff development, teacher training and support, science laboratory facilities and materials), teacher motivation and "ownership" of the reform, the need for collaborative opportunities for classroom teachers, teachers' college preparation, textbook reform, community support, and reform initiatives that are "in tune" with assessment, are major factors identified as having a substantial affect on the successful adoption, implementation, and institutionalization of science reforms.

  15. Massachusetts health reform: employer coverage from employees' perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, Sharon K; Stockley, Karen

    2009-01-01

    The national health reform debate continues to draw on Massachusetts' 2006 reform initiative, with a focus on sustaining employer-sponsored insurance. This study provides an update on employers' responses under health reform in fall 2008, using data from surveys of working-age adults. Results show that concerns about employers' dropping coverage or scaling back benefits under health reform have not been realized. Access to employer coverage has increased, as has the scope and quality of their coverage as assessed by workers. However, premiums and out-of-pocket costs have become more of an issue for employees in small firms.

  16. Systemic levers for change towards sustainable institutionalisation of ICT in schools

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Meyer, I

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available pressure on the school environment, since schools are unable to sustain the change introduced without support from their formal support systems. Although the ICT for Rural Education Development (ICT4RED) initiative was successful in integrating technology...

  17. Interactions of selected policy-stakeholder groups implementing middle school science standards-based systemic reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boydston, Theodore Lewis, III

    1999-12-01

    This research is an interpretive inquiry into the views and interactions of stakeholders in a district office of a large school system responsible for implementing science systemic reform. Three major sources of data were used in this research: surveys, stakeholder interviews, and autobiographical reflection on experiences as part of the reform initiative. This is an emergent research that is evident in the shift in the focus of research questions and their supporting assumptions during the research. The literature review describes standards-based reform, arguments about reform, and the major dimensions of reform research. The results of the survey of stakeholders revealed that the views among the stakeholder groups followed the system hierarchy and could be separated into two large groups; staff responsible for implementing the reform initiative and the other stakeholder groups. Each of these groups was composed of identifiable subgroups. The interviews with stakeholders revealed how their different attitudes, values, and beliefs frame the context of stakeholder interactions. An over reliance on an authoritarian view of decision-making leaves many stakeholders feeling disempowered and critical of others. This atmosphere promotes blaming, which inhibits collegial interaction. Work experiences in the district office revealed how stakeholders' unaddressed assumptions, attitudes, and beliefs promote fragmentation and competition rather than cooperation. Hidden assumptions about management by control and mandate, competition, and teaching and learning appear to restrain the interactions of stakeholders. Support of the National Science Education Standards was identified as a unifying view among the stakeholders, yet the professional development program focused on content and pedagogical knowledge without addressing stakeholder concerns and beliefs about the intended constructivist framework of the program. Stakeholders' attitudes about the issue of equity demonstrated

  18. Sustainability and Chinese Urban Settlements: Extending the Metabolism Model of Emergy Evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lijie Gao

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Anthropogenic activity interacts with urban form and inner metabolic processes, ultimately impacting urban sustainability. China’s cities have experienced many environmental issues and metabolic disturbances since the nation-wide market-oriented “reform and opening-up” policy was adopted in the 1980s. To analyze urban reform policy impacts and metabolism sustainability at a settlement scale, this study provides an integrated analysis to evaluate settlement metabolism and sustainability using a combination of emergy analysis and sustainability indicators based on scrutiny of two typical settlements (one pre- and one post-reform. The results reveal that housing reform policy stimulated better planning and construction, thereby improving built environmental quality, mixed functional land use, and residential livability. The pre-reform work-unit settlements are comparatively denser in per capita area but have less mixed land use. Housing reform has spatially changed the work–housing balance and increased commuting travel demand. However, short commuting distances in pre-reform settlements will not always decrease overall motor vehicle usage. Integrating non-commuting transport with local mixed land-use functional planning is a necessary foundation for sustainable urban design. Functional planning should provide convenient facilities and infrastructure, green space, and a suitable household density, and allow for short travel distances; these characteristics are all present in the post-reform settlement.

  19. Constructivism and Pedagogical Reform in China: Issues and Challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Charlene

    2017-01-01

    This article critically discusses the constructivist ideas, assumptions and practices that undergird the current pedagogical reform in China. The pedagogical reform is part of a comprehensive curriculum reform that has been introduced across schools in Mainland China. Although the official documents did not specify the underpinning theories for…

  20. Survey of Attitudes towards Curriculum Reforms among Medical Teachersin Different Socio-economic and Cultural Environments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dahl, Mads Ronald

    2007-01-01

    Curriculum reforms in medical schools require cultural and conceptual changes from the faculty. We assessed attitudes towards curriculum reforms in different academic, economic, and social environments among 776 teachers from 2 Western European medical schools (Belgium and Denmark) and 7 medical...... schools in 3 countries in post-communist transition (Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina). The survey included a 5-point Likert-type scale on attitudes towards reforms in general and towards reforms of medical curriculum (10 items each). Teaching staff from medical schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina...... had more positive attitude towards reforms of medical curriculum (mean score 36.8 out of maximum 50 [95% CI 36.1 to 37.3]) than those from medical schools in Croatia or Slovenia (30.7 [29.8 to 31.6]) or Western Europe (27.7 [27.1 to 28.3]) (Pattitudes...

  1. Organizational Structures and Processes to Support and Sustain Effective Technical Assistance in a State-Wide Multi-Tiered System of Support Initiative

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morrison, Julie Q.; Russell, Christine; Dyer, Stephanie; Metcalf, Terri; Rahschulte, Rebecca L.

    2014-01-01

    Despite the national proliferation of technical assistance as a driver for school reform and as a model for embedded and sustained professional development, very little is known about the organizational structures and processes needed to support technical assistance. The purpose of this paper is to describe a structured needs assessment process…

  2. Implementation, Sustainability, and Scaling up of Social-Emotional and Academic Innovations in Public Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elias, Maurice J.; Zins, Joseph E.; Graczyk, Patricia A.; Weissberg, Roger P.

    2003-01-01

    Many attempts at bringing successful educational programs and products "to scale" as part of school reform, particularly in urban districts, have been disappointing. Based on the experiences of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and reviews of literature addressing implementation failures, observations about…

  3. Toward Food System Sustainability through School Food System Change: Think&EatGreen@School and the Making of a Community-University Research Alliance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yael Harlap

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the theoretical and conceptual framework and the research and practice model of Think&EatGreen@School, a community-based action research project aiming to foster food citizenship in the City of Vancouver and to develop a model of sustainable institutional food systems in public schools. The authors argue that educational and policy interventions at the school and school board level can drive the goals of food system sustainability, food security, and food sovereignty. The complex relationship between food systems, climate change and environmental degradation require that international initiatives promoting sustainability be vigorously complemented by local multi-stakeholder efforts to preserve or restore the capacity to produce food in a durable manner. As a step towards making the City of Vancouver green, we are currently involved in attempts to transform the food system of the local schools by mobilizing the energy of a transdisciplinary research team of twelve university researchers, over 300 undergraduate and graduate students, and twenty community-based researchers and organizations working on food, public health, environmental and sustainability education.

  4. Business Curriculum and Assessment Reform in Hong Kong Schools: A Critical Review from a Competence-Based Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Christina Wai Mui

    2010-01-01

    From September 2009 onwards, a new business curriculum which focuses on three key business disciplines, namely management, accounting and finance, has been implemented in Hong Kong senior secondary schools. A new assessment guide has been also proposed in light of the new curriculum. Such business curriculum and assessment reform move in the…

  5. America Y2K: The Obsolescence of Educational Reforms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sherman Dorn

    2000-01-01

    Full Text Available The passing of the deadline for fulfillment of the national education goals in the United States (the beginning of 2000 reflects the frequently hyperbolic statements of objectives and the manic pace of school reform efforts over the past two decades. The domination by schools of child and family life has combined with a longstanding reliance on schools to solve social problems to make school reform a politically opportune as well as visible issue. Thus, even if the phrasing of national education goals in the U.S. changes to reflect the passing of the nominal deadline, those pressures will remain.

  6. A Framework for Sustainable Mobile Learning in Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ng, Wan; Nicholas, Howard

    2013-01-01

    While there are studies that have looked at the implementation of mobile learning in educational institutions, particularly the identification of issues encountered, few studies have explored holistically the elements that sustain mobile learning. This study dissects the findings of a longitudinal study of a secondary school adopting a personal…

  7. Education Reform: Ten Years after the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linda Driscoll, Joseph B. Berger, Ronald K. Hambleton, Lisa A. Keller, Robert W. Maloy, David Hart, Paul Oh, Victoria Getis, Susan Bowles, Francis L. Gougeon, Kathryn A. McDermott, Andrew Churchill

    2005-02-01

    Full Text Available In June 1993, Governor William Weld signed into law the Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA. MERA greatly increased the state role both in funding public education and in guiding the local educational process. The state’s role changed to incorporate setting curriculum frameworks and holding schools accountable for student performance. Because MERA was designed to be a systemic reform of education, all of the various state activities and policies needed to fit together into a coherent whole based on state educational standards.

  8. Misrecognition and science education reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandt, Carol B.

    2012-09-01

    In this forum, I expand upon Teo and Osborne's discussion of teacher agency and curriculum reform. I take up and build upon their analysis to further examine one teacher's frustration in enacting an inquiry-based curriculum and his resulting accommodation of an AP curriculum. In this way I introduce the concept of misrecognition (Bourdieu and Passeron 1977) to open up new ways of thinking about science inquiry and school reform.

  9. K-5 mentor teachers' journeys toward reform-oriented science within a professional development school context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manno, Jacqueline L.

    Reform-oriented science teaching with a specific focus on evidence and explanation provides a student-centered learning environment which encourages children to question, seek answers to those questions, experience phenomena, share ideas, and develop explanations of science concepts based on evidence. One of the ways schools have risen to meet the challenge of ever-increasing demands for success in science and all other curricular areas has been in the development of professional development schools (PDSs). Dedicated to the simultaneous renewal of schools and teacher education programs, the structure of a PDS plays a significant role in the change process. The purpose of this research study was to investigate the nature of change in mentor teachers' beliefs and pedagogical practices toward science teaching in the elementary school as conveyed through their own "stories of practice". The major research questions that guided the study were: (1) How do mentor teachers describe their science teaching practices and how have they changed as a result of participation in PDS? (a) In what ways do PDS mentor teachers' descriptions of practice reflect contemporary reform ideas and practices in science education? (b) To what extent do their stories emphasize technical aspects of teaching versus epistemological changes in their thinking and knowledge? (c) How is student learning in science reflected in teachers' stories of practice? (2) What is the relationship between the levels and types of involvement in PDS to change in thinking about and practices of teaching science? (3) What is the depth of commitment that mentors convey about changes in science teaching practices? Using case study design, the research explored the ways experienced teachers, working within the context of a PDS community, described changes in the ways they think about and teach science. The connection to the issue of change in teaching practices grew out of interest in understanding the relationship

  10. Creating sustainable learning environments in schools by means of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Creating sustainable learning environments in schools by means of strategic ... be addressed by means of proper strategic planning of the education system as such ... The authors who are academics at a university and who are specializing in ...

  11. The Civil Service Reform in the Context of Sustainable Development. A Comparison between Romania and Italy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bogdan BERCEANU

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available In the last decade the public administration system from most of the EU countries suffered many transformations in order to achieve the objectives proposed by the European Union, such as sustainable development. The civil service represented and still is a very important key factor for a success reformation of the administrative system, because it represents the main resource of the system. The analysis underlines the introduction of the public manager in the Romanian civil service hierarchy and the introduction of the concept dirigenza pubblica, a type of public management, in the Italian public administration. Moreover, we will present the introduction of the dirigente pubblico, public manager, in the Italian civil service system.

  12. Merging Educational Finance Reform and Desegregation Goals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deborah M. Kazal-Thresher

    1993-06-01

    Full Text Available Educational finance reforms and desegregation have both sought to address inequities in educational opportunities for minorities and low income families. The recent methods of addressing desegregation issues have tended to focus on attaining racial balance rather than educational quality, however. This paper explores how desegregation goals can be merged with educational finance reform to more systematically address educational quality in schools serving low income and minority populations. By moving toward centralized control over school financing, the inequity of school outcomes that are based on unequal school resources can be reduced. In addition, state determined expenditures when combined with desegregation monies, would meet the original intention of desegregation funds by clearly providing add-on monies for additional services for minority children, while at the same time, creating a better monitoring mechanism.

  13. Public Pension Plan Reform: The Legal Framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monahan, Amy B.

    2010-01-01

    There is significant interest in reforming retirement plans for public school employees, particularly in light of current market conditions. This article presents an overview of the various types of state regulation of public pension plans that affect possibilities for reform. Nearly all of the various approaches to public pension plan protection…

  14. EIA: Educational Reform or Repression?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monteith, Dianne S.

    A recent study (Cook, 1989) involving 58 randomly selected South Carolina elementary schools indicated that none of these schools could be characterized as having an "open climate." This paper suggests that this situation may have its origins in the educational reform movement of the 1980s, first ignited by the publication of "A…

  15. Intertextuality in Educational Reform: Reflections on Equity in Swedish School Reform La Intertextualidad en las reformas educativas: reflexiones sobre la equidad en la reforma escolar sueca.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guadalupe Francia

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available This article proposes intertextuality as a conceptual instrument for the deeper understanding of the phenomenon of equity in educational Reform in times of decentralization. This analysis starts from a dynamic vision of education reforms as interactions of texts. To illustrate the use of intertextual analysis of equity in education, this article introduces and discusses the analyzed examples of the educational national policy and of educational practice in the educational reform implemented in the 90?s and currently in force in the compulsory school in Sweden. It is argued that the meaning of equity is never a fixed one; it varies according to the interactions between political texts at a national level and texts of educational practice at communal and school levels. En este artículo se propone la intertextualidad como herramienta conceptual para lograr una mayor comprensión de la equidad en las reformas educativas en tiempos de descentralización. En este análisis se parte de una visión de reforma educativa como sistema dinámico de interacciones de textos. Para ilustrar la utilidad del análisis intertextual de la equidad educativa se presentan y discuten ejemplos de la política y de la práctica escolar en la reforma introducida en la década de los noventa y actualmente vigente en la escuela obligatoria sueca. Se argumenta que el significado de equidad nunca es fijo, sino que varía de acuerdo con las interacciones de los diferentes textos de la política educativa y de la práctica escolar.

  16. Disruptive Fixation: School Reform and the Pitfalls of Techno-Idealism. Princeton Studies in Culture and Technology Series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sims, Christo

    2017-01-01

    In New York City in 2009, a new kind of public school opened its doors to its inaugural class of middle schoolers. Conceived by a team of game designers and progressive educational reformers and backed by prominent philanthropic foundations, it promised to reinvent the classroom for the digital age. Ethnographer Christo Sims documented the life of…

  17. The Quasi-Human Child: How Normative Conceptions of Childhood Enabled Neoliberal School Reform in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sonu, Debbie; Benson, Jeremy

    2016-01-01

    This paper argues that normative conceptions of the child, as a natural quasi-human being in need of guidance, enable current school reforms in the United States to directly link the child to neoliberal aims and objectives. In using Foucault's concept of governmentality and disciplinary power, we first present how the child is constructed as a…

  18. German Chemistry Teachers' Understanding of Sustainability and Education for Sustainable Development--An Interview Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burmeister, Mareike; Schmidt-Jacob, Sabine; Eilks, Ingo

    2013-01-01

    Sustainability became a regulatory idea of national and international policies worldwide with the advent of the Agenda 21. One part of these policies includes promoting sustainability through educational reform. With the United Nations World Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), spanning the years 2005 to 2014, all school…

  19. Payment reform in the patient-centered medical home: Enabling and sustaining integrated behavioral health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Benjamin F; Ross, Kaile M; Davis, Melinda M; Melek, Stephen P; Kathol, Roger; Gordon, Patrick

    2017-01-01

    The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is a promising framework for the redesign of primary care and more recently specialty care. As defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the PCMH framework has 5 attributes: comprehensive care, patient-centered care, coordinated care, accessible services, and quality and safety. Evidence increasingly demonstrates that for the PCMH to best achieve the Triple Aim (improved outcomes, decreased cost, and enhanced patient experience), treatment for behavioral health (including mental health, substance use, and life stressors) must be integrated as a central tenet. However, challenges to implementing the PCMH framework are compounded for real-world practitioners because payment reform rarely happens concurrently. Nowhere is this more evident than in attempts to integrate behavioral health clinicians into primary care. As behavioral health clinicians find opportunities to work in integrated settings, a comprehensive understanding of payment models is integral to the dialogue. This article describes alternatives to the traditional fee for service (FFS) model, including modified FFS, pay for performance, bundled payments, and global payments (i.e., capitation). We suggest that global payment structures provide the best fit to enable and sustain integrated behavioral health clinicians in ways that align with the Triple Aim. Finally, we present recommendations that offer specific, actionable steps to achieve payment reform, complement PCMH, and support integration efforts through policy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  20. Sustainable Architecture in the Context of Education: Reponses of Primary School Teachers on the Topical Subject

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cencič Majda

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The concept of sustainability and a sustainable and ecological development are common debate topics in today’s society. This paper discusses the concept of sustainability in green building with regard to schools. The research was conducted on a representative sample of primary school teachers, focusing on some of their opinions on green building. We asked them which aspect of building they favoured and how often they asked themselves certain questions about the school they taught in. Furthermore, we were interested to see whether we would find age-related differences. To this end, teachers were divided into two groups, namely, teachers of up to 35 years of age and teachers over 35. We were surprised to find that teachers over 35 had a more positive attitude towards green building in schools compared to their younger colleagues. Based on the results, we came to a conclusion that the topics pertaining to ecology and sustainable development are neglected in today’s education. However, making them part of school curriculum is not enough, as the opinions and attitudes of teachers on sustainable and ecological issues also have an important impact on the subject-matter itself.

  1. Evaluating the Sustainability of School-Based Health Centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navarro, Stephanie; Zirkle, Dorothy L; Barr, Donald A

    2017-01-01

    The United States is facing a surge in the number of school-based health centers (SBHCs) owing to their success in delivering positive health outcomes and increasing access to care. To preserve this success, experts have developed frameworks for creating sustainable SBHCs; however, little research has affirmed or added to these models. This research seeks to analyze elements of sustainability in a case study of three SBHCs in San Diego, California, with the purpose of creating a research-based framework of SBHC sustainability to supplement expertly derived models. Using a mixed methods study design, data were collected from interviews with SBHC stakeholders, observations in SBHCs, and SBHC budgets. A grounded theory qualitative analysis and a quantitative budget analysis were completed to develop a theoretical framework for the sustainability of SBHCs. Forty-one interviews were conducted, 6 hours of observations were completed, and 3 years of SBHC budgets were analyzed to identify care coordination, community buy-in, community awareness, and SBHC partner cooperation as key themes of sustainability promoting patient retention for sustainable billing and reimbursement levels. These findings highlight the unique ways in which SBHCs gain community buy-in and awareness by becoming trusted sources of comprehensive and coordinated care within communities and among vulnerable populations. Findings also support ideas from expert models of SBHC sustainability calling for well-defined and executed community partnerships and quality coordinated care in the procurement of sustainable SBHC funding.

  2. Evidence as Source of Power in School Reforms: The Quest for the Extension of Compulsory Education in Zurich

    Science.gov (United States)

    Imlig, Flavian; Ruoss, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    This article investigates the use of evidence in educational policy and politics, and how this use has changed over time. Using an analytical framework that combines research approaches from both political and educational science, evidence-related arguments in two major school reforms in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland are described. In…

  3. Teachers’ Working Conditions Amid Swedish School Choice Reform: Avenues for Further Research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karolina Åsa Parding

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Since the 1990s, governance changes, including customer choice agendas, have permeated the public sector and, consequently, welfare sector professionals’ work. One example is the education sector. The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss avenues for further research when it comes to teachers’ working conditions in the light of current choice agendas. This is accomplished by presenting an overview of previous studies on implications of the reforms for teachers’ working conditions. How are these conditions described in relation to the current school choice agenda in Sweden? What directions should be applied to increase knowledge of these conditions? We conclude by identifying some avenues for further research: the issues of organization of work, temporal and spatial dimensions of working conditions, and finally comparative studies of various forms, are suggested as warranting further investigation to highlight the diversified labor market in which teachers find themselves today.Keywords: Competition, governance change, privatization, professional work, school choice, Sweden, teaching profession, working conditions

  4. Planning for Sustainability of an Evidence-Based Mental Health Promotion Program in Canadian Elementary Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leadbeater, Bonnie J; Gladstone, Emilie J; Sukhawathanakul, Paweena

    2015-09-01

    Substantial research illuminates many factors effecting the implementation of evidence-based mental health promotion programs in schools; however, research on how schools plan for sustaining their investments in these programs is limited. In this qualitative study, we elicited descriptions of opportunities and challenges for sustainability. We interviewed 24 individuals from schools involved in a longitudinal, qualitative research project that followed uptake and implementation of the evidence-based WITS Programs across 2 years (Leadbeater et al. 2012). WITS stands for Walk away, Ignore, Talk it out and Seek help and the online WITS Programs focus on preventing peer victimization ( www.witsprograms.ca ). Our findings suggest that sustainability planning in schools is not merely a next step following high quality implementation, but rather involves multiple ongoing processes that need to be anticipated and supported by school leadership and program champions and developers in order to realize investments in evidence-based programs.

  5. Global social issues in the curriculum

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Simovska, Venka; Kremer Prøsch, Åsa

    2016-01-01

    and sustainability education and treats the two issues as societal challenges that are important to address in schools as educational examples. We draw on the literature on school leadership challenges linked to global neoliberal trends in educational reform. The context of the study is the on-going school reform...... somewhat more than sustainability education; however, both are characterized by insufficient attention to teachers’ professional development and the low prioritization of collaboration within the school and between the school and community actors. Acknowledging the contradicting demands that principals...... face in the context of the reform, we argue for reconnecting the concept of leadership with the wider purposes of schooling and for providing space for an emergent, whole-school curriculum that addresses health and sustainability....

  6. Development and validation of a CFD-based steam reformer model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kær, Søren Knudsen; Dahlqvist, Mathis; Saksager, Anders

    2006-01-01

    Steam reforming of liquid biofuels (ethanol, bio-diesel etc.) represents a sustainable source of hydrogen for micro Combined Heat and Power (CHP) production as well as Auxiliary Power Units (APUs). In relation to the design of the steam reforming reactor several parameter are important including...... for expensive prototypes. This paper presents an advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics based model of a steam reformer. The model was implemented in the commercial CFD code Fluent through the User Defined Functions interface. The model accounts for the flue gas flow as well as the reformate flow including...... a detailed mechanism for the reforming reactions. Heat exchange between the flue gas and reformate streams through the reformer reactor walls was also included as a conjugate heat transfer process.  From a review of published models for the catalytic steam reforming of ethanol and preliminary predictions...

  7. Sustainable school infrastructure through effective innovative building technology selection

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Mphahlele, C

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of a model proposed for the selection Innovative Building Technologies (IBTs) and procurement of services supporting the erection of the IBTs that will ensure the construction of a sustainable school...

  8. An Alternative Theoretical Model for Economic Reforms in Africa ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper offers an alternative model for economic reforms in Africa. It proposes that Africa can still get on the pathway of sustained economic growth if economic reforms can focus on a key variable, namely, the price of non-tradables. Prices of non-tradables are generally less in Africa than in advanced economies, and the ...

  9. Educational and school managers training in the context of educational reforms: consensus and dissensus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Paula Oliveira Rescia

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper shows some of the results from a doctoral research on the educational and school managers training to the beginning of XXI century, in the context of decentralization and trends of educational reforms in Latin America at the end of 1980s and 1990s. Guided by a qualitative, bibliographic and documentary research, the methodological procedures had reference in studies conducted by international organizations, such as: UNESCO, ECLAC and ILPE as well as scholars from different management paradigms, considering the Latin-American education systems’ needs. In Brazil, we sought to understand the requirements of transformation of local competences in planning and educational management after implications and managers training initiatives within this new reality. Therefore, it was analyzed for comparative purposes, three educational and school managers training programs in public schools: Management Circuit Program; Distance Learning Program for School Managers and the Managers’ School Program of Public Basic Education. It was intended to identify the trends of each program for educational and school managers training, with a view to the changes occurred in our society and education and the requirements to acquire new skills and abilities. As conclusion, the research indicated that although the training programs have originated from different instances and explain various guidelines, everything converges to the same set of skills in educational and school managers training.

  10. Evaluation of a School Building in Turkey According to the Basic Sustainable Design Criteria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arslan, H. D.

    2017-08-01

    In Turkey, as well as many other developing countries, the significance of sustainable education buildings has only recently become recognized and the issue of sustainability issue has not been sufficiently involved in laws and regulations. In this study, first of all architectural sustainability with basic design criteria has been explained. After that selected type primary school project in Turkey has been evaluated according to the sustainable design criteria. Type project of school buildings significantly limits the sustainability performance expected from buildings. It is clear that type projects shorten the planning time as they include a designing process that is independent of settlement and they are repeated in various places with different characteristics, indeed. On the other hand; abundance of disadvantages such as the overlook of the natural physical and structural properties of the location mostly restricts the sustainable design of the building. For sustainable buildings, several factors such as the environment, land, climate, insolation, direction etc. shall be taken into consideration at the beginning stage. Therefore; implementation of type projects can be deemed to be inappropriate for sustainability.

  11. Placing Math Reform: Locating Latino English Learners in Math Classrooms and Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erbstein, Nancy

    2015-01-01

    This article explores how place matters in public school reform efforts intended to promote more equitable opportunities and outcomes. Qualitative case studies of three California middle schools' eighth grade math reforms and the resulting opportunities for Latino English learners are presented, using the conceptual frameworks of critical human…

  12. Reform and Harmonization of Legislation concerning Environment and Spatial Planning towards Sustainable Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maret Priyanta

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In an effort to achieve of state responsibility, national development carried out by all components of the nation. National development formulated and established by the government through a system of national development planning. In the implementation of development activities that use natural resources, legislation in the field of environment and spatial planning is an important aspect as the legal basis, in which the substance and purpose of the rules is not only derived from legal aspect, but also derived from sciences field environment and spatial planning. This research uses normative juridical approach, through the method of approach to legislation, the conceptual approach and an analytical approach. The scope of this normative juridical research includes a study of the principles of law, an inventory study of positive law and legal research on systematic. Regulatory issues in the field of environment and spatial planning in Indonesia in the context of sustainable development was originally rooted in the process of establishing legislation. In terms of the substance of which is set to have a tendency no longer rooted in the sciences that underlie environmental law and spatial. Concept of reform and harmonization of legislation field of environment and spatial planning in Indonesia in the context of sustainable development must be assessed in terms of the scientific approach to the whole holistic, inter and multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral to harmonize science related to the environment and spatial planning with the principles, theory and philosophy in Legal studies.

  13. Perceptions of Principals, Teachers, and School Food, Health, and Nutrition Professionals Regarding the Sustainability and Utilization of School Food Gardens

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaeschke, Elizabeth M.; Schumacher, Julie Raeder; Cullen, Robert W.; Wilson, Mardell A.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose/Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of various school personnel who are key participants in child nutrition and wellness regarding the sustainability and use of school gardens. Methods: A convenience sample of staff from schools with school gardens across the United States was established, consisting of:…

  14. Final report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission: will we get the health care governance reform we need?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stoelwinder, Johannes U

    2009-10-05

    The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) has recommended that Australia develop a "single health system", governed by the federal government. Steps to achieving this include: a "Healthy Australia Accord" to agree on the reform framework; the progressive takeover of funding of public hospitals by the federal government; and the possible implementation of a consumer-choice health funding model, called "Medicare Select". These proposals face significant implementation issues, and the final solution needs to deal with both financial and political sustainability. If the federal and state governments cannot agree on a reform plan, the Prime Minister may need to go to the electorate for a mandate, which may be shaped by other economic issues such as tax reform and intergenerational challenges.

  15. The impact of education on the probability of receiving periodontal treatment. Causal effects measured by using the introduction of a school reform in Norway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grytten, Jostein; Skau, Irene

    2017-09-01

    The aim of the present study was to estimate the causal effect of education on the probability of receiving periodontal treatment in the adult Norwegian population. In Norway, a substantial part of the cost of periodontal treatment is subsidized by the National Insurance Scheme. In that case, one might expect that the influence of individual resources, such as education, on receiving treatment would be reduced or eliminated. Causal effects were estimated by using data on a school reform in Norway. During the period 1960-1972, all municipalities in Norway were required to increase the number of compulsory years of schooling from seven to nine years. The education reform was used to create exogenous variation in the education variable. The education data were combined with large sets of data from the Norwegian Health Economics Administration and Statistics Norway. Since municipalities implemented the reform at different times, we have both cross-sectional and time-series variation in the reform instrument. Thus we were able to estimate the effect of education on the probability of receiving periodontal treatment by controlling for municipality fixed effects and trend variables. The probability of receiving periodontal treatment increased by 1.4-1.8 percentage points per additional year of schooling. This is a reasonably strong effect, which indicates that policies to increase the level of education in the population can be an effective tool to improve oral health, including periodontal health. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Educational Reform in Management Courses of Agricultural & Forestry Higher Vocational Schools from the Perspective of Microblog

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Liuhe; JIN

    2014-01-01

    At present there are many socialized microblog platforms.With powerful mobility,real-time information,fragment of information dissemination,and innovation of interaction,the microblog has become a socialized interaction mode in recent years.Since microblog is very popular with students of agricultural and forestry higher vocational schools,with the rising and development of network education,the microblog as a new information platform will be used by more and more teachers in education.From the perspective of microblog,this paper studied educational reform in management courses of agricultural and forestry higher vocational schools,in the hope of providing certain reference and help for current education practice of agricultural and forestry management courses.

  17. The implications of new forest tenure reforms and forestry property markets for sustainable forest management and forest certification in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Juan; Innes, John L

    2013-11-15

    This study examines issues existing in the southern collective forests in China, particularly prior to the implementation of new forest tenure reforms, such as continued illegal logging and timber theft, inadequate availability of finance and inconsistent forest-related policies. Such problems are believed to be hindering the adoption of sustainable forest management (SFM) and forest certification by forest farmers in China. Two strategies were introduced by the Chinese government with the purpose of addressing these issues, namely forest tenure reforms and their associated supporting mechanism, forestry property markets. Through two case studies in southern China, we investigated the effectiveness of the two strategies as well as their implications for the adoption of SFM and forest certification. The two cases were Yong'an in Fujian province and Tonggu in Jiangxi province. Personal interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with small-scale forest farmers who had already benefited from the two strategies as well as market officers working for the two selected forestry property markets. The study identified eight issues constraining the potential adoption of SFM and certification in China, including limited finance, poorly developed infrastructure and transport systems, insecure forest tenures, inconsistent forest policies, low levels of awareness, illegal forest management practices, lack of local cooperative organizations, and inadequate knowledge and technical transfer. We found that the new forest tenure reforms and forestry property markets had generally fulfilled their original objectives and had the capacity to assist in addressing many of the issues facing forests prior to the reforms. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Comprehensive District Reform: Philadelphia's Grand Experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Useem, Elizabeth; Balfanz, Robert

    2002-01-01

    This report describes "Philadelphia's Grand Experiment" in comprehensive school district reform, from its conception through its initial months of implementation. In 2001, as part of the remedy for low student performance, the governor ordered the state to take over governance of the Philadelphia School District, with a substantial…

  19. Status of medical education reform at Saga Medical School 5 years after introducing PBL.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oda, Yasutomo; Koizumi, Shunzo

    2008-03-01

    In Japan, problem-based learning (PBL) is a relatively new method of educating medical students that is reforming the face of medical education throughout the world, including Asia. It shifts from teacher-centered learning strategies (for example, lectures in large auditoriums) to student-centered, self-directed learning methods (for example, active discussions and problem-solving by students in small groups under the guidance of faculty tutors). Upon a recommendation by the Japan Model Core Curriculum, Saga Medical School introduced a PBL curriculum 5 years ago. A full PBL curriculum was adopted from the McMaster model through Hawaii. A description of how PBL was implemented into the 3rd and 4th year (Phase III curriculum) is given. The overall result has been good. Students who experienced PBL had increased scores on the National Medical License Exam, and Saga increased its ranking from 56th to 19th of the 80 medical schools in Japan. A key step was introduction of the educational scaffolding in PBL Step 0. Students were allowed to see page one of the PBL case, containing the chief complaint, on the weekend before meeting in small groups. Despite a perceived overall benefit to student learning, symptoms of superficial discussions by students have been observed recently. How this may be caused by poor case design is discussed. Other problems, including "silent tutors" and increased faculty workload, are discussed. It is concluded that after 5 years, Saga's implementation of a PBL curriculum has been successful. However, many additional issues, including motivation of students and preparation for PBL in the first 2 years, must still be resolved in the future. This is the first description of the positive and negative outcomes associated with the reform of medical education and the introduction of PBL to a traditional medical school curriculum in Japan.

  20. Status of Medical Education Reform at Saga Medical School 5 Years After Introducing PBL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yasutomo Oda

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available In Japan, problem-based learning (PBL is a relatively new method of educating medical students that is reforming the face of medical education throughout the world, including Asia. It shifts from teacher-centered learning strategies (for example, lectures in large auditoriums to student-centered, self-directed learning methods (for example, active discussions and problem-solving by students in small groups under the guidance of faculty tutors. Upon a recommendation by the Japan Model Core Curriculum, Saga Medical School introduced a PBL curriculum 5 years ago. A full PBL curriculum was adopted from the McMaster model through Hawaii. A description of how PBL was implemented into the 3rd and 4th year (Phase III curriculum is given. The overall result has been good. Students who experienced PBL had increased scores on the National Medical License Exam, and Saga increased its ranking from 56th to 19th of the 80 medical schools in Japan. A key step was introduction of the educational scaffolding in PBL Step 0. Students were allowed to see page one of the PBL case, containing the chief complaint, on the weekend before meeting in small groups. Despite a perceived overall benefit to student learning, symptoms of superficial discussions by students have been observed recently. How this may be caused by poor case design is discussed. Other problems, including “silent tutors” and increased faculty workload, are discussed. It is concluded that after 5 years, Saga's implementation of a PBL curriculum has been successful. However, many additional issues, including motivation of students and preparation for PBL in the first 2 years, must still be resolved in the future. This is the first description of the positive and negative outcomes associated with the reform of medical education and the introduction of PBL to a traditional medical school curriculum in Japan.

  1. Macroeconomic effects of proposed pension reforms in Norway

    OpenAIRE

    Fredriksen, Dennis; Heide, Kim Massey; Holmøy, Erling; Solli, Ingeborg Foldøy

    2005-01-01

    Abstract: Ageing combined with generous welfare state schemes makes the present fiscal policy in Norway unsustainable, despite large government petroleum revenues. We estimate to what extent two suggested reforms of the public pension system improve fiscal sustainability and stimulate employment, two main objectives of the reforms. To this end we apply two large models iteratively: 1) a detailed dynamic micro simulation model to estimate government pension expenditures; 2) a la...

  2. Large-Scale Curriculum Reform in Finland--Exploring the Interrelation between Implementation Strategy, the Function of the Reform, and Curriculum Coherence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pietarinen, Janne; Pyhältö, Kirsi; Soini, Tiina

    2017-01-01

    The study aims to gain a better understanding of the national large-scale curriculum process in terms of the used implementation strategies, the function of the reform, and the curriculum coherence perceived by the stakeholders accountable in constructing the national core curriculum in Finland. A large body of school reform literature has shown…

  3. Learning from the best: Overcoming barriers to reforms-based elementary science teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banchi, Heather May

    This study explored the characteristics of elementary science teachers who employ reforms-based practices. Particular attention was paid to the consistency of teachers' practices and their beliefs, the impact of professional development experiences on practices, and how teachers mitigated barriers to reforms-based instruction. Understanding how successful elementary science teachers develop fills a gap in the science reforms literature. Participants included 7 upper elementary science teachers from six different schools. All schools were located within two suburban school districts in the south-Atlantic United States and data was collected during the spring of 2008. Data collection included use of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) to evaluate the level of reforms-based instruction, as well as 35 hours of classroom observation field notes and 21 hours of audio-taped teacher interviews. The variety of data sources allowed for triangulation of evidence. The RTOP was analyzed using descriptive statistics and classroom observations and interview data were analyzed using Erickson's (1986) guidelines for analytic induction. Findings indicated (a) reforms-based elementary science teaching was attainable, (b) beliefs and practices were consistent and both reflected reforms-based philosophies and practices, (c) formal professional development experiences were limited and did not foster reforms-based practices, (d) informal professional development pursued by teachers had a positive impact on practices, (e) barriers to reforms-based instruction were present but mitigated by strong beliefs and practical strategies like curriculum integration. These findings suggest that there are common, salient characteristics of reforms-based teachers' beliefs, practices, and professional development experiences. These commonalities contribute to an understanding of how reforms-based teachers develop, and inform efforts to move all elementary teachers in the direction of

  4. Evolving Governance and Contested Water Reforms in Australia’s Murray Darling Basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jason Alexandra

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper explores the ways water governance adapts to changing social values and political imperatives by examining the case of water policy reforms in Australia’s Murray Darling Basin. Over more than two decades, Australia’s water reforms have explicitly aimed to promote ecological sustainability and economic efficiency, attempting to balance pro-market, micro-economic reforms with broader social and sustainability goals. Despite the formality of Australia’s intergovernmental agreements, water reforms have been expensive and heavily contested, experiencing many implementation challenges. However, water market reforms have generally been regarded as successful, enabling the reallocation of water for environmental and extractive uses, contributing to flexibility and adaptive capacity. Recognising that discursive contestation is central to policy development, the paper documents the way the reform processes have attempted to broker compromises between three competing policy paradigms—national development, economic rationalism and environmentalism. These inherent tensions resulted in prolonged contests for influence over policy directions long after formal statements of policy intent by Governments. Given that climate change is driving the need for water governance reforms, the paper looks to what lessons can be learnt about the redesigns of meta-governance arrangements, including through structured commitments to independent audits and evaluations that can provide the feedback needed for adaptive governance and policy learning.

  5. The guide to sustainable energy technologies for schools; Un guide pour les technologies energetiques durables dans les ecoles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2000-07-01

    There are significant attractions for municipalities to opt for sustainable solutions which involve energy efficient technologies and measures. This is the challenging background which led to the production the Guide to Sustainable Energy Technologies for Schools. This guide is a decision-making tool intended for European municipalities and school managers. Its aim is to: assist them in choosing between the energy technologies that will be used in school building or retrofitting projects and provide them with a framework for measuring and comparing different aspects of energy performance that can be used to convince decision-makers to select sustainable energy technologies and measures. The guide is composed of three parts: an illustrative list of sustainable energy technologies, an introduction to energy performance indicators and fifteen case studies describing practical sustainable energy solutions applied to schools in seven European countries. (A.L.B.)

  6. Getting to the Right Algebra: The Equity 2000 Initiative in Milwaukee Public Schools. MDRC Working Papers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ham, Sandra; Walker, Erica

    This paper describes the Milwaukee Public Schools' involvement in Equity 2000, a standards-based reform initiative to enhance mathematics education and achievement among students of color, thereby increasing their likelihood of college enrollment and completion. The study highlights efforts to support and sustain a key component of Equity 2000:…

  7. Neoliberalism, Social Darwinism, and Consumerism Masquerading as School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tienken, Christopher H.

    2013-01-01

    Education reform policies harvested from neoliberalism, social Darwinism, consumerism, and free-market ideologies have begun to replace the pragmatic progressivism of the pre-World War II era. In this article, I use three federal and state education reform policies and programs--No Child Left Behind Act, Common Core State Standards Initiative, and…

  8. A Case for Sustainable Food Service & Nutrition Education--CONVAL School District (NH)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curriculum Review, 2008

    2008-01-01

    When former chef and food broker, Tony Geraci was invited by his district superintendent to review New Hampshire's largest school food service program, he never imagined that he would be responsible for running one of the nation's most successful sustainable food service programs. The CONVAL District sustainable food program, create by Geraci and…

  9. Engineering for Sustainable Energy Education within Suburban, Urban and Developing Secondary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaikai, Moijue; Baker, Erin

    2016-01-01

    It is crucial that the younger generation be included in the conversation of sustainable development, given the urgent need of a global transition to cleaner energy solutions. Sustainable energy engineering (SEE) taught as early as secondary school can not only increase the number of students that will potentially study engineering to solve global…

  10. The Effects of Reform in Principal Selection on Leadership Behavior of General and Vocational High School Principals in Taiwan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsiao, Hsi-Chi; Lee, Ming-Chao; Tu, Ya-Ling

    2013-01-01

    Deregulation has formed the primary core of education reform in Taiwan in the past decade. The principal selection system was one of the specific recommendations in the deregulation of education. The method of designation of senior high school principals has changed from being "appointed" to being "selected." The issue as to…

  11. Are school meals a viable and sustainable tool to improve the healthiness and sustainability of children´s diet and food consumption? A cross-national comparative perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oostindjer, Marije; Aschemann-Witzel, Jessica; Wang, Qing; Skuland, Silje Elisabeth; Egelandsdal, Bjørg; Amdam, Gro V; Schjøll, Alexander; Pachucki, Mark C; Rozin, Paul; Stein, Jarrett; Lengard Almli, Valerie; Van Kleef, Ellen

    2017-12-12

    There is little agreement among governments, institutions, scientists and food activists as to how to best tackle the challenging issues of health and sustainability in the food sector. This essay discusses the potential of school meals as a platform to promote healthy and sustainable food behavior. School meal programs are of particular interest for improving public diet because they reach children at a population scale across socio-economic classes and for over a decade of their lives, and because food habits of children are more malleable than those of adults. Current research on the history and health implications of school meal programs is reviewed in a cross-national comparative framework, and arguments explored that speak for the need of a new developmental phase of school meals as an integrative learning platform for healthy and sustainable food behavior. Nutritional, social, practical, educational, economical, political, and cultural perspectives and challenges linked to the implementation of healthy and sustainable school meals are discussed. Finally, the need for long-term interventions and evaluations is highlighted and new research directions are proposed.

  12. The Point of No Return? Interest Groups, School Board Elections and the Sustainment of the Portfolio Management Model in Post-Katrina New Orleans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welsh, Richard; Hall, Michelle

    2018-01-01

    Context: Given the growing popularity of the portfolio management model (PMM) as a method of improving education, it is important to examine how these market-based reforms are sustained over time and how the politics of sustaining this model have substantial policy implications. Purpose of Study: The purpose of this article is to examine important…

  13. Children's exposure to sustainability practices during the transition from preschool into school and their learning and socioemotional development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benner, Aprile D; Thornton, Anna; Crosnoe, Robert

    2017-01-01

    Evidence that the learning gains of preschool fade as children transition into elementary school has led to increased efforts to sustain preschool advantages during this key transitional period. This study explores whether the observed benefits of sustainability practices for a range of child outcomes are explained and/or moderated by family and school mechanisms selecting children into experiencing these practices. Analyses of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort revealed that both family and school factors predicted children's exposure to several PK-3 sustainability practices. PK-3 sustainability practices were associated with reading (but not math) gains and better interpersonal skills (but not fewer externalizing behaviors) following the transition into kindergarten. These links were not conditioned by the selection mechanisms. The findings highlight who is more likely to seek out (at the family level) or offer (at the school level) sustainability practices and how relevant they are to fighting preschool fadeout.

  14. Welfare implication of reforming energy consumption subsidies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Breton, Michèle; Mirzapour, Hossein

    2016-01-01

    Reforming energy consumption subsidies, in particular for fossil fuels, has been frequently referred to as a quick-win policy to enhance environmental mitigation. In addition, the removal of such subsidies may release a sizeable portion of a country's national budget for use on more productive targets. One of the most recognized challenges of such reform is “selling” the new energy prices to citizens, particularly those with a more fragile purchasing power. Several empirical and technical studies have prescribed that the reform might be supported by a direct compensation mechanism in order to ensure feasibility. This is what was done during the recent energy subsidy reform in Iran. However, the compensation mechanism implemented in Iran's reform was successful at the beginning, but did not proceed as expected. This has raised questions about the feasibility and sustainability of the direct compensation mechanism, and even of the reform policy itself. In this paper, we consider a stylized model where direct compensation is the instrument proposed to restore consumers’ utility against increased energy prices. We find that, when prices of Other Goods are affected by the announced reform policy, the feasibility of a subsidy reform critically depends on the value of certain parameters: the initial subsidization rate, the share of energy in the consumers’ bundle, and the energy portion of price of Other Goods. - Highlights: • A model of energy subsidy reform with direct compensation is proposed. • Feasibility of the reform is related to three key parameters. • An illustrative example using data from the recent Iranian reform is discussed.

  15. The Library School: empowering the sustainable innovation capacity of new librarians

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bitter-Rijpkema, Marlies; Verjans, Steven; Bruijnzeels, Rob

    2012-01-01

    Bitter-Rijpkema, M. E., Verjans, S., & Bruijnzeels, R. (2012). The Library School: empowering the sustainable innovation capacity of new librarians. Library Management, 33(1/2), 36-49. doi:10.1108/01435121211203301

  16. Basic Education Curriculum Reform in Rural China: Achievements, Problems, and Solutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jiayi; Zhao, Zhichun

    2011-01-01

    The latest wave of basic education curriculum reform, carried out over the past ten years, has achieved significant results and promoted the development of rural education. There are still some problems in the reform of basic education in rural areas, however, such as a serious shortage of funds for rural school curriculum reform, the continuing…

  17. Examining the Potential of Critical and Kaupapa Maori Approaches to Leading Education Reform in New Zealand's English-Medium Secondary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berryman, Mere; Egan, Margaret; Ford, Therese

    2017-01-01

    This paper discusses expectations, policies and practices that currently underpin education within the New Zealand context. It acknowledges the ongoing failure of this policy framework to positively influence reform for Indigenous Maori students in regular, state-funded schools and highlights the need for extensive change in the positioning and…

  18. The Political Context of School Finance Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossmiller, Richard A.; Geske, Terry G.

    1976-01-01

    Reports the results of a case study of the political decision-making process in Wisconsin through which control over educational finance reform was exercised between January, 1972, and August, 1973. (Author)

  19. From "School House" to "School-as-Community": Governmentality and the Space of the School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hennon, Lisa

    This paper is a preliminary examination of historical shifts in U.S. discourses of school architecture as they relate to curricular reforms and inventions on new pedagogical techniques. The paper begins by sketching the current parameters of discourses on school architecture and notes some of the key arguments of reform taken up by educators and…

  20. School Reform: America’s Winchester Mystery House

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Daniel Meyer

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available This quantitative study examines the correlation between international student achievement test outcomes and national competitiveness rankings. Student achievement data are derived from a variation-adjusted, common-scale metric data set for 74 countries that have participated in any of the international mathematics and science achievement tests since 1964. National competitiveness data are taken from the 2014–15 Global Competitiveness Index (GCI published by the World Economic Forum. A Spearman’s rank-order correlation was run to assess the relationship between student performance on international achievement tests and the competitiveness of nations. For all nations, there was a moderate positive correlation between student performance on international achievement tests and the competitiveness of a nation, rs(98=0.688, p<0.001. However, this relationship disappeared among the 18 most competitive nations, the cohort to which the United States belongs. The relationship also disappeared among the 18 nations with the highest achievement scores on international tests. Student performance on international assessments appears to have no relationship to the competitiveness of the United States. This study has implications for legislators and public education leaders who want to maximize the return on investments in education. Education dollars and reform initiatives should be diverted toward addressing poverty, funding schools equitably, alleviating social stress and violence, and supporting young families and students of immigrant families.

  1. Motherhood, Gender Education Reforms, Empowerment, MDGS ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    reforms/innovations in motherhood/gender education in enhancing attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in Africa for sustainable development. In doing this, responses of 1,672 working mothers, randomly selected from North, South, East, and West Africa were analyzed which identified top among ten others as ...

  2. Applying Concepts of Critical Pedagogy to Qatar's Educational Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romanowski, Michael H.; Amatullah, Tasneem

    2016-01-01

    Qatar is in the midst of a systemic education reform, Education For a New Era, steered by RAND's (a nonprofit research organization) analysis and report of Qatar's Educational system. Driven by a neoliberal agenda, the reform includes international curricula, curriculum standards, teacher licensure, and professional standards for school leaders…

  3. Sustainable Schools, Sustainable Communities: The View from the West. CAE Spring 2001 Conference [Proceedings] (San Diego, California, March 22-24, 2001).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malone, Sara

    This paper presents summary conclusions reached by discussion panels that participated in the Committee on Architecture for Education's conference. The conference explored the symbiotic relationship between schools and communities and the ways that schools and communities sustain one another. Panel titles were: "City Heights Urban Village"; "High…

  4. Cost-free and sustainable incentive increases healthy eating decisions during elementary school lunch.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pittman, D W; Parker, J S; Getz, B R; Jackson, C M; Le, T-A P; Riggs, S B; Shay, J M

    2012-01-01

    We aimed to develop a cost-free and sustainable program to influence healthier eating decisions during elementary school lunch. Baseline food and beverage choices were assessed for 9 days during lunch service at two racially and economically diverse elementary schools in Spartanburg County, SC, USA. After being informed that the labeled items on the daily lunch menu represented the healthiest choice, students were allowed to ring a call bell in the cafeteria for public recognition when they chose all of the identified healthiest food and beverage items during lunch service. Using menus matched to the baseline phase, food and beverage choices were measured during a 9-day intervention phase. After 30 days, food and beverage choices were reassessed during a 3-day follow-up phase. Healthiest food & beverage choices increased 49% with >60% of students choosing non-flavored milk over flavored milk during the intervention phase. There was no difference in the success of the program between the two schools. The program continued and healthy eating decisions were significantly sustained at a 30-day follow-up assessment. Public recognition through bell ringing appears to be an effective practice to sustain increases in healthy eating decisions during elementary school lunch and warrants expansion to larger scale, longitudinal trials.

  5. Moral education and values education in curriculum reform In China

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Zhu Xiaoman

    2006-01-01

    In the new curriculum reform in China,moral education and values education have been defined from the angles of the integrity and conformity of curriculum functions.Accordingly, a new education concept based on complete/integral curriculum functions is established.By discussing the essences of the curriculum,the basis of moral and values education,integrated curriculum setting in instruction structure,the presence of emotional and attitudinal goals in the subject standards,and teaching methods,this text points out that this curriculum reform looks to moral and values education in schools.The reform also emphasizes and will guarantee moral and values education in schools.Finally,the article recommends to elementary and secondary schools the studies on moral education in class conducted by the Research Institute of Moral Education of Nanjing Normal University,one of the Key Bases for Humanities and Social Sciences Research for the Ministry of Education.

  6. The Rhetoric of a Reform: The Construction of "Public", "Management" and the "New" in Norwegian Education Reforms of the 1990s

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trippestad, Tom Are

    2011-01-01

    This article presents a critical rhetorical analysis of the governing and reform ideology of the Norwegian school system of the 1990s. It uses Karl Popper's "The Open Society and its Enemies" as a critical resource in the reading of the reforms, and discusses some of the consequences of the regime's models of leadership and public…

  7. Reform in Secondary Education: The Continuing Efforts to Reform Secondary Education, and a Modest Proposal. Curriculum Bulletin Vol. XXXII, No. 340.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saylor, Galen

    The author begins by examining the functions of the school and the basic principles governing the provision of education in the American democracy as a way of providing a framework for analyzing proposals for the reform of secondary education. He then examines proposals for reform. His major focus is on ten proposals made by agencies,…

  8. Green Design and Sustainable Development of School Uniforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Yumei; Fang, Xuemeng; Zhou, Honglei

    2018-01-01

    Since the 1990s, the school uniform has gradually become an integral part of campus culture construction. A school uniform is not only an iconic symbol of students and a school, but also the carrier of campus culture, with special education function and cultural connotation. However in the same time, many problems exist in the design, making and material selection of school uniforms, in which, substandard fabric quality is the most serious problem. To ensure the quality, health and safety of school uniforms, in my opinion, priority should be given to green design and sustainable development in the design process of school uniforms, which will be more conducive to promoting the sound development of school uniforms. In today’s economic development, the globalization of mass production is no longer just a symbol of challenging the limits of human beings, but to explore the unlimited potential of human spiritual collaboration. If we want to have a better future on this planet, we need to completely redefine the key issue we need to address, that is, green design. The rise of green products is a great progress of human understanding and solving environmental problems. It is the inevitable development trend of commodity production, and will have a profound impact on human survival and development in the future. School uniform is an important part of campus culture construction. In order to not damage the health of primary and secondary school students, in the school uniform design and production process should follow the concept of “green design” to achieve the school uniform style, color, material design, a comprehensive “green” positioning.

  9. Can learning in informal settings mitigate disadvantage and promote urban sustainability? School gardens in Washington, DC

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher-Maltese, Carley; Fisher, Dana R.; Ray, Rashawn

    2017-09-01

    This article explores how school gardens provide learning opportunities for school-aged children while concurrently helping cities achieve sustainability. The authors analyse this process in Washington, DC, a particularly innovative metropolis in the United States. This national capital city boasts two of the most progressive examples of legislation aimed at improving environmental awareness and inciting citizens to engage in environmental stewardship, both of which focus on school-aged children: (1) the Healthy Schools Act of 2010 and (2) the Sustainable DC Act of 2012. Together these policies focus on bringing healthy lifestyles and environmental awareness, including meaningful outdoor learning experiences, to students and families in the District of Columbia. This article is organised into three parts. The first part discusses how Washington, DC became a sustainable learning city through the implementation of these specific policies. The next part presents the results of a pilot study conducted in one kindergarten to Grade 5 (K-5) elementary school located in Ward 8, the poorest part of the city. The authors' analysis considers the support and the obstacles teachers and principals in the District of Columbia (DC) are experiencing in their efforts to integrate school gardens into the curriculum and the culture of their schools. Exploring the impacts of the school garden on the students, the local community, and the inter-generational relationships at and beyond schools, the authors aim to shed light on the benefits and the challenges. While Washington, DC is fostering its hope that the benefits prevail as it provides a model for other cities to follow, the authors also candidly present the challenges of implementing these policies. In the final part, they discuss the implications of their findings for school gardens and sustainable learning cities more broadly. They encourage further research to gain more insights into effective ways of promoting environmental

  10. Bringing Home the Bacon: The Politics of Rural School Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sher, Jonathan P.

    1983-01-01

    Self-interested political, corporate, and education leaders have undermined recent West Virginia court decisions mandating educational reform. Three implications are: (1) principals, teachers, parents, and students must be equal partners in the educaiton reform process; (2) a constituency for rural children is needed; and (3) rural educators must…

  11. Children’s exposure to sustainability practices during the transition from preschool into school and their learning and socioemotional development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benner, Aprile D.; Thornton, Anna; Crosnoe, Robert

    2017-01-01

    Evidence that the learning gains of preschool fade as children transition into elementary school has led to increased efforts to sustain preschool advantages during this key transitional period. This study explores whether the observed benefits of sustainability practices for a range of child outcomes are explained and/or moderated by family and school mechanisms selecting children into experiencing these practices. Analyses of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort revealed that both family and school factors predicted children’s exposure to several PK-3 sustainability practices. PK-3 sustainability practices were associated with reading (but not math) gains and better interpersonal skills (but not fewer externalizing behaviors) following the transition into kindergarten. These links were not conditioned by the selection mechanisms. The findings highlight who is more likely to seek out (at the family level) or offer (at the school level) sustainability practices and how relevant they are to fighting preschool fadeout. PMID:28794610

  12. Reforming Medicare through 'version 2.0' of accountable care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lieberman, Steven M

    2013-07-01

    Medicare needs fundamental reform to achieve fiscal sustainability, improve value and quality, and preserve beneficiaries' access to physicians. Physician fees will fall by one-quarter in 2014 under current law, and the dire federal budget outlook virtually precludes increasing Medicare spending. There is a growing consensus among policy makers that reforming fee-for-service payment, which has long served as the backbone of Medicare, is unavoidable. Accountable care organizations (ACOs) provide a new payment alternative but currently have limited tools to control cost growth or engage and reward beneficiaries and providers. To fundamentally reform Medicare, this article proposes an enhanced version of ACOs that would eliminate the scheduled physician fee cuts, allow fees to increase with inflation, and enhance ACOs' ability to manage care. In exchange, the proposal would require modest reductions in overall Medicare spending and require ACOs to accept increased accountability and financial risk. It would cause per beneficiary Medicare spending by 2023 to fall 4.2 percent below current Congressional Budget Office projections and help the program achieve fiscal sustainability.

  13. Teenagers and Welfare Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Offner, Paul

    This report examines the extent to which welfare reform is changing adolescent behaviors that lead to welfare dependency. It begins by discussing the provisions in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 that require teenagers to stay in school and live with a parent, concluding that relatively little can be…

  14. Environmental Comfort Indicators for School Buildings in Sustainability Assessment Tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatiana Santos Saraiva

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Decades ago, the only requirement to construct a building was to give men the right conditions for the execution of their work or leisure activities. With the development of knowledge about the internal and external environments of buildings, other requirements have been added such as the issue of user comfort. New construction techniques have been incorporated and new products have been created to improve internal environment comfort. This research addressed the importance of using indicators related to environmental comfort in sustainability assessment tools applied to school buildings. It also considered the importance of environmental issues for the good performance of human beings, and the harmonious coexistence of the comfort indicators indoor air quality, thermal comfort, visual comfort, acoustic comfort and ergonomic comfort based on data gathered in research carried out with users of high schools (only students. This research was carried out in two different cities of different countries, Guimarães (Portugal and Juiz de Fora (Brazil, that have similar characteristics of teaching standards and climate conditions (temperature and air humidity. In this study, interviews were made through questionnaires and, later, the information collected was analyzed. This study demonstrates the need to include an ergonomic indicator for school buildings in sustainability assessment tools.

  15. Sustenance and sustainability: maximizing the impact of school gardens on health outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Jaimie N; Spaniol, Mackenzie R; Somerset, Shawn

    2015-09-01

    School garden programmes have become popular action-oriented learning environments in many countries, often driven by converging priorities of environmental sustainability and healthful diets. Many of these programmes have assessed the impact on dietary intake, specifically fruit and vegetable intake, and related dietary behaviours, such as knowledge, preference, motivation, intention and self-efficacy to eat and prepare fruit and vegetables. The objective of the present study was twofold: (i) to review published garden-based programmes conducted in schools targeting dietary intake and/or determinants of dietary behaviour in children; and (ii) to identify similar strategies and components employed by these garden-based programmes. The review included thirteen studies that have examined the impact of garden-based programmes conducted in school, either during school hours or in after-school settings, on dietary behaviours in children (kindergarten through 8th grade students). Three of the reviewed studies did not have a comparison or control group and simply evaluated within-group changes after a garden intervention. None of the reviewed studies were randomized, but were assigned based on school's interest and timing of new school gardens being built. Out of the eleven programmes that examined dietary intake, six found that the programme resulted in increased vegetable intake, whereas four showed no effect. Seven of the eight studies that measured preference found that the programmes resulted in increased preference for vegetables. Gardening programmes also resulted in improved attitudes towards, willingness to taste, identification of and self-efficacy to prepare/cook fruit and vegetables. Similar strategies/components employed by the majority of the programmes included: 'hands on' curriculum, incorporation of a cooking component, providing the instructors, parental and stakeholder support, food provision and using the garden as the focal point for media promotion

  16. Global implications of China's healthcare reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Fei; Tang, Shenglan; Zhang, Jian

    2016-01-01

    The ongoing healthcare reform in China has a powerful spillover effect beyond the health sector and the borders of China. A successful completion of the Chinese reform will offer a new model for social justice development, shift the global economy toward sustainability and create a new hub for science and technology in medical and health science. However, reforming the healthcare system in the most populated country is a daunting task. China will not live up to its promise, and all the potentials may end with hype not hope if coherent national strategies are not constructed and state-of-the-art navigation is not achieved with staggering domestic and global challenges. The cost of failure will be immensely high, socioeconomic costs for Chinese and an opportunity cost for the world as a whole. A full appreciation of the global implications of China's healthcare reform is crucial in keeping China receptive toward good practices evidence-approved elsewhere and open minded to fulfill its international obligations. More critically, the appreciation yields constructive engagements from global community toward a joint development and global prosperity. The current report provides a multiple disciplinary assessment on the global implications of the healthcare reform in China. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  17. Education Reform: A Managerial Agenda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bacharach, Samuel B.; Conley, Sharon C.

    1986-01-01

    Education reform has wrongly focused on teacher motivation and rewards, when the organizational system itself is at fault. Research shows that effective school management hinges on increased individual discretion and decision-making opportunities for teachers and less controlling behavior by administrators. Ten characteristics of effective…

  18. Energy policies in the European Union. Germany's ecological tax reform

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Welfens, P.J.J.; Jungmittag, A.; Meyer, B.; Jasinski, P.

    2001-01-01

    The chapters discuss the following aspects: 1. Energy policy as a strategic element of economic policy in dynamic open economies. 2. Phasing out nuclear energy and core elements of sustainable energy strategy. 3. Ecological tax reform: Theory, modified double dividend and international aspects. 4. The policy framework in Europe and Germany. 5. Optimal ecological tax reform: Options and recommendations for an EU-action plan. 6. Conclusions. (orig./CB)

  19. Investing in Our Children's Future: Building Sustainable Environmental Health Programs in Our Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grevatt, Peter

    2011-01-01

    Providing safe and healthy learning environments for our children is a fundamental way to advance sustainability in our K-12 schools. However, according to reports by the Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Department of Education, the American Federation of Teachers and other organizations, many schools are in poor condition, and many have…

  20. More Fragmented, and yet More Networked: Analysing the Responses of Two Local Authorities in England to the Coalition's "Self-Improving School-Led System" Reforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greany, Toby

    2015-01-01

    This paper explores school reform in England under the Conservative-led Coalition government, elected in 2010, through a focus on the changing roles and status of Local Authorities (LAs). The Coalition's stated aim was the development of a "self-improving, school-led" system in which LAs should become "champions for children."…

  1. Price stability and balanced public accounts as a condition for sustainable development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C.A. CIAMPI

    1998-03-01

    Full Text Available The article illustrates Italy's economic recovery as part of a process of renewal involving the institutions, every area of the economy and Italian society as a whole. After the turning point in 1992, a general consensus emerged that European integration was necessary and fully consistent with the national interest. In this context, the three components of economic policy - budgetary policy, incomes policy, monetary policy - are working in tandem, ensuring stability, the essential condition from any lasting and sustainable growth. Thus inflation has now been beaten; the balance of payments on current account has recorded increasing and substantial surpluses, and there has been a huge reduction in the budget deficit, with a large primary surplus. The sustainability of these results is ensured by the implementation of structural reforms: tax reform, reform of central government budget, reform of the civil service, pensions reform and reform of Italy’s commercial system.

  2. A Model for Rural School Consolidation: Making Sense of the Inevitable Result of School Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cummins, Craig; Chance, Edward W.; Steinhoff, Carl

    Passage in 1989 of Oklahoma's education reform bill, H.B. 1017, provided encouragement and financial rewards for use of consolidation as a reform strategy, but this approach is often met with anxiety and hostility from stakeholders. In an effort to identify strategies that facilitate consolidation, semistructured interviews were conducted with the…

  3. Learning Autonomy: Higher Education Reform in Kazakhstan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartley, Matthew; Gopaul, Bryan; Sagintayeva, Aida; Apergenova, Renata

    2016-01-01

    Higher education is a key economic and social priority in the global arena. Many countries have sought to advance reforms aimed at increasing access, promoting greater educational quality, and ensuring financial responsibility and sustainability. Often, strategies for achieving these aims are informed by experiences elsewhere. However,…

  4. Ubuntu and the quest for land reform in South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Herman Holtzhausen

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available In this article, I ask the question how we can relate ubuntu to South African land reform from a practical-theological point of view. I will look at researchers� efforts to understand ubuntu and how these efforts do and do not integrate into the conversation around land reform.Referring to land reform, I will focus on two private narratives as opposed to dominant public narratives. An in-depth discussion on legislation and research on perspectives of land ownership therefore falls outside of the ambit of this article. In conclusion, I will argue that the relationship between a landowner and his or her dispossessed coworkers can be the fertile soil which ubuntu requires to find sustainable local answers to land reform.

  5. Impact of the Curriculum Reform on Problem Solving Ability in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    An ex post facto study was conducted to examine the effect of the curriculum reform on 60 Dilla University chemistry education students' problem solving ability. The study shows that the curriculum reform that shifted university introductory courses of the old curriculum into preparatory school levels in the new curriculum ...

  6. Social Justice and Resisting Neoliberal Education Reform in the USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Au, Wayne

    2016-01-01

    Efforts to reform public education along free-market, corporate-styled models have swept across many nations. In the USA these reforms have included an intense focus on the use of high-stakes, standardized tests to quantify students, teachers, and schools for market comparisons, the deprofessionalization of teaching, and the establishment of…

  7. Cultural Narcissism and Education Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pajak, Edward F.

    2011-01-01

    Background/Context: Scholars have described American culture in recent decades as narcissistic, manifested by displays of self-absorption tantamount to a pathological syndrome that has reached epidemic proportions. An education reform movement that is highly critical of public schools, teachers, and students has simultaneously emerged, espousing a…

  8. The Curricular Reform of Art Education in Primary School in Slovenia in Terms of Certain Components of the European Competence of Cultural Awareness and Expression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rajka Bračun Sova

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available One of the important positions of the last curricular reform in Slovenia, which included systemic issues of education (White Paper on Education, 2011 and curricula for compulsory subjects in primary school, is the fact that Slovenia has been integrated into Europe, and thus education should also include the development of core European competences. One such competence is cultural awareness and expression, which until now has been an issue more in the context of cultural policies than school policies in Slovenia. The purpose of the present article is to critically analyse the curricular reform of art education (i.e., visual art education, through which, in terms of certain components of the competence of cultural awareness and expression, it is foreseen that the student will gain a knowledge of art, develop an ability to experience works of art and develop a creative attitude towards art and heritage. Because the starting point and goal of curricular change is the curriculum, our analysis is derived from curriculum theories, and not from the art theories and pedagogical theories that have predominantly framed previous attempts at curriculum analysis. Critical consideration of the curricular reform of art education in primary school in terms of certain components of the competence of cultural awareness and expression was undertaken by comparing curricula in the field of aesthetic education. We compared art education with music education and literature within the Slovenian language curriculum. Qualitative analysis showed that, despite the reform, the curriculum for arts education does not realise selected components of the competence of cultural awareness and expression, largely due to the curriculum’s conceptual structure. Art education is centred principally on art-making activities, with an obvious neglect of appreciation. The integration of arts subjects at school, as proposed by the White Paper, is therefore not possible, due to the existing

  9. Rethinking capital markets reform: a reassessment of Olson problem and regulatory dualism in the German capital markets from a varieties of capitalism perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    André Ziccardi de Carvalho

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Since its proposition by Peter A. Hall and David Soskice the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC approach has been particularly important to explain the relationship between economic agents and sets of institutional arrangements that, even in regulatory scenarios that Law and Finance’s school would consider “less than optimal”, are able to generate sustainable economic growth. In this context the VoC approach has been consistently challenging the traditional “one fits all” approach towards capital markets reform usually endorsed by institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as by many scholars and capital markets regulators associated with La Porta’s Law and Finance School. As any theoretical framework, however, the VoC approach also faces its own challenges and still lacks the scientific maturity achieved by the Law and Finance School. Consequently a conciliation between the relational view of the firm proposed by the VoC approach and the overview of corporate governance practices throughout the world presented by the Law and Finance School would be instrumental to construe a more clear understanding of the competitive advantages generated by certain sets of institutions and, at the same time, more accurately assess impacts of reforms that, even if implemented with the legitimate goal of promoting firms’ transparency and higher corporate governance standards, may counter-intuitively generate unprecedented corporate and capital markets crisis. By analyzing two concepts proposed by Ronald J. Gilson, Henry Hansmann and Mariana Pargendler that have an apparent fundamental link to La Porta’s school of Law and Finance (i.e. Olson Problem and Regulatory Dualism through a varieties of capitalism approach, this study aims at rethinking the traditional “one fits all” approach towards capital markets reform and taking a further step in the direction of conciliating the VoC approach with La Porta’s Law

  10. Sustaining Partnerships between Schools and Industry: A Minerals and Energy Case

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flynn, Matthew; Pillay, Hitendra; Watters, James J.

    2016-01-01

    Internationally, there is a growing body of research on industry-school partnership, particularly regarding the principles that contribute to effective and efficient partnership models that facilitate vocational-industrial education. However, there are very few articles in the literature that seek to understand the sustainability of…

  11. Single-Sex Schools, the Law, and School Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Frank; Russo, Charles J.

    1999-01-01

    Discusses the history of single-sex schools and analyzes the legal status of these schools, reviewing constitutional dimensions of gender-based discrimination and the leading cases that have been litigated on these issues. Offers reflections on why single-sex schools are not likely to hold a major place in the future of urban U.S. public schools.…

  12. Capture and Utilization of Water From Rain: The Way for Sustainable School

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jamila El Tugoz

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Currently, issues related to environmental preservation and responsible use of water, have become a global concern, which has driven the increasing number of public policies aimed at promoting sustainable practices. In this context, it addresses the implementation of a system harnessing rainwater for non-potable purposes in a school unit. This article aimed to evaluate the results obtained from the use of tanks to capture and use of rainwater in a state school of Paraná, in the city of Marechal Cândido Rondon. It is a descriptive exploratory research, qualitative and quantitative approach. Based on data from historical series water consumption of the College Eron Domingues, a relationship between the consumption of water and the monthly rainfall for the period was established. The results confirmed the efficiency of the capture of rain water system, reducing the consumption of treated water supplied by the Water and Sewage Company, up 57.2%. Thus, while stimulating in students an awareness focused on sustainability, inclusion of knowledge and environmental practices at school, comprise the prospect of a multiplier effect on society.

  13. Connecting Educational Leadership with Multi-Level Assessment Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Volante, Louis; Cherubini, Lorenzo

    2007-01-01

    Renewed calls for greater accountability within schools have led to a rapid expansion of standards-based reforms across the Western world. Establishing and raising standards, and measuring the attainment of those standards, are intended to encourage excellence in our schools. Yet concern is increasing about the fairness of external testing and the…

  14. [Health reform in Ecuador: never again the right to health as a privilege].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malo-Serrano, Miguel; Malo-Corral, Nicolás

    2014-01-01

    The process of the health reform being experienced by Ecuador has had significant achievements because it occurs within the framework of a new Constitution of the Republic, which allowed the incorporation of historical social demands that arose from the criticism of neoliberalism in the restructure and modernization of the state. The backbone of the reform consists of three components: organization of a National Health System that overcomes the previous fragmentation and constitutes the Integral Public Health Network; development of policies to strengthen primary health care, articulating actions on the determinants of health, and finally, increasing funding to consolidate these changes. We conclude that challenges to the reform are related to the sustainability of the processes, financial sustainability of the system, greater activation of participatory mechanisms that enable citizen assessment of services and citizen empowerment regarding their right to health.

  15. Education as Recovery: Neoliberalism, School Reform, and the Politics of Crisis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slater, Graham B.

    2015-01-01

    Building upon critical education policy studies of crisis, disaster, and reform, this essay develops a theory of "recovery" that further elaborates the nature and operation of "crisis politics" in neoliberal education reform. Recovery is an integral process in capital accumulation, exploiting material, and subjective…

  16. Inclusion or Exclusion? Local Ownership and Security Sector Reform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Timothy Donais

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper explores the dynamics of security sector reform (SSR, a term used to refer to efforts made to reform the security structures of states emerging from conflict or authoritarianism. While "local ownership" is increasingly viewed as a necessary element of any sustainable SSR strategy, there remains a significant gap between international policy and practice in this area. In practice, the SSR agenda continues to be driven largely by international actors, with minimal input, let alone ownership, on the part of either governments or civil society within reforming states. Indeed, the notion of local ownership has come to serve as much as a disciplining mechanism as a tool to overcome exclusion in the making and execution of security policy, and the effectiveness and sustainability of SSR programming have suffered as a result. In light of this, the paper will explore both the potential for, and the limits of, rehabilitating the notion of local ownership to enable more participatory forms of SSR, and argues that any practical local ownership strategy requires a dual policy of negotiating with state actors and engaging with non-state actors.

  17. Bourdieu, Department Chairs and the Reform of Science Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melville, Wayne; Hardy, Ian; Bartley, Anthony

    2011-11-01

    Using the insights of the French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, this article considers the role of the science department chair in the reform of school science education. Using Bourdieu's 'thinking tools' of 'field', 'habitus' and 'capital', we case study the work of two teachers who both actively pursue the teaching and learning of science as inquiry. One teacher, Dan, has been a department chair since 2000, and has actively encouraged his department to embrace science as inquiry. The other teacher, Leslie, worked for one year in Dan's department before being transferred to another school where science teaching continues to be more traditional. Our work suggests that there are three crucial considerations for chairs seeking to lead the reform of science teaching within their department. The first of these is the development of a reform-minded habitus, as this appears to be foundational to the capital that can be expended in the leadership of reform. The second is an understanding of how to wield power and position in the promotion of reform. The third is the capacity to operate simultaneously and strategically within, and across, two fields; the departmental field and the larger science education field. This involves downplaying administrative logics, and foregrounding more inquiry-focused logics as a vehicle to challenge traditional science-teaching dispositions-the latter being typically dominated by concerns about curriculum 'coverage'.

  18. America Y2K: The Obsolescence of Educational Reforms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dorn, Sherman

    2000-01-01

    Notes the passing of the deadline for fulfillment of the national education goals in the United States, the beginning of the year 2000, and indicates that pressures on schools to solve social problems will continue to make school reform a politically opportune and very visible issue. (SLD)

  19. The Role of Democratic Governing Bodies in South African Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karlsson, Jenni

    2002-01-01

    School governance reform in post-apartheid South Africa aimed to democratize schooling while accommodating diverse school histories of underdevelopment or self-management. Analysis of relevant legislation shows the reform was structured to allow representative democracy and partnerships. But two recent studies suggest that governance reforms have…

  20. Greenhouse Affect: The Relationship between the Sustainable Design of Schools and Children's Environmental Attitudes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Izadpanahi, Parisa; Elkadi, Hisham; Tucker, Richard

    2017-01-01

    This study aims to determine if primary school children's environmental attitudes can be predicted by whether their school had been designed or adapted for sustainability. A New Ecological Paradigm ("NEP") scale for children was adopted to measure attitudes, with supplementary questions added to align this scale to the Australian context…

  1. Fiscal crisis, social security reform and vulnerable population

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peinado Patricia

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The aging process we are witnessing in the majority of developed countries is raising financial sustainability problems in the pay-as-you-go pension system. The reforms designed to re-establish the financial equilibrium of pension systems may put one of the most important objectives of these systems at risk: to reduce the poverty rate among the elderly. This paper studies the effects that the reforms implemented in the Spanish pension system would have on the poverty rate of the retired population. The two main novelties presented are the following. First, the collective under study is focused on the most vulnerable workers. Second, the effects of the reforms are studied taking into account the labour market situation of the individuals in the years prior to retirement.

  2. Addressing Elementary School Teachers' Professional Stressors: Practical Suggestions for Schools and Administrators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stauffer, Sarah D.; Mason, Erin C. M.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: Given the preponderance of education reform since the No Child Left Behind Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2001), reform efforts have shaped the nature of the work and culture in schools. The emphasis on standardized testing to determine schools' status and student performance, among other factors, has generated stress, particularly…

  3. Do Charter Schools Ruin Local Public Schools in Poor Neighborhoods? Evidence from New York City. Working Paper #02-14

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cordes, Sarah

    2014-01-01

    Charter schools and school choice are popular reforms believed to improve student performance largely through market competition, increased innovation, or some combination of the two mechanisms. Opponents of school choice argue that such reforms sap needed funds and resources from the traditional public school system. Despite this claim, there has…

  4. SUSTAINABILITY OF SHORT FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS: ANALYSIS OF RAW MATERIAL SUPPLY IN MILAN PUBLIC SCHOOL CATERING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. D’Anna

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available The demand of short food supply chains is becoming more pressing by consumers, especially in the largest school catering. The implementation of the short chain in a large catering company of Milan, is described in this practical contribution. Several aspects of short food chains sustainability: legal, commercial and economic sustainability, hygienic and gastronomic sustainability, are discussed.

  5. Teacher Reform in Indonesia: Can Offshore Programs Create Lasting Pedagogical Shift?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, William; Hyde, Mervyn; Whannel, Robert; O'Neill, Maureen

    2018-01-01

    Regional and national interest in reforming teaching in Indonesia has seen governments, NGOs and education specialists combine to drive pedagogical changes among school teachers there. Results of these programs have been indifferent at best. This paper reports on teacher reform programs in Provinsi Papua, one of the most marginal societies in…

  6. Legal Limitations on Public Pension Plan Reform. Conference Paper 2009-08

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monahan, Amy B.

    2009-01-01

    There is significant interest in reforming retirement plans for public school employees, particularly in light of current market conditions. This paper presents an overview of the various types of state regulation of public pension plans that affect possibilities for reform. Several states have legal protections that effectively prevent a state…

  7. A School for the Common Good

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baines, Lawrence; Foster, Hal

    2006-01-01

    This article examines the history and the concept of the common school from the Common School Movement reformers of the 1850s to the present. These reformers envisioned schools that were to be tuition free and open to everyone, places where rich and poor met and learned together on equal terms. Central to the concept of the common school is its…

  8. Assessment of School Image

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ludvík Eger

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available There seems to be a gap in the literature on educational management that focuses on school image and its assessment. This paper addresses this issue by reviewing the state of the art regarding school image and communication with the public.School image can be defined as the overall impression and mosaic synthesised from numerous impressions of individuals of school publics (pupils/students, teachers and deputies of school management, parents, and other stakeholders. School image is not what the headteachers understand it to be, but the feelings and beliefs about the school and its educational programme that exist in the minds of the school publics. The present study contributes to the literature by providing an overview of school image and by providing a practical application of a useful tool for assessing the content of corporate image. Semantic differential scales are used for marketing purposes and as a useful technique for measuring and assessing school image. Communication with publics and the development and sustainability of a positive school image influence not only the marketing of the school but also the educational process in the school. Today, shaping and maintaining a school image is even more important because of the curriculum reform, focusing on higher study process outputs, quality assessments, and accountability. The findings of this study have important implications for school marketing experts and researchers, headteachers, education policymakers, as well as teachers at schools.

  9. Profile of laboratory instruction in secondary school level chemistry and indication for reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Mei

    This study is a profile of the laboratory component of instruction in secondary school level chemistry. As one of several companion studies, the purpose of the study is to investigate present practices related to instruction as a means of producing reform that improve cognitive and non-cognitive learning outcomes. Five hundred-forty students, from 18 chemistry classes taught by 12 teachers in ten high schools were involved in this study. Three schools included public and private schools, urban school, suburban schools, and rural schools. Three levels or types of chemistry courses were offered in these schools: school regular chemistry for college bound students, Chemistry in the Community or "ChemCom" for non-college bound students, and a second year of chemistry or advanced placement chemistry. Laboratory sessions in each of these three levels of courses were observed, videotaped, and later analyzed using the Modified Revised Science Teachers Behaviors Inventory (MR-STBI). The 12 chemistry teachers, eight science supervisors, and selected students were interviewed to determine their professional backgrounds and other factors that might influence how they teach, how they think, and how they learn. The following conclusions developed from the research are: (1) The three levels of chemistry courses are offered across high schools of varying sizes and locations. (2) Teachers perceive that students come to chemistry classes poorly prepared to effectively carry out laboratory experiences and/or investigations. (3) While students indicated that they are able to effectively use math skills in analyzing the results of chemistry laboratory experiments, teachers, in general, are not satisfied with the level at which students are prepared to use these skills, or to use writing skills. (4) Students working in pairs, is the typical approach. Group cooperation is sometimes used in carrying out the laboratory component of chemistry instruction in the ChemCom and AP chemistry

  10. Sustainable technology and the limits of ecological modernization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brey, Philip A.E.

    1997-01-01

    This essay addresses the question of how sustainable development is possible, giving special reference to the role of technology. It argues that the dominant strategy for sustainable development that is now operative, ecological modernization, is insufficient, and that the reform of technology and

  11. Schooling, the School Effectiveness Movement, and Educational Reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angus, Lawrence

    The widely accepted notion that the management of resources in schools involves merely strategic decisions about the deployment of finances, staff, and materials must be contested. The school effectiveness movement ignores the social and political context of schools and, through emphasis upon superficial managerial matters, teaches pupils to…

  12. Developing a School Finance System for K-12 Reform in Qatar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guarino, Cassandra M.; Galama, Titus; Constant, Louay; Gonzalez, Gabriella; Tanner, Jeffery C.; Goldman, Charles A.

    2009-01-01

    Reform-minded leaders of Qatar, who have embarked on a sweeping reform of their nation's education system, asked RAND to evaluate the education finance system that has been adopted and to offer suggestions for improvements. The authors analyze the system's evolution and resource allocation patterns between 2004 and 2006 and develop analytic tools…

  13. Closing the Achievement Gap: Urban Schools. CSR Connection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porter, Kathleen; Soper, Stephanie

    This report reviews efforts to reform urban schools, focusing on initiatives in Tennessee and California as examples from which distric leaders may draw useful lessons. The report suggests that comprehensive school reform (CSR) offers promise to struggling urban schools by focusing on transforming the academic climate, school culture, and…

  14. Toward Culturally Sustaining Leadership: Innovation beyond ‘School Improvement’ Promoting Equity in Diverse Contexts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lorri J. Santamaría

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Whilst school principals and educational leaders are increasingly constrained by standardized assessment results and student achievement, persistent achievement gaps continue to separate poor and historically underserved students from their wealthier mainstream peers in the United States (US and similar countries. Unprecedented levels of cultural, linguistic, ethnic, racial, and gender school diversity underscore these phenomena. As a result, leadership for ‘school improvement’ has become the norm and as evidenced by chronic academic disparities, ineffective. This review article considers culturally sustaining leadership as an innovative practice to promote and advance equity in schools.

  15. Keeping Faith with Economic Reform | Usman | Economic and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In a rare glimpse of the policy direction of the present government led by President Umar Yaradua, the Minister of Finance Shamsuddeen Usman discusses the significant macroeconomic and structural reforms being put in place. According to him, the direction of the current administration is to sustain macroeconomic ...

  16. The new reform in tunisia: the democratic challenge of the manuals analysis and teaching

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Lucenti

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Tunisia is affected by many changes, including the reform of the education system that plays a crucial role. The Ministry of Education together with Trade Unions (UGTT and the Arab Institute of Human Rights are tracing the outlines of the reform, through an experiment of participatory democracy, synthesized through the preparation of a national report, which is analyzed here. The reform aims to change profoundly the current educational system: programs, manuals, the training of teachers, teaching, all these aspects will be included. Faced with the current economic situation and the problems affecting the country, from the religious extremism to the economic crisis, attempts have been made to examine the solutions proposed by various players involved. After a brief historical reconstruction of the reforms that have affected the Tunisian school system, a current reform is discussed, focusing especially on the school textbooks and on the image of Europe that they carry. Based on the opening to the other, discussed in the manuals, how can one explain the diffusion of religious fanaticism among certain groups of young people? How can the school consolidate the emerging democracy? These are the questions that are tried to be answered, leaving open the possibility of different interpretations.

  17. School Climate and Leadership: Levers for School Improvement Efforts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, Lois

    2016-01-01

    This qualitative study considers which aspects of school climate support or inhibit student achievement as each aspect relates to school leadership and school reform efforts. Due to the increased responsibility and accountability which schools face during these challenging times, school climate and the role of the school principal formed the basis…

  18. Land Reform and Rural Households in the Northern Uplands of Vietnam

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nguyen TRUNG THANH

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper is the abstract of my doctoral dissertation entitled “The Impactof Land Reform on Rural Households in the Northern Uplands of Vietnam” at theJustus Liebig University of Giessen, Germany under the supervision of Prof. Dr.Siegfried Bauer. The study examined the impact of the recent land reform inVietnam on the economy of rural households in the Northern Uplands of Vietnam.It was found that the land reform has positive impact on three important aspects ofrural household’s economy, namely crop production, land market participation, andafforestation. However, further improvement in terms of private land rights isneeded for a more sustainable development in the region.

  19. Drug pricing reform in China: analysis of piloted approaches and potential impact of the reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yixi; Hu, Shanlian; Dong, Peng; Kornfeld, Åsa; Jaros, Patrycja; Yan, Jing; Ma, Fangfang; Toumi, Mondher

    2016-01-01

    Objectives In 2009, the Chinese government launched a national healthcare reform programme aiming to control healthcare expenditure and increase the quality of care. As part of this programme, a new drug pricing reform was initiated on 1 June 2015. The objective of this study was to describe the changing landscape of drug pricing policy in China and analyse the potential impact of the reform. Methods The authors conducted thorough research on the drug pricing reform using three Chinese databases (CNKI, Wanfang, and Weipu), Chinese health authority websites, relevant press releases, and pharmaceutical blogs and discussion forums. This research was complemented with qualitative research based on targeted interviews with key Chinese opinion leaders representing the authorities’ and prescribers’ perspectives. Results With the current reform, the government has attempted to replace its direct control over the prices of reimbursable drugs with indirect, incentive-driven influence. Although the exact implementation of the reform remains unclear at the moment, the changes introduced so far and the pilot project designs indicate that China is considering adaptation of some form of internal and external reference pricing policies, commonly used in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Several challenges related to the potential new mechanism were identified: 1) the risk of hospital underfunding, if hospital funding reform is not prioritised; 2) the risk of promoting the use of cheap, low-quality drugs, if a reliable quality control system is not in place and discrepancy between the available drugs is present; 3) the risk of increasing disparity in access to care between poor and rich regions, in case of country-wide price convergence; and 4) the risk of industry underinvestment, resulting in reduced competition, issues with quality and sustainability of supply, and potentially negative social impact. Conclusions Foreign pricing policies

  20. Capture and Utilization of Water From Rain: The Way for Sustainable School

    OpenAIRE

    Jamila El Tugoz; Geysler Rogis Flor Bertolini; Loreni Teresinha Brandalise

    2017-01-01

    Currently, issues related to environmental preservation and responsible use of water, have become a global concern, which has driven the increasing number of public policies aimed at promoting sustainable practices. In this context, it addresses the implementation of a system harnessing rainwater for non-potable purposes in a school unit. This article aimed to evaluate the results obtained from the use of tanks to capture and use of rainwater in a state school of Paraná, in the city of Marec...

  1. Examining The Beliefs Of Prospective Elementary And Science Teachers Regarding Reformed Science Teaching And Learning

    OpenAIRE

    KARAMAN, Ayhan; KARAMAN, Pınar

    2014-01-01

    Turkey following the footsteps of western education system is nowadays struggling to implement constructivist paradigm in its schools. The success of the integration of constructivist elements into the schools is heavily contingent upon the support of teachers. This necessitates that the ideas advocated in constructivist reform movements should be promoted adequately in the preparation of teacher candidates. Therefore, investigating the beliefs of prospective teachers regarding reformed scien...

  2. Three decades of policy layering and politically sustainable reform in the European Union's agricultural policy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Daugbjerg, Carsten; Swinbank, Alan

    2016-01-01

    The study of policy reform has tended to focus on single-stage reforms taking place over a relatively short period. Recent research has drawn attention to gradual policy changes unfolding over extended periods. One strategy of gradual change is layering, in which new policy dimensions...

  3. Pending reforms: challenges to governabilty in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sonia Fleury

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available After President Lula’s two terms of office, the election of Dilma Rousseff generated all kinds of different expectations, whether because of the candidate’s lack of a political career within the Workers’ Party (PT, or because of her rather uncharismatic personality and poor propensity towards political negotiations with the allied parties that favoured the governability of the previous term of office. The country she has inherited is in a much better situation than the one inherited by the first PT government, with a stabilised economy and inflation under control. The sustainable policies for reducing poverty have generated conditions that encourage the enlargement of the middle class which, together with the creation of popular credit mechanisms, have served to halt the effects of the world crisis and have generated enormous expectations of social mobility. This scenario, together with the country’s increasingly recognised presence as an important international actor, provides unprecedented possibilities for the advancement of the “development with social inclusion” project. Nevertheless, certain reforms still need to be implemented that could threaten governability: political reform, federative agreement and tax reform, as well as social reforms.

  4. Correcting the Money Myth: Re-Thinking School Resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grubb, W. Norton

    2010-01-01

    The Money Myth is the contention that any education problem requires increased spending and, conversely, that reform is impossible without more funding. However, increased funding works for only certain kinds of school resources. Many reforms require resources that money cannot buy. What is needed are reforms that build the capacity of schools to…

  5. Research on reform plan of civil engineering adult education graduation design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Zhibin; Sun, Shengnan; Cui, Shicai

    2017-12-01

    As for civil engineering adult education graduation design, reform program is put forward combined with our school. The main points of reform include the following aspects. New pattern of graduation design which is consisted of basic training of engineering design, technical application and engineering innovation training is formed. Integration model of graduation design and employment is carried out. Multiple professional guidance graduation design pattern is put forward. Subject of graduation design is chosen based on the school actual circumstance. A “three stage” quality monitoring system is established. Performance evaluation pattern that concludes two oral examinations of the dissertation is strictly carried out.

  6. Importance, problems, and reform of agricultural research in Africa ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Importance, problems, and reform of agricultural research in Africa. ... Sustainable agricultural intensification itself means producing more food and agricultural products from the same overall resources (such as land, labour and water), while reducing the negative environmental impacts and at the same time increasing ...

  7. Analysis of Academic and Non-Academic Outcomes from a Bottom-up Comprehensive School Reform in the Absence of Student Level Data through Simulation Methods: A Mixed Methods Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sondergeld, Toni A.

    2009-01-01

    This dissertation examines the efficacy of a bottom-up comprehensive school reform (CSR) program by evaluating its impact on student achievement, attendance, and behavior outcomes through an explanatory mixed methods design. The CSR program (Gear Up) was implemented in an urban junior high school over the course of seven years allowing for…

  8. "Decentralised" Neoliberalism and/or "Masked" Re-Centralisation? The Policy to Practice Trajectory of Maltese School Reform through the Lens of Neoliberalism and Foucault

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mifsud, Denise

    2016-01-01

    The politics of the later part of the twentieth century have been marked by the emergence of neoliberalism, which has consequently impregnated the global policy climate with neoliberal technologies of government. It is within this political scenario of hegemonic neoliberal discourse that I explore one aspect of school reform in Malta--contrived…

  9. Reforming Preschools and Schools.

    OpenAIRE

    Duncan, GJ; Magnuson, K; Murnane, RJ

    2016-01-01

    Compared with their higher-income counterparts, children growing up in low-income families in the United States typically complete less schooling, report worse health, and work and earn less in adulthood. Moreover, changes in the American economy over the last 40 years have raised the level of skills and qualifications that children need to obtain a good middle-class job, as well as making it much more difficult for children from low-income families to attend schools that support their learni...

  10. Tracking Gender Equity under Economic Reforms: Continuity and ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Tracking Gender Equity under Economic Reforms: Continuity and Change in South ... She has a master's degree in economics from the Delhi School of Economics ... An IDRC delegation will join international delegates and city representatives ...

  11. Are school meals a viable and sustainable tool to improve the healthiness and sustainability of children´s diet and food consumption?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Oostindjer, Marije; Aschemann-Witzel, Jessica; Wang, Qing

    2017-01-01

    . School meal programs are of particular interest for improving public diet because they reach children at a population scale across socio-economic classes and for over a decade of their lives, and because food habits of children are more malleable than those of adults. Current research on the history...... and health implications of school meal programs is reviewed in a cross-national comparative framework, and arguments explored that speak for the need of a new developmental phase of school meals as an integrative learning platform for healthy and sustainable food behavior. Nutritional, social, practical...

  12. Reforming Administrator Training: Here We Go Again!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drury, William R.

    1989-01-01

    The National Policy Board for Educational Administration report ("Improving the Preparation of School Administrators: An Agenda for Reform") reiterates the need for program improvements for educational administrators. Obstacles to any real change occurring in the near future are pointed out. (six references) (SI)

  13. Mexican energy policy and sustainability indicators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sheinbaum-Pardo, Claudia; Ruiz-Mendoza, Belizza Janet; Rodríguez-Padilla, Víctor

    2012-01-01

    The authors analyze the Mexican energy policy taking as reference the methodological framework for sustainable energy development proposed by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. This methodology takes eight related indicators to the social, environmental and economic dimensions in order to calculate a general sustainability indicator for the energy sector. In this methodology, the weight of each dimension is different; namely, the social and environmental issues have less relevance than the economic issues. The authors use this methodology because government institutions as the Department of Energy and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have used some indicators from such a methodology to propose plans, programs, projects and bills. Authors know of the existence of other methodologies about sustainability. Nonetheless, opting for the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean's methodology is convenient because this organization is a respectable authority for civil servants from the Mexican institutions. Our objective is just to contrast the sustainability grade of the energy sector between 1990 and 2008 for Mexico whose government started reforms in the 1990s. It concludes that those reforms did not bring about a higher sustainability level for the energy sector. - Highlights: ► We used the OLADE, CEPAL and GTZ's methodology to calculate sustainability indicators for the Mexican energy sector. ► We studied the Mexican energy policy from 1990 to date and presented it. ► Currently, the Mexican energy sector is less sustainable than in 1990.

  14. The Promise of a Literacy Reform Effort in the Upper Elementary Grades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walpole, Sharon; Amendum, Steven; Pasquarella, Adrian; Strong, John Z.; McKenna, Michael C.

    2017-01-01

    We compared year-long gains in fluency and comprehension in grades 3-5 in 3 treatment and 4 comparison schools. Treatment schools implemented a comprehensive school reform (CSR) program called Bookworms. The program employed challenging text and emphasized high text volume, aggressive vocabulary and knowledge building, and contextualized strategy…

  15. Nigeria's Banking Sector Reforms: the Journey So Far | Onodje ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The current economic crisis appears to vindicate strident calls for financial sector reforms to enthrone sound financial practices and good corporate governance as means to ensuring sustainable economic growth and development. It is thus appropriate in the current adverse global economic circumstances, to determine the ...

  16. Sustaining a hygiene education intervention to prevent and control geohelminth infections at schools in the Peruvian Amazon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thériault, François L; Blouin, Brittany; Casapía, Martín; Gyorkos, Theresa W

    2015-10-01

    The World Health Organization currently recommends that school-based deworming programs include health hygiene education as a complementary measure. However, the sustainability and long-term impact of such hygiene education had yet to be assessed. In July 2012, this cross-sectional study was conducted in 18 primary schools in the Peruvian Amazon to gauge continuing adherence to a health hygiene education intervention introduced 2 years earlier to reduce soil-transmitted helminth infections. Due in large part to high teacher turn-over, only 9 of 47 (19.1%) teachers were still implementing the intervention. Health hygiene education interventions must, therefore, be designed to ensure sustainability in order to contribute to the overall effectiveness of school-based deworming programs.

  17. Education sciences, schooling, and abjection: recognizing ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    people to that future. The double gestures continue in contemporary school reform and its sciences. ... understand their different cultural theses about cosmopolitan modes of life and the child cast out as different and ... Keywords: educational sciences; history of present; politics of schooling; reform; social inclusion/exclusion

  18. Still Reforming after All These Years

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKenzie, William

    2014-01-01

    This article presents an interview with Terry Grier, superintendent of the Houston Independent School District (HISD), Texas's largest district. Before taking this post, he had been a principal or superintendent for most of three decades and remains a reformer five years into his leadership. Grier has maintained his passion for improving schools…

  19. Planning for Reform-Based Science: Case Studies of Two Urban Elementary Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mangiante, Elaine Silva

    2018-02-01

    The intent of national efforts to frame science education standards is to promote students' development of scientific practices and conceptual understanding for their future role as scientifically literate citizens (NRC 2012). A guiding principle of science education reform is that all students receive equitable opportunities to engage in rigorous science learning. Yet, implementation of science education reform depends on teachers' instructional decisions. In urban schools serving students primarily from poor, diverse communities, teachers typically face obstacles in providing reform-based science due to limited resources and accountability pressures, as well as a culture of teacher-directed pedagogy, and deficit views of students. The purpose of this qualitative research was to study two white, fourth grade teachers from high-poverty urban schools, who were identified as transforming their science teaching and to investigate how their beliefs, knowledge bases, and resources shaped their planning for reform-based science. Using the Shavelson and Stern's decision model for teacher planning to analyze evidence gathered from interviews, documents, planning meetings, and lesson observations, the findings indicated their planning for scientific practices was influenced by the type and extent of professional development each received, each teacher's beliefs about their students and their background, and the mission and learning environment each teacher envisioned for the reform to serve their students. The results provided specific insights into factors that impacted their planning in high-poverty urban schools and indicated considerations for those in similar contexts to promote teachers' planning for equitable science learning opportunities by all students.

  20. Structural Dynamics of Education Reforms and Quality of Primary Education in Uganda

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nyenje, Aida

    2016-01-01

    This paper examines Uganda's recent undertaking to reform her Primary School education System with a focus on the effect of structural dynamics of education reforms and the quality of primary education. Structural dynamics in the context of this study is in reference to the organizational composition of the education system at the government,…

  1. Sustainability Infused Curriculum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ibarra, D. L.

    2015-12-01

    The Independent Schools Foundation Academy (ISF) in Hong Kong established a sustainability policy in 2015, which explicitly states, "an experimentally integrated, environmentally and ethically sustainable system of science education and conservation practices based on the 2012 Jeju Declaration of the World Conservation Congress will be implemented through the school". ISF Academy is a private Chinese bilingual school in Hong Kong serving over 1500 students K-12, following the framework and curriculum of the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). The strategy behind the implementation of this policy includes: development of a scientific sustainable curriculum that is age appropriate; establish a culture of sustainability within the ISF community and beyond to the wider HK community; install sustainable infrastructure that allows students to learn; and learn first hand sustainable living practices. It is well understood that solutions to the environmental challenges facing Hong Kong and our planet will require multiple disciplines. The current sustainability programs at ISF include: a) a whole school aerobic food waste composting system and organic farming, b) energy consumption monitoring of existing buildings, c) upcoming installation of an air pollution monitoring equipment that will correlate with the AQHI data collected by the Hong Kong government, d) a Renewable Energy Education Center (REEC) that will teach students about RE and also produce solar energy for classroom consumption, and e) student lead environmental group that manages the paper and used cooking oil recycling on campus. The Shuyuan Science and Sustainability faculty work closely with classroom teachers to ensure that the above mentioned projects are incorporated into the curriculum throughout the school. Interdisciplinary units (IDU) of study are being developed that encourage faculty and students to work across subject areas. Projects include Personal Projects, Extended Essays

  2. Expressions of agency within complex policy structures: science teachers' experiences of education policy reforms in Sweden

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryder, Jim; Lidar, Malena; Lundqvist, Eva; Östman, Leif

    2018-03-01

    We explore the experiences of school science teachers as they enact three linked national curriculum and assessment policy reforms in Sweden. Our goal is to understand teachers' differing responses to these reforms. A sample of 13 teachers engaged in 2 interviews over a 6-9-month period. Interviews included exploration of professional background and school context, perceptions of the aims of the policy reforms and experiences of working with these reforms in the classroom. Analysis was guided by an individual-oriented sociocultural perspective on professional agency. Here teaching is conceptualised as an ongoing interplay between teachers' knowledge, skills and personal goals, and the characteristics of the social, institutional and policy settings in which they work. Our analysis shows that navigating the ensuing continuities and contradictions results in many different expressions of teacher agency, e.g. loss of autonomy and trust, pushing back, subversion, transfer of authority, and creative tensions. Typically, an individual teacher's enactment of these reforms involved several of these expressions of agency. We demonstrate that the sociocultural perspective provides insights into teachers' responses to education policy reform likely to be missed by studies that focus largely on individual teacher knowledge/beliefs about reform or skills in 'implementing' reform practices.

  3. Building a Mien-American house: A case study in school-community relations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammond, Lorie A.

    2000-10-01

    Researchers and policymakers agree that schools and parents must work together if they are to provide the sustenance, services, and support which children need to be successful in our increasingly complex society. (Clark, 1983; Comer, 1980, 1996; Clinton, 1995; Epstein, 1995, 1996). Unfortunately, the social and academic success of language minority students is often adversely affected by the alienation of parents from school culture and by the "deficit" view which teachers hold of language minority parents' academic and parenting skills (Boggs, 1985; Delgado-Gaitan, 1990; Heath, 1983; Lareau, 1987, 1989; Philips, 1983). This case study describes the attempts of one school site to build academic and social bridges between immigrant families from a Southeast Asian Hill Tribe, the Iu Mien, and a mainstream elementary school. This effort is facilitated by a constructivist approach to curriculum in which parents, teachers, and children create an intercultural space---a school community garden---as a context in which academic dialogue can occur. Various strategies which enable inter-cultural learning are described, including the use of students as ethnographers, of parents as expert teachers, and of teachers as cultural brokers. The study also considers the cultural conflicts and understandings which occurred when American teachers and Mien parents built a Mien field-house together: a structure which became symbolic of their blended lives. Through both a descriptive narration and interviews with various participants, the study analyzes (a) community-based curriculum development, led by practitioner reformers, as a way to enable language minority students to be academically successful within their own life worlds, as well as (b) the political and bureaucratic forces which make community-based reforms difficult to sustain. This study employs qualitative research strategies within an action-research context in which the author plays the dual role of practitioner reformer

  4. "More Justice": The Role of Organized Labor in Educational Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers, John S.; Terriquez, Veronica

    2009-01-01

    This article explores the potential role of low-wage service sector unions in engaging in equity-minded school reform. The members of many such unions are parents of children attending poorly resourced public schools. In seeking to address the interests of their members, labor unions can draw upon resources, organizing strategies, and political…

  5. Liberalism, Radicalism, and Self-Governing Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swartz, Ronald

    1978-01-01

    Contrasts Karl Popper's theory of social reform with a Marxist theory of reform. Concludes that a liberal approach to educational reform, as exemplified by A.S. Neill's self-governing school at Summerhill, is generally more satisfactory. (Author/DB)

  6. On a Vision to Educating Students in Sustainability and Design—The James Madison University School of Engineering Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olga Pierrakos

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available In order for our future engineers to be able to work toward a sustainable future, they must be versed not only in sustainable engineering but also in engineering design. An engineering education must train our future engineers to think flexibly and to be adaptive, as it is unlikely that their future will have them working in one domain. They must, instead, be versatilists. The School of Engineering at James Madison University has been developed from the ground up to provide this engineering training with an emphasis on engineering design, systems thinking, and sustainability. Neither design nor sustainability are mutually exclusive, and consequently, an education focusing on design and sustainability must integrate these topics, teaching students to follow a sustainable design process. This is the goal of the James Madison University School of Engineering. In this paper, we present our approach to curricular integration of design and sustainability as well as the pedagogical approaches used throughout the curriculum. We do not mean to present the School’s model as an all or nothing approach consisting of dependent elements, but instead as a collection of independent approaches, of which one or more may be appropriate at another university.

  7. Time to Reform the Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elshtain, Jean Bethke

    1983-01-01

    Indicates that parents, teachers, and concerned citizens must become involved in the decision-making process regarding public education. Recommends that (1) schools be decentralized to allow for more parent participation and teacher responsiveness, (2) schools of education be phased out, (3) parents and students get involved in educational…

  8. Sustaining a hygiene education intervention to prevent and control geohelminth infections at schools in the Peruvian Amazon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    François L. Thériault

    Full Text Available The World Health Organization currently recommends that school-based deworming programs include health hygiene education as a complementary measure. However, the sustainability and long-term impact of such hygiene education had yet to be assessed. In July 2012, this cross-sectional study was conducted in 18 primary schools in the Peruvian Amazon to gauge continuing adherence to a health hygiene education intervention introduced 2 years earlier to reduce soil-transmitted helminth infections. Due in large part to high teacher turn-over, only 9 of 47 (19.1% teachers were still implementing the intervention. Health hygiene education interventions must, therefore, be designed to ensure sustainability in order to contribute to the overall effectiveness of school-based deworming programs.

  9. EDUCATIONAL REFORMS AND TEACHERS’ WORKING CONDITIONS: EMOTIONS EXPERIENCED BY AN IN-SERVICE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neide Nunes RODRIGUES

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In this article, we analyze the relation among educational reforms and teachers’ work, and emotions. This study was conducted with a public school English teacher, in Minas Gerais. The aim was to verify the role that contextual factors play in the production of emotions, and detect the emotions that influence her practice with students, colleagues, and school managers. The theoretical framework was based on studies about educational reforms and teachers’ work (AUGUSTO, 2005; HYPOLITO; VIEIRA; PIZZI, 2009; DUARTE; AUGUSTO, [s.d.], the relationship between emotions and the process of teaching and learning languages (HARGREAVES, 2000; ZEMBYLAS, 2002, 2003; ARAGÃO, 2008; DAY; QING, 2009; SHUTZ; ZEMBYLAS, 2009; COWIE, 2011; RIBEIRO, 2012. We used a semistructured questionnaire and a narrative interview as data collection instruments. The analysis has pointed out poor work condition, crowded classrooms, poor physical and technological structures, strict school curriculum, students’ indiscipline, and the institution pessimistic atmosphere as frustrating, stressful, and de-motivating factors. These results indicate the need to create alternative ways of school workplaces organization, and to modify the way people interact in schools. They also suggest the need of educators to participate in the design and implementation of educational reforms.

  10. Prescription, Ceremony, or "Trickle Down": How Do National Commissions Try to Reform Education?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wimpelberg, Robert K.; Ginsberg, Rick

    Educational reform commissions and their reports can be traced back to the massive expansion of public schools during the 1890s. The reports of reform commissions over the years follow the same format: problems are identified, experts are selected to examine them, and improvement proposals are recommended. This report examines 14 national studies…

  11. Exploring Principal Capacity to Lead Reform of Teaching and Learning Quality in Thailand

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hallinger, Philip; Lee, Moosung

    2013-01-01

    In 1999 Thailand passed an ambitious national educational law that paved the way for major reforms in teaching, learning and school management. Despite the ambitious vision of reform embedded in this law, recent studies suggest that implementation progress has been slow, uneven, and lacking deep penetration onto classrooms. Carried out ten years…

  12. In Flesh and Bone: Bodily Image and Educational Patterns in Early Reformation Theatre

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvarani, Luana

    2018-01-01

    From its very beginning, the Protestant Reformation adopted the theatre as one of its educational tools. Together with choral music, visual arts, and preaching, Luther, Melanchthon, Oekolampad, and other Reformers promoted both the cultivated school theatre and the popular street theatre in order to spread the new faith, create a community ethos,…

  13. Improving water, sanitation, and hygiene in schools in Indonesia: A cross-sectional assessment on sustaining infrastructural and behavioral interventions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karon, Andrew J; Cronin, Aidan A; Cronk, Ryan; Hendrawan, Reza

    2017-05-01

    Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in schools are important for child health, development, and educational performance; yet coverage in Indonesian schools remains low. To address this deficiency, UNICEF and partners conducted a WASH intervention in 450 schools across three provinces in Indonesia. A survey evaluating the sustainability of infrastructure and behavioral interventions in comparison to control districts was conducted one year after completion of the intervention. The survey data were also compared with national government data to assess the suitability of government data to report progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Logistic regression was used to explore associations between WASH conditions and behaviors. Intervention schools were more likely to have handwashing stations with soap and water. In multivariable analyses, schools with a toilet operation and maintenance fund were more likely to have functional toilets. Students who learn hygiene skills from their teachers were less likely to defecate openly, more likely to share hygiene knowledge with their parents, and more likely to wash their hands. Survey data were comparable with government data, suggesting that Indonesian government monitoring may be a reliable source of data to measure progress on the SDGs. This research generates important policy and practice findings for scaling up and sustaining WASH in schools and may help improve WASH in schools programs in other low-resource contexts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  14. The moral economy of austerity: analysing UK welfare reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Lydia

    2016-03-01

    This paper notes the contemporary emergence of 'morality' in both sociological argument and political rhetoric, and analyses its significance in relation to ongoing UK welfare reforms. It revisits the idea of 'moral economy' and identifies two strands in its contemporary application; that all economies depend on an internal moral schema, and that some external moral evaluation is desirable. UK welfare reform is analysed as an example of the former, with reference to three distinct orientations advanced in the work of Freeden (1996), Laclau (2014), and Lockwood (1996). In this light, the paper then considers challenges to the reform agenda, drawn from third sector and other public sources. It outlines the forms of argument present in these challenges, based respectively on rationality, legality, and morality, which together provide a basis for evaluation of the welfare reforms and for an alternative 'moral economy'. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2016.

  15. The Search for Equity in School Finance: Michigan School District Response to a Guaranteed Tax Base.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Rolla Edward; Carroll, Stephen J.

    Part of a three-volume report on the effects of school finance reform, this volume examines the effects of reform on Michigan school districts' budgets from 1971 to 1976. Econometric models were used. Researchers found a very small "price" effect--an elasticity of -.02. The data provide no evidence that state matching grants stimulate…

  16. Collective inquiry in the context of school-wide reform: Exploring science curriculum and instruction through team-based professional development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eddy Spicer, David Henning

    Teacher collaboration and joint reflective inquiry have been viewed as central elements of progressive educational reform for more than two decades. More recently, researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners have heralded "blended" or "hybrid" approaches that combine online and on-site environments for collaborative learning as especially promising for "scaling up" instructional improvement. Yet, relatively little is known about how teachers working together navigate organizational and interpersonal constraints to develop and sustain conditions essential to collective inquiry. This in-depth study of meaning making about curriculum and instruction among a group of 11 physics teachers in a public, urban secondary school in the U.S. is an effort to explore collective inquiry as a resource for teacher learning and innovations in teaching practice. Through extended observations, multiple interviews, and close analyses of interaction, the study followed teachers for 7 months as they worked together across 3 settings organized in fundamentally different ways to promote joint inquiry into teaching practice. The explanatory framework of the study rests on the mutually-reinforcing conceptual underpinnings of sociocultural theory and systemic functional linguistics to establish connections between micro-social interactions and macro-social processes. Drawing on systemic functional linguistics, the study explores interpersonal meaning making through close analyses of speech function and speech role in 6 extended sequences of generative interaction. Concepts from activity theory elucidate those features of settings and school that directly impinged on or advanced teachers' collaborative work. Findings run counter to prevailing congenial views of teacher collegiality by identifying ways in which collective inquiry is inherently unstable. That instability makes itself apparent at two levels: (a) the dynamics of authority within the group, and (b) middle-level features of

  17. BUILDING INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MONTENEGRO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bosiljka Vuković

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available There are many proofs confirming the importance of sustainable development for Montenegro. Shared international challenges, global economic crisis, and, particularly, the country's natural characteristics emphasize that sustainable development is the only way ahead. In 2002 Montenegro formed the National Council for Sustainable Development; in 2005 the Office for Sustainable Development was established, and the National Strategy of Sustainable Development was adopted in 2007. With these developments, Montenegro created the most advanced institutional basis for sustainable development in its region. After carefully observing the functioning of national sustainable development institutions, however, the Office for Sustainable Development embarked upon the process of their reform in 2008. As a result, the Council was fundamentally reformed, having its membership downsized and composition transformed. Two Annual Reports on the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Strategy have been completed and the process of defining sustainable development indicators commenced in co-operation with the United Nations. This paper critically examines the evolution of the set-up of the Montenegrin sustainable development system, presents the advantages and disadvantages of the government-anchored Council. Based on the lessons learnt, it presents recommendations for policy makers on promoting and enforcing sustainable development. The paper argues that only by effectively co-ordinating all segments of society and ensuring genuine participation of outside-government stakeholders, the countries can ensure that sustainable development principles are incorporated in national and local policies. The independence and pro-activeness in approach of sustainable development institutions is essential in ensuring the supremacy of sustainable practices in decision-making. Considering the similarities in historic, economic and social developments of the former socialist

  18. Charter School Competition, Organization, and Achievement in Traditional Public Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Tomeka M.

    2013-01-01

    Market models of education reform predict that the growth of charter schools will infuse competition into the public school sector, forcing traditional public schools to improve the practices they engage in to educate students. Some scholars have criticized these models, arguing that competition from charter schools is unlikely to produce…

  19. School Finance Reform. At Issue

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weston, Margaret

    2010-01-01

    Californians are very concerned about funding for their K-12 public schools. They consistently say that K-12 education should be protected from spending cuts over and above any other area of the state budget. California's system of school finance is in trouble. Many studies have found it to be inequitable, with wide variation in per-pupil funding.…

  20. How Does a Community of Principals Develop Leadership for Technology-Enhanced Science?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerard, Libby F.; Bowyer, Jane B.; Linn, Marcia C.

    2010-01-01

    Active principal leadership can help sustain and scale science curriculum reform. This study illustrates how principal leadership developed in a professional learning community to support a technology-enhanced science curriculum reform funded by the National Science Foundation. Seven middle school and high school principals in one urban-fringe…

  1. Can We Pay for Current Education Reform?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Odden, Allan

    2012-01-01

    For more than 30 years, the United States has been engaged in education reform efforts designed to dramatically boost student performance and close achievement gaps linked to poverty and ethnicity. Can schools afford those education ambitions? Most educators have their doubts. The author believes educators can improve student learning even when…

  2. Sacred Choices: Adolescent Relationships and Sexual Ethics--The Reform Movement's Response to the Need for Faith-Based Sexuality Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winer, Rabbi Laura Novak

    2011-01-01

    "Sacred Choices: Adolescent Relationships and Sexual Ethics" is a sexual ethics curriculum for middle school and high school students developed by the Union for Reform Judaism. Sacred Choices strives to teach Reform Jewish teens that their bodies are gifts from God and that Judaism provides relevant guidance on how to use and care for that gift…

  3. Sustainable implementation of school-based physical activity: A four-stage Delphi consensus process

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Johansen, Danielle Louise Nørager; Skovgaard, Thomas; Møller, Niels Christian

    condensed into a total amount of 63 factors, arranged into nine overall categories, and prioritized by the national expert group in the questionnaire (1.School leadership, 2.Co-workers, 3.Resources, 4.Policy level, 5.Organizational/cultural level, 6.Pupils, 7.Physical surroundings, 8.Intervention context......, and 9.External factors). Based on five expert interviews, outliers from the questionnaire was examined. Finally, at the workshop, five of the nine overall categories were rated as particularly relevant and important (School leadership, Co-workers, Policy level, Resources and Organizational/cultural...... level). Conclusions All nine overall categories are deemed as decisive for sustainable implementation of school-based PA. However, School leadership were singled out as a particular important category, since commitment at this level is deemed a pre-requisite for many of the other factors....

  4. China's power sector reforms - where to next?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2006-12-15

    With the fastest growing energy demand in the world, China is now the largest electricity consumer after the United States. How can the government best assure affordable and environmentally sustainable electricity supply in the future? The Chinese government has initiated electricity sector reforms to overhaul an antiquated system and attain new energy security and environmental objectives. How China proceeds with these reforms will have lasting consequences, both locally and globally. Assessing the current state of electricity regulation in China, this report draws on experience elsewhere to explore how better to develop and communicate strategy, how to moderate growth in demand through increased efficiency, how to integrate environmental goals into planning and operation, how to ensure sufficient supply when and where it is needed, and how to handle institutional and governance challenges. In this respect, electricity sector reform in other countries offers valuable lessons as to how China might proceed.

  5. Methods for reformation of gaseous hydrocarbons using electrical discharge

    KAUST Repository

    Cha, Min Suk

    2017-02-16

    Methods for the reformation of gaseous hydrocarbons are provided. The methods can include forming a bubble containing the gaseous hydrocarbon in a liquid. The bubble can be generated to pass in a gap between a pair of electrodes, whereby an electrical discharge is generated in the bubble at the gap between the electrodes. The electrodes can be a metal or metal alloy with a high melting point so they can sustain high voltages of up to about 200 kilovolts. The gaseous hydrocarbon can be combined with an additive gas such as molecular oxygen or carbon dioxide. The reformation of the gaseous hydrocarbon can produce mixtures containing one or more of H2, CO, H2O, CO2, and a lower hydrocarbon such as ethane or ethylene. The reformation of the gaseous hydrocarbon can produce low amounts of CO2 and H2O, e.g. about 15 mol-% or less.

  6. Methods for reformation of gaseous hydrocarbons using electrical discharge

    KAUST Repository

    Cha, Min; Zhang, Xuming

    2017-01-01

    Methods for the reformation of gaseous hydrocarbons are provided. The methods can include forming a bubble containing the gaseous hydrocarbon in a liquid. The bubble can be generated to pass in a gap between a pair of electrodes, whereby an electrical discharge is generated in the bubble at the gap between the electrodes. The electrodes can be a metal or metal alloy with a high melting point so they can sustain high voltages of up to about 200 kilovolts. The gaseous hydrocarbon can be combined with an additive gas such as molecular oxygen or carbon dioxide. The reformation of the gaseous hydrocarbon can produce mixtures containing one or more of H2, CO, H2O, CO2, and a lower hydrocarbon such as ethane or ethylene. The reformation of the gaseous hydrocarbon can produce low amounts of CO2 and H2O, e.g. about 15 mol-% or less.

  7. The Curricular Reform of Art Education in Primary School in Slovenia in Terms of Certain Components of the European Competence of Cultural Awareness and Expression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bracun Sova, Rajka; Kemperl, Metoda

    2012-01-01

    One of the important positions of the last curricular reform in Slovenia, which included systemic issues of education (White Paper on Education, 2011) and curricula for compulsory subjects in primary school, is the fact that Slovenia has been integrated into Europe, and thus education should also include the development of core European…

  8. [Issue of population quality under economic reform].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, G

    1991-02-01

    Under the current economic reform program, various problems about the quality of the population have emerged; dropping out of school is one such problem. In recent years, dropping out of school, has become a prevalent phenomenon. It was estimated that between 1980 and 1987, 40 million primary and middle school students dropped out of school. Drop-outs occurred mostly in primary and middle schools and in rural areas. The reasons for dropping out can be summarized as follows: 1) families could not afford to pay for tuition, 2) students were not able to keep up with school work, and 3) families or students were influenced by other students who had dropped out. In weighing the cost and benefit of attending school, parents would decide whether or not and for how many years to send their children to school. The costs included both direct costs and opportunity costs. Children in urban areas have practically no opportunity costs, while those in rural areas do. Dropping out has been more prevalent among girls than boys. Since girls marry into other families, parents were less willing to invest in their education. On the other hand, the school curriculum gave more emphasis to preparing students for advanced studies than to relaying practical knowledge. Parents did not feel there was any advantage for their children to spend more time in school. Rural economic reform had strengthened the decision-making function of the family in the area of investment. It has also widened the gap between the rich and the poor. For less affluent families, it has become more and more difficult to bear the increasing cost of education. To deal with this problem, the author made several suggestions: 1) persuade parents to continue sending children to school 2) set regulations forbidding the employment of school age children 3) forbid schools to collect unauthorized feeds and establish scholarships to help economically disadvantaged students, 4) develop more vocational schools and change the

  9. Education for Sustainable Development and Multidimensional Implementation. A Study of Implementations of Sustainable Development in Education with the Curriculum of Upper Secondary School in Sweden as an Example

    Science.gov (United States)

    Svalfors, Ulrika

    2017-01-01

    This article discusses different interpretations of sustainable development in education and if different interpretations of the concept are implemented in Curriculum, with the Swedish Curriculum of Upper Secondary School as an example. According to Agenda 21 sustainable development should be implemented in a multidimensional way. In 2011, a new…

  10. Geography teachers' interpretation of a curriculum reform initiative ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This article addresses how teachers in a specific developing world context interpreted a curriculum reform initiative. It is located within a broader interpretive study that investigated the integration of Environmental Education into the formal education system of Lesotho with particular reference to secondary school geography.

  11. Strategic Plan for Sustainable Energy Management and Environmental Stewardship for Los Angeles Unified School District

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Walker, A.; Beattie, D.; Thomas, K.; Davis, K.; Sim, M.; Jhaveri, A.

    2007-11-01

    This Strategic Plan for Sustainable Energy Management and Environmental Stewardship states goals, measures progress toward goals and how actions are monitored to achieve continuous improvement for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

  12. Networking for Education for Sustainable Development in Austria: The Austrian ECOLOG-Schools Programme

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rauch, Franz

    2016-01-01

    This case describes networking for education for sustainable development within the Austrian ECOLOG-schools network. The article presents theoretical concepts of networks in education in general, and the organization of the ECOLOG-network in particular. Based upon these foundations, the concept and results of a participatory evaluation study are…

  13. The Discourse of Partnership and the Reality of Reform: Interrogating the Recent Reform Agenda at Initial Teacher Education and Induction Levels in Ireland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Judith Harford

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Over the last decade, teacher education in Ireland has experienced radical reconceptualization and restructuring at both initial teacher education [ITE] and induction levels, with reform of continuous professional development now in the planning phase. The establishment of the Teaching Council (2006 as a statutory, regulatory body, with a role in the review and accreditation of teacher education, increased the visibility of and policy focus on teacher education. Significant reform of initial teacher education was announced in 2011 that included both an extension of the duration of programmes and, most notably, the period the student teachers were to be engaged in school-based professional development. This increased period has been accompanied by a shift in the understanding of what is involved in practicum and implies a redefinition of the respective roles of the university and the school, and the development of a new form of partnership between both agencies. The period of induction and probation has also become an area of reform with an emphasis on school-based coaching and the evaluation of newly qualified teachers, which devolves decisions on teachers’ full recognition and membership of the profession, to principals and colleagues. This shift, which changes the established approach to induction for primary level teachers, has resulted in the withdrawal of cooperation with this policy by the main teacher union and to the implementation process being stymied. Both policy developments bring the concept of partnership within Irish education into sharp focus: a partnership between schools and universities in ITE, but also partnership in policy development and implementation in the case of induction.

  14. Charter Schools: An Experiment in School Reform. ASPIRA Issue Brief.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dittmar, Belinda Corazon; And Others

    Charter schools incorporate the focus of magnet schools but often go beyond their academic specialization to more social goals. They can operate at both elementary and secondary levels, although they are always quite small. The greatest difference, however, between charter schools and other public schools is their status as a bridge between public…

  15. A sustainable school for the citizens of tomorrow; Une ecole durable pour les citoyens de demain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hondekyn, L A; Heise, N; Wurzner, E; Djigaouri, D; Faure, L; Weksej, E; Irigoin, M; Le Vannier, I; Petersen, M; Reff, R

    2000-04-01

    All municipalities in Europe have schools to manage, renovate and build. In all of these schools, hundreds of thousands of children are being taught, among other things, to be good citizens. Many boroughs and local councils have been looking to improve energy consumption in schools, with savings of up to 40% or more. A whole variety of initiatives have taken place to raise children's awareness of energy saving, renewable energy and environmental protection for sustainable urban development. This publication presents many realizations in European schools. (A.L.B.)

  16. A sustainable school for the citizens of tomorrow; Une ecole durable pour les citoyens de demain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hondekyn, L.A.; Heise, N.; Wurzner, E.; Djigaouri, D.; Faure, L.; Weksej, E.; Irigoin, M.; Le Vannier, I.; Petersen, M.; Reff, R.

    2000-04-01

    All municipalities in Europe have schools to manage, renovate and build. In all of these schools, hundreds of thousands of children are being taught, among other things, to be good citizens. Many boroughs and local councils have been looking to improve energy consumption in schools, with savings of up to 40% or more. A whole variety of initiatives have taken place to raise children's awareness of energy saving, renewable energy and environmental protection for sustainable urban development. This publication presents many realizations in European schools. (A.L.B.)

  17. Examing the prospective of implementing passive house standards in providing sustainable schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suhaili, Wan Farhani; Shahrill, Masitah

    2018-04-01

    This study examines the potential of implementing the passive house standards to reduce energy consumption on school buildings in Brunei. Furthermore, it investigates whether sustainable school buildings make business sense to the government. To do this, conventional and Passive House primary school buildings are compared in terms of their performances using the Passive House Planning Package as well as the Ecotect environmental analysis tool. The findings indicated that by replacing lower U-values building fabrics brought a significantly reduction in the cooling demand of 54%. Whereas, Ecotect models have demonstrated that the heating and cooling loads have tremendously reduced to 75% by reorienting the location of the building to south elevation and by replacing the building fabrics with a lower U-values. These findings were then evaluated with a cost benefit analysis that proved to save cost energy annually from air-conditioning usage from a typical primary school with eight years of pay back period.

  18. Combining Project-based Instruction, Earth Science Content, and GIS Technology in Teacher Professional Development: Is this Holistic Approach Sustainable?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubino-Hare, L.; Bloom, N.; Claesgens, J.; Fredrickson, K.; Henderson-Dahms, C.; Sample, J. C.

    2012-12-01

    From 2009-2011, with support from the National Science Foundation (ITEST, DRL-0929846) and Science Foundation Arizona (MSAG-0412-09), educators, geologists and geographers at Northern Arizona University (NAU) partnered to offer professional development for interdisciplinary teams of secondary and middle school teachers with a focus on project-based instruction (PBI) using geospatial technologies (GST). While participating in professional development teachers received support and were held accountable to NAU staff. They implemented activities and pedagogical strategies presented, increased knowledge, skills, and confidence teaching with project-based instruction integrating GST, and their students demonstrated learning gains. Changes in student understanding are only observed when teachers continue to implement change, so the question remained: did these changes in practice sustain after official project support ended? In order to determine what, if anything, teachers sustained from the professional development and the factors that promoted or hindered sustained use of teaching with GST and PBI, data were collected one to two years following the professional development. Research questions included a) what pedagogical practices did teachers sustain following the professional learning experiences? and b) what contexts were present in schools that supported or limited the use of geospatial technologies as a teaching and learning tool? Findings from this study indicate that teachers fall into three categories of sustaining implementation - reformed implementers, mechanical implementers and non-implementers. School context was less of a factor in level of implementation than teachers' beliefs and philosophy of teaching and teachers' understanding of technology integration (teaching with technology vs. teaching technology). Case studies of teacher experiences will be presented along with implications for future professional development.

  19. From Bismarck to Beveridge: the other pension reform in Spain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Ignacio Conde-Ruiz

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Ageing is the major challenge for the PAYG pension systems in developed countries. Most of them are undergoing reforms in order to adapt to the new demographic reality. The package of reforms implemented includes increasing the retirement age, reducing the replacement rate, or introducing a sustainability factor linking pension to life expectancy. The aim of this paper is to analyse the potential consequences of a different type of reform that is at a very incipient stage in Spain but that could have a significant impact if it were fully implemented. This reform, called ‘silent reform’ because it is imperceptible to citizens in its early stages, basically consists in increasing maximum pensions in line with inflation instead of wage or productivity growth. This policy is reducing the replacement rate only for high earning workers and increasing the redistributive component of the system. This paper is the first to quantify and evaluate the potential consequences of this type of reform in Spain. We have used an accounting model with heterogeneous agents and overlapping generations in order to project pension expenditure for the next six decades. The results show that this type of reform could potentially contain future expenditure but at the cost of changing the nature of the pension system from a contributory or Bismarckian-type system into a pure redistributive pension system or Beveridgean-type one.

  20. International environmental governance: Lessons learned from Human Rights Institutional Reform

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fauchald, Ole Kristian

    2011-07-01

    This report focuses on the possibility of establishing a High Commissioner for the Environment and transforming the UNEP Governing Council into a Council for the Environment. For this purpose, it considers the parallels between human rights regimes and environmental regimes. It provides a short-list of functions to be covered by a reformed environmental governance regime, and discusses how the reform can be coordinated with UNEP, as well as with the current and future institutional framework for sustainable development. The report also discusses how the reform can be related to fifteen core multilateral environmental agreements. Finally, the report considers how the reform can be carried out through a discussion of five separate options: a decision by the UN General Assembly, by the ECOSOC, or by the UNEP Governing Council, as well as through agreements between conferences of parties of environmental agreements, or directly between states. A main purpose of the report, which has been commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry for the Environment, is to provide input to the preparations for the Rio+20 Conference in 2012.(auth)

  1. Primary Schools Eco-Friendly Education in the Frame of Education for Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prabawani, Bulan; Hanika, Ita Musfirowati; Pradhanawati, Ari; Budiatmo, Agung

    2017-01-01

    A research on primary school education in the frame of education for sustainable development, as known as ESD, is important because the awareness of eco-friendly activities and environment empowerment cannot be developed in a short time. Meanwhile, human activities have caused significant environmental degradation. This is an exploratory study…

  2. Teachers' Values Related to Sustainable Development in Polish and Latvian Secondary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Switala, Eugeniusz

    2015-01-01

    The aim of the paper is to present the results of the research on highlighting values related to sustainable development in Poland and Latvia by secondary school teachers and to compare two models by the use of action research. The research is presented as a process of identifying values mainly from the point of view of social development which is…

  3. When Schools Become Dead Zones of the Imagination: A Critical Pedagogy Manifesto

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giroux, Henry A.

    2016-01-01

    In this article Henry Giroux discusses corporate school reform movement and its detrimental impact on the public school system such as the closure of public schools in cities such as, Philadelphia, Chicago and New York to make way for charter schools. Giroux argues that corporate school reform is not simply obsessed with measurements that degrade…

  4. The Transition from Traditional to Whole Language Instruction: A Continuum from Reformers to Resistors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schweiker, Karyn E.; Barksdale-Ladd, Mary Alice

    Factors that influenced teachers to become reformers, reviewers, or resistors to whole language were investigated with specific examination of school culture. In this study three transitioning school sites were selected on the basis of their similarity in staffing and student size. Participants from each school involved three to four classroom…

  5. Educational Reflections on the ``Ecological Crisis'': EcoJustice, Environmentalism, and Sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mueller, Michael P.

    2009-08-01

    There is a tendency by scholars arguing for a more just and sustainable future to position the “ecological crisis” as a fundamental reason for major educational reforms. Relying on crisis-talk to fuel social and environmental justice and environmentalism reinforces the thinking of the past, which inadvertently perpetuates the acceptance of present cultural attitudes which frame our relationships with others and the natural world. To evaluate previous cultural thinking and associated traditions of Euro-West society, Chet Bowers asserts that we ought to analyze how assumptions are carried forward as metaphors, which are associated with attitudes towards science, technology, and nature. This pedagogy is called ecojustice education and serves to conserve and sustain cultural diversity and the biodiversity of Earth’s ecosystems, which are threatened and vulnerable. But, also carried forward in the language of ecojustice philosophy (and other ecological works) is a presumption that feeds into scientifically proving that a crisis exists, which is associated with organizing schools around an implicit shock doctrine of fear and urgency. This paper explores these assumptions and others associated with a supposition of ecological crisis. The ecological crisis has the potential to marginalize many diverse people who are needed during these times of increasing ecological awareness and uncertainties. Situating education (and the world) in the frenzy associated with crisis, versus the assertion that schools should increase awareness around the belief that a more sustainable lifestyle is beneficial for the individual, the community and the environment is a worthwhile debate and is rich with respect to research opportunities in education.

  6. Creating a Sustainable Model for Establishing Youth Gardens in Schools and Childcare Centers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, William; Friese, Bettina; Carrel, Aaron; Meinen, Amy

    2013-01-01

    Purpose/Objectives: The goal of the program was to establish youth gardens across Wisconsin by conducting workshops for school staff and childcare providers on how to start and sustain a youth garden with limited resources. Methods: Evaluation utilized an end-of-workshop questionnaire and follow-up survey. The end-of-workshop questionnaire focused…

  7. Quality Reform: Personality Type, Preferred Learning Style and Majors in a Business School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fallan, Lars

    2006-01-01

    The quality reform of higher education in Norway has generally recommended a substitution of classroom teaching with more active forms of learning in higher education. This study reveals that ignoring the student's personality type may be in conflict with the purpose of the reform. The student's personality type affects both the most effective…

  8. The social accountability of medical schools and its indicators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boelen, Charles; Dharamsi, Shafik; Gibbs, Trevor

    2012-01-01

    There is growing interest worldwide in social accountability for medical and other health professional schools. Attempts have been made to apply the concept primarily to educational reform initiatives with limited concern towards transforming an entire institution to commit and assess its education, research and service delivery missions to better meet priority health needs in society for an efficient, equitable an sustainable health system. In this paper, we clarify the concept of social accountability in relation to responsibility and responsiveness by providing practical examples of its application; and we expand on a previously described conceptual model of social accountability (the CPU model), by further delineating the parameters composing the model and providing examples on how to translate them into meaningful indicators. The clarification of concepts of social responsibility, responsiveness and accountability and the examples provided in designing indicators may help medical schools and other health professional schools in crafting their own benchmarks to assess progress towards social accountability within the context of their particular environment.

  9. Choice in Schooling: A Case for Tuition Vouchers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirkpatrick, David W.

    The educational reform movement produced only incremental improvements in student achievement, prompting a need for greater focus on structural and cultural aspects of school organization. Parental choice is the necessary element for successful school reform in the future. The public educational system that has evolved in America is widely…

  10. China's New National Curriculum Reform: Innovation, Challenges and Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guan, Qun; Meng, Wanjin

    2007-01-01

    This paper presents systematically China's New National Curriculum Reform (CNNCR). It covers the background, origin, essence, goals, features, evolvement, schedule, implementation, the alignment in primary, secondary and middle schools' curricula and inter-subjects, the outcomes and the challenges and strategies of CNNCR.

  11. The School Budget, Power and Responsibility in Grant-Maintained Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Simon

    1992-01-01

    Describes Audenshaw High School in Manchester, England, the first school to achieve grant-maintained status under the 1988 Education Reform Act, as an example of future school administration in the United Kingdom. Examines five aspects of budgeting that this change has entailed, highlighting funding problems and opportunities. (10 references) (MLH)

  12. What to Do with the Bounty? Organizational Patterns for the Implementation of Resources Allocated by the Courage to Change (Oz Letmura) Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamir, Emanuel; Shaked, Lea

    2016-01-01

    The research investigated the way in which school administrations implement resources provided by Israel's "Courage to Change" reform. The uniqueness of this reform stems from the fact that the allocated resources come in the form of "weekly instruction time" rather than finance, and the school management needs to decide how to…

  13. Qatar's K-12 Education Reform Has Achieved Success in Its Early Years. Research Brief

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larson, Judy

    2009-01-01

    To evaluate progress made in the first years of Qatar's implementation of K-12 education reform, RAND analyzed data from school-level observations, national surveys, and national student assessments. The study found that students in the new, Independent schools were performing better than those in Ministry schools, and there was greater student…

  14. Impact of a school district's science reform effort on the achievement and attitudes of third- and fourth-grade students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shymansky, James A.; Yore, Larry D.; Anderson, John O.

    2004-10-01

    This article is about one school district's effort to reform its elementary science curriculum through a program of professional development called Science, Parents, Activities and Literature (Science PALs). The differential exposure of the district's K-6 teachers to Science PALs and differences in how well teachers implemented Science PALs-type inquiry strategies allowed us to conduct a quasi-experimental study of the impact of Science PALs on student achievement and attitudes. We measured achievement with an instrument based on items taken from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS; International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, [1997]) and selected attitudes about science with the Student Perceptions of Classroom Climate (SPOCC; Yore et al., [1998]), an instrument that we designed. Our analyses of student attitude scores as a function of years of teacher participation in Science PALs and supervisor's rating of a teacher's implementation of the project's instructional approaches showed a significant overall positive impact on student attitudes toward school science. Student TIMSS scores on multiple-choice items or constructed-response items did not improve significantly when analyzed by the number of years a student's teacher was involved in the Science PALs effort or by the supervisor's rating of that implementation. We found no significant differences in attitude or achievement scores among students taught by a series of teachers rated high, medium, or low in quality of implementation by the district's science supervisor. We discuss possible explanations for the lack of clear and positive connections between Science PALs and student performance in light of the increased focus on accountability in reform projects.

  15. An approach towards sustainable groundwater development

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    To address water availability problems in a semi-arid country like South Africa, the National Water Act (RSA, 1998) proposes that specialists adopt an approach that is strategic, deliberate and dictated by socio-political reforms and socioeconomic development needs on a programmatic basis for long-term sustainability.

  16. Evaluation of a collaborative project to develop sustainable healthcare education in eight UK medical schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walpole, S C; Mortimer, F

    2017-09-01

    Environmental change poses pressing challenges to public health and calls for profound and far-reaching changes to policy and practice across communities and health systems. Medical schools can act as a seedbed where knowledge, skills and innovation to address environmental challenges can be developed through innovative and collaborative approaches. The objectives of this study were to (1) explore drivers and challenges of collaboration for educational development between and within medical schools; (2) evaluate the effectiveness of a range of pedagogies for sustainable healthcare education; and (3) identify effective strategies to facilitate the renewal of medical curricula to address evolving health challenges. Participatory action research. Medical school teams participated in a nine-month collaborative project, including a one-day seminar to learn about sustainable healthcare education and develop a project plan. After the seminar, teams were supported to develop, deliver and evaluate new teaching at their medical school. New teaching was introduced at seven medical schools. A variety of pedagogies were represented. Collaboration between schools motivated and informed participants. The main challenges faced related to time pressures. Educators and students commented that new teaching was enjoyable and effective at improving knowledge and skills. Collaborative working supported educators to develop and implement new teaching sessions rapidly and effectively. Collaboration can help to build educators' confidence and capacity in a new area of education development. Different forms of collaboration may be appropriate for different circumstances and at different stages of education development. Copyright © 2017 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Growth Mindset and Motivation: A Study into Secondary School Science Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bedford, Susannah

    2017-01-01

    Motivation in science in school is a national issue but is often overlooked in educational reform (Usher, A., and N. Kober. 2012. "Student motivation -- An overlooked piece of school reform". Centre on Education Policy, Graduate School of Education and Human Development. The George Washington University). Despite new curriculum content…

  18. Od reformy kurikula k produktivní kultuře vyučování a učení. / From curricular reform towards productive culture of teaching and learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomáš Janík

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents an analytical study that is concluded with an intended agenda setting. The “issue” of Czech curricular reform is defined on the theoretical level and analysed on the empirical level; moreover, its relationship to the culture of teaching and learning is described. At first, the current Czech curricular reform is viewed from the perspective of a broader context of educational transformation; its focus and character are discussed. The timing of the reform is addressed, using the equalizer of governance, i.e. an analysis of broader mechanisms of functioning of and operating the educational system. Central to the paper is the author’s claim that the reform can hardly improve the quality of teaching and learning as its implementation resulted in unmanageable formalism. The author asserts that the quality can only be improved through sustained support of the productive culture of teaching and learning.To realise a change is thus to work on the new – productive – culture of teaching and learning. The study ends with an overview of arguments that confirm the need for an agenda setting that would aim at developing the curricular reform into a systematicapproach to supporting schools and teachers’ professional development which would take into account the idea of productive culture of teaching and learning.

  19. Images of Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlechty, Phillip C.; Joslin, Anne Walker

    1984-01-01

    Metaphors used commonly in education do not adequately define school problems or help in reform. A new metaphor of the school as a knowledge work organization is offered with a description of teacher and student roles. (DF)

  20. Children's Exposure to Sustainability Practices during the Transition from Preschool into School and Their Learning and Socioemotional Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benner, Aprile D.; Thornton, Anna; Crosnoe, Robert

    2017-01-01

    Evidence that the learning gains of preschool fade as children transition into elementary school has led to increased efforts to sustain preschool advantages during this key transitional period. This study explores whether the observed benefits of sustainability practices for a range of child outcomes are explained and/or moderated by family and…

  1. Awareness of Climate Change and Sustainable Development Issues among Junior Secondary School (JSS Students in Port Harcourt Metropolis of Rivers State, Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chimezie Njoku

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated the extent to which junior secondary school students in Port Harcourt Local Government Area of Rivers State Nigeria are aware of issues related to climate change and sustainable development. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Four research questions were raised. Two instruments were used for data collection, a questionnaire and the junior secondary school teaching syllabus. The questionnaire titled “ Climate change and Sustainable Development Awareness Questionnaire” (CCSDA was used to obtain data from 1600 junior secondary school three (JSS3 students from the fourteen junior secondary schools in Port Harcourt Local Government of Rivers State, Nigeria. The questionnaire had three sections; A, B and C. Section A obtained the demographic features and bio-data of students, section B obtained information on the awareness level of climate change while section C obtained information on sustainable development awareness level. Simple percentages and mean were used to answer the research questions. The results from the data analysis revealed among other things that the JSS curriculum coverage of climate change is small; there is no sustainable development issues in the teaching syllabus of JSS; the level of awareness of sustainable Development issues is low; even though the climate change issues awareness level is high but the knowledge is low; students are eager and willing to know more about climate change and sustainable development issues. Based on these results, the researcher recommended among other things that more themes on Climate change and sustainable development should be introduced in social studies and integrated science in all the JSS level. Having very few topics on climate change and none at all on sustainable development at the junior secondary level is dangerous at this level of their development and more especially now that the world is striving to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs.

  2. Co-Producing Sustainability: Involving Parents and Civil Society in the Governance of School Meal Services. A Case Study from Pisa, Italy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francesca Galli

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available There is a rising awareness of the power of the public sector in enhancing sustainable consumption and production practices, in particular related to food procurement and its social, ethical, economical and environmental implications. School meal services have a high resonance in the debate on collective catering services because of the implications on the education to sustainable dietary habits and the orientation of the production system. This contribution focuses on the reciprocal relationship between professionals and users of school meal services as a driver to mobilize new resources—according to the theory of co-production—that steer service innovation and a shift towards more sustainable practices. We illustrate this through a case study on the school meal system in Pisa (Italy, where the Canteen Committee represents an institutional arena for participation and empowerment of actors that has gradually gained a central role in shaping this school meal service. Despite the challenges and obstacles, the institutionalized co-production of services allows consolidation of trust among key players and the introduction of innovations in the service, in the form of several projects oriented to sustainability which would not take place without the joint effort of actors involved, parents in the first place.

  3. COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY FROM HEALTH CHECK DECISIONS TO THE POST-2013 REFORM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niculescu Oana Marilena

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available The paper proposed for being presented belongs to the field research International Affairs and European Integration. The paper entitled Common Agricultural Policy from Health Check decisions to the post-2013 reform aims to analyze the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP from the Health Check adoption in November 2008 to a new reform post-2013. The objectives of the paper are the presentation of the Health Check with its advantages and disadvantages as well as the analysis of the opportunity of a new European policy and its reforming having in view that the analysis of Health Check condition was considered a compromise. The paper is related to the internal and international research consisting in several books, studies, documents that analyze the particularities of the most debated, controversial and reformed EU policy. A personal study is represented by the first report within the PhD paper called The reform of CAP and its implications for Romanias agriculture(coordinator prof. Gheorghe Hurduzeu PhD, Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, Faculty of International Business, research studies in the period 2009-2012. The research methodology used consists in collecting and analysis data from national and international publications, their validation, followed by a dissemination of the results in order to express a personal opinion regarding CAP and its reform. The results of the research consist in proving the opportunity of a new reform due to the fact that Health Check belongs already to the past. The paper belongs to the field research mentioned, in the attempt to prove the opportunity of building a new EU agricultural policy. The challenges CAP is facing are: food safety, environmental and climate changes, territorial balance as well as new challenges-improving sustainable management of natural resources, maintaining competitiveness in the context of globalization growth, strengthening EU cohesion in rural areas, increasing the support of CAP for

  4. Systems, Stakeholders, and Students: Including Students in School Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zion, Shelley D.

    2009-01-01

    The education system in the United States is under pressure from a variety of sources to reform and improve the delivery of educational services to students. Change across a system as complex and dynamic as the educational system requires a systemic approach and requires the participation or buy-in of all participants and stakeholders. This…

  5. Human Resource Support for School Principals in Two, Urban School Districts: An Exploratory Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lochmiller, Chad R.

    2010-01-01

    School districts are increasingly focused on instructional practice in classrooms. Many urban school districts have shifted decision-making responsibility to school principals in order to improve instruction. This reform strategy has been referred to as decentralization or school-based management. Decentralization has a significant influence on…

  6. Moving from Separate, to Equal, to Equitable Schooling: Revisiting School Desegregation Policies

    Science.gov (United States)

    McPherson, Ezella

    2011-01-01

    For over a century after the 1896 "Plessy v. Ferguson" decision, researchers have been grappling with how to effectively implement educational reform policies to provide students with an equal education in American schools. This literature review examines previous school desegregation cases and school desegregation plans to investigate…

  7. Co-Constructing Community, School, University Partnerships for Urban School Transformation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gillenwaters, Jamila Najah

    2009-01-01

    University-school-community partnerships represent a collaborative model of urban educational reformation inclusive of all the organizations that impact urban education. Co-constructed relationships among communities, schools, and universities have the potential for redistributing hierarchical power, thereby enabling all partners to contribute to…

  8. Seeing through Transparency in Education Reform: Illuminating the "Local"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koyama, Jill; Kania, Brian

    2016-01-01

    Utilizing "assemblage," a notion associated with Actor-Network Theory (ANT), we explore what discourses of transparency can, and cannot, accomplish in a network of education reform that includes schools, government agencies, and community organizations. Drawing on data collected between July 2011 and March 2013 in an…

  9. Making technological innovation work for sustainable development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anadon, Laura Diaz; Harley, Alicia G.; Matus, Kira; Moon, Suerie; Murthy, Sharmila L.

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents insights and action proposals to better harness technological innovation for sustainable development. We begin with three key insights from scholarship and practice. First, technological innovation processes do not follow a set sequence but rather emerge from complex adaptive systems involving many actors and institutions operating simultaneously from local to global scales. Barriers arise at all stages of innovation, from the invention of a technology through its selection, production, adaptation, adoption, and retirement. Second, learning from past efforts to mobilize innovation for sustainable development can be greatly improved through structured cross-sectoral comparisons that recognize the socio-technical nature of innovation systems. Third, current institutions (rules, norms, and incentives) shaping technological innovation are often not aligned toward the goals of sustainable development because impoverished, marginalized, and unborn populations too often lack the economic and political power to shape innovation systems to meet their needs. However, these institutions can be reformed, and many actors have the power to do so through research, advocacy, training, convening, policymaking, and financing. We conclude with three practice-oriented recommendations to further realize the potential of innovation for sustainable development: (i) channels for regularized learning across domains of practice should be established; (ii) measures that systematically take into account the interests of underserved populations throughout the innovation process should be developed; and (iii) institutions should be reformed to reorient innovation systems toward sustainable development and ensure that all innovation stages and scales are considered at the outset. PMID:27519800

  10. Making technological innovation work for sustainable development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anadon, Laura Diaz; Chan, Gabriel; Harley, Alicia G; Matus, Kira; Moon, Suerie; Murthy, Sharmila L; Clark, William C

    2016-08-30

    This paper presents insights and action proposals to better harness technological innovation for sustainable development. We begin with three key insights from scholarship and practice. First, technological innovation processes do not follow a set sequence but rather emerge from complex adaptive systems involving many actors and institutions operating simultaneously from local to global scales. Barriers arise at all stages of innovation, from the invention of a technology through its selection, production, adaptation, adoption, and retirement. Second, learning from past efforts to mobilize innovation for sustainable development can be greatly improved through structured cross-sectoral comparisons that recognize the socio-technical nature of innovation systems. Third, current institutions (rules, norms, and incentives) shaping technological innovation are often not aligned toward the goals of sustainable development because impoverished, marginalized, and unborn populations too often lack the economic and political power to shape innovation systems to meet their needs. However, these institutions can be reformed, and many actors have the power to do so through research, advocacy, training, convening, policymaking, and financing. We conclude with three practice-oriented recommendations to further realize the potential of innovation for sustainable development: (i) channels for regularized learning across domains of practice should be established; (ii) measures that systematically take into account the interests of underserved populations throughout the innovation process should be developed; and (iii) institutions should be reformed to reorient innovation systems toward sustainable development and ensure that all innovation stages and scales are considered at the outset.

  11. Violence Prevention and School Climate Reform. School Climate Brief, Number 5

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nader, Kathleen

    2012-01-01

    Research has demonstrated that a positive school climate is an essential part of violence prevention. Many factors influence the association between school climate and behavioral outcomes. Positive school climate alone cannot prevent all variables that may contribute to the expression of aggression. Nevertheless, positive school climates influence…

  12. Reforms in VUmc School of Medical Sciences Amsterdam: Student engagement, a Minor elective semester and stakeholder collaboration in improving the quality of assessments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kusurkar, Rashmi A; Daelmans, Hester E; Horrevoets, Anton; de Haan, Marian; van der Meijde, Margreeth; Croiset, Gerda

    2018-03-07

    At VUmc School of Medical Sciences, major curricular reforms occurred in 2005 and 2015, related to the introduction of a Bachelor-Master structure, a new legislation from the Ministry of Education, the changing societal context, and taking note of students' and teachers' needs. Summary of work: Along with the introduction of the Bachelor-Master system, the period between 2005 and 2009 saw the movement from traditional lecture-based teaching to small group teaching in a competency-based curriculum, in which the students were responsible for their learning. Student engagement grew through students' designing learning modules and conducting some of the teaching. In the Bachelor program, an elective "Minor", was designed to broaden and deepen the knowledge of our students beyond the core learning outcomes, in a discipline of their choice. The examination board (EB), responsible for maintaining the quality of assessment, was split into the General EB, which handled overall strategy issues, and the Executive EB, which handled student requests and monitored the quality of assessments. Students develop a sense of what education is about if they are provided opportunities in designing teaching and conducting it. A Minor elective in the medical study can provide the students with an opportunity to learn outside the medical field. Collaborative working between different stakeholders in a medical school is crucial for safeguarding the quality of assessments. Curricular reforms need time to be accepted and integrated into the culture of the medical school. The educational vision needs to be refreshed regularly in alignment with the changing societal context.

  13. Enacting the Carnegie Foundation call for reform of medical school and residency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Brien, Bridget C; Irby, David M

    2013-01-01

    On the 100th anniversary of the Flexner Report, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching published a new study of medical education. This study, titled Educating Physicians: A Call for Reform of Medical Schools and Residency Programs, contained four primary recommendations intended to stimulate innovation and improvement in medical education. In this article, the authors examined the ways others have applied the four recommendations from Educating Physicians within and beyond medical education. In their review of 246 publications citing the Carnegie work, they found that the recommendation for integration was addressed most frequently, often through descriptions of integration of curricular content in undergraduate medical education. The recommendation to focus on professional identity formation was the second most frequently addressed, followed by standardization and individualization, then inquiry, innovation, and improvement. The publications related to these latter three recommendations tended to be conceptual rather than descriptive or empirical. Publications spanned the continuum of medical education (from medical school to residency to physicians in practice) and even into other fields, but undergraduate medical education received the most attention. The authors discuss common themes among the citing publications and highlight opportunities for further discussion and innovation. Many exciting developments have occurred in medical education and beyond since the publication of Educating Physicians in 2010. Thus far, most of the publications citing the Carnegie recommendations describe incremental changes in medical education, particularly in the area of integration. Some of the conceptual work around these recommendations, coupled with a variety of external factors such as changes in health care and accreditation systems, suggests the potential for changes that are more transformative in nature.

  14. Health care reform and federalism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greer, Scott L; Jacobson, Peter D

    2010-04-01

    Health policy debates are replete with discussions of federalism, most often when advocates of reform put their hopes in states. But health policy literature is remarkably silent on the question of allocation of authority, rarely asking which levels of government ought to lead. We draw on the larger literatures about federalism, found mostly in political science and law, to develop a set of criteria for allocating health policy authority between states and the federal government. They are social justice, procedural democracy, compatibility with value pluralism, institutional capability, and economic sustainability. Of them, only procedural democracy and compatibility with value pluralism point to state leadership. In examining these criteria, we conclude that American policy debates often get federalism backward, putting the burden of health care coverage policy on states that cannot enact or sustain it, while increasing the federal role in issues where the arguments for state leadership are compelling. We suggest that the federal government should lead present and future financing of health care coverage, since it would require major changes in American intergovernmental relations to make innovative state health care financing sustainable outside a strong federal framework.

  15. The Educational Benefits of Attending Higher Performing Schools: Evidence from Chicago High Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allensworth, Elaine M.; Moore, Paul T.; Sartain, Lauren; de la Torre, Marisa

    2017-01-01

    Policymakers are implementing reforms with the assumption that students do better when attending high-achieving schools. In this article, we use longitudinal data from Chicago Public Schools to test that assumption. We find that the effects of attending a higher performing school depend on the school's performance level. At elite public schools…

  16. Holy Alliances: Public Subsidies, Islamic High Schools, and Female Schooling in Bangladesh

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asadullah, Mohammad Niaz; Chaudhury, Nazmul

    2009-01-01

    This paper documents the experience of incentive-based reforms in the secondary Islamic/madrasa education sector in Bangladesh within the context of the broader debate over modernization of religious school systems in South Asia. Key features of the reform are changes of the curriculum and policy regarding admission of female students. In return…

  17. Economic and Social Models in Europe and the Importance of Reform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Heipertz

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on European economic and social models. It provides a comparative assessment of fiscal and regulatory policies in 17 industrialised countries (the EU15, US and Japan and presents the records of these countries in attaining key economic and social objectives. Social and economic systems that feature efficient public sectors and flexible market structures tend to experience reasonably sustainable public finances, high economic growth, education standards and employment, and well-functioning markets. Anglo-Saxon countries broadly fit this mould, albeit, seemingly, at some cost of income equality. A more pronounced emphasis on welfare state policies and the corresponding relatively high levels of public spending bring benefit to income distribution in the Nordic countries while the resulting inefficiencies in their economies are counterbalanced by flexibility in labour and particularly product markets. Also, a number of reform-minded European countries have improved their fiscal and regulatory policies while significantly enhancing the functioning of markets, fiscal sustainability and economic performance. This was generally attained without jeopardising social objectives. On the other hand, those continental and Mediterranean countries that maintain market inefficiencies and at the same time sustain expensive and inefficient welfare states generally suffer from low growth and employment and less well-functioning markets and face serious risks to their economies’ fiscal sustainability. The findings of this note support calls for the comprehensive reform of fiscal policies, as well as of product and labour markets.

  18. [Vocational Health Schools (ETSUS) in Brazil: regulation of the integration of teaching-service-administrative sustainability of ETSUS].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borges, Fabiano Tonaco; Garbin, Cléa Adas Saliba; Siqueira, Carlos Eduardo; Garbin, Artênio José Ísper; Rocha, Najara Barbosa da; Lolli, Luíz Fernando; Moimaz, Suzely Adas Saliba

    2012-04-01

    The scope of this study was to discuss the administrative sustainability of Brazil's Vocational Health Schools (ETSUS) based on the principle of teaching and service integration, which brings a new dimension to healthcare work as yet unregulated by Brazilian public administration. It was a qualitative study using case study methodology. The research involved a semi-structured questionnaire given to ETSUS managers addressing institutional, administrative, and work management aspects. The sample was composed of 6 ETSUS that belong to the Network of Vocational Health Schools (RET-SUS). The ETSUS showed centralized planning and management, and decentralized implementation of their core activities. The majority did not have administrative autonomy and relied heavily on funding from the federal government. According to ETSUS managers, the lack of regulation of teaching activities by civil servants weakens the management of ETSUS. The ETSUS have managerial problems related to teaching-service integration, which has to be regulated in order to guarantee the sustainability of these schools and avoid conflicts with Brazilian legislation.

  19. Educational Reforms in Morocco: Evolution and Current Status

    Science.gov (United States)

    Llorent-Bedmar, Vicente

    2014-01-01

    Since 1956, the year in Morocco achieved independence, until now, the school system has been the subject of many discussions and controversies in the most varied areas of the country. We provide data on the educational situation. We analyze the reforms from a critical perspective, ending with final proposals. He underlined that the sector was…

  20. Social capital practices as adaptive drivers for local adjustment of new public management in schools

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olesen, Kristian Gylling; Hasle, Peter; Sørensen, Ole H.

    2016-01-01

    local adjustments of the reform initiatives, while also revealing some ambiguities. The results demonstrate that some reform initiatives can lead to new collaborative leadership and management practices in schools that solve the central school leadership and management tasks of coordination and planning....... This indicates that collaborative leadership and management practices may emerge from NPM reforms, and that such practices can prevent negative outcomes of such reforms....... on empirical case studies from two Danish municipal schools and the concept of organisational social capital, we investigate how two reform initiatives – ‘student plan-based school–home collaboration’ and ‘teamwork’ – were locally adjusted into collaborative practices. The analysis demonstrates surprising...

  1. The conversion of anaerobic digestion waste into biofuels via a novel Thermo-Catalytic Reforming process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neumann, Johannes; Meyer, Johannes; Ouadi, Miloud; Apfelbacher, Andreas; Binder, Samir; Hornung, Andreas

    2016-01-01

    Producing energy from biomass and other organic waste residues is essential for sustainable development. Fraunhofer UMSICHT has developed a novel reactor which introduces the Thermo-Catalytic Reforming (TCR®) process. The TCR® is a process which can convert any type of biomass and organic feedstocks into a variety of energy products (char, bio-oil and permanent gases). The aim of this work was to demonstrate this technology using digestate as the feedstock and to quantify the results from the post reforming step. The temperature of a post reformer was varied to achieve optimised fuel products. The hydrogen rich permanent gases produced were maximised at a post reforming temperature of 1023 K. The highly de-oxygenated liquid bio-oil produced contained a calorific value of 35.2 MJ/kg, with significantly improved fuel physical properties, low viscosity and acid number. Overall digestate showed a high potential as feedstock in the Thermo-Catalytic Reforming to produce pyrolysis fuel products of superior quality. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Analysis of Private Sector Care Reform Authorities and Savings

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-12-01

    coordination, and promotion of health outcomes—in short, it was not a sustainable business model. FFS purchasing remains an element of an overall...primarily focused on the cost (or supply side) of delivering the healthcare services. The reforms examined in this paper (VBP of purchased care) affect ...J. Kerstein. “How do financial incentives affect physicians’ clinical decisions and the financial performance of health maintenance organizations

  3. Stakeholder learning for health sector reform in Lao PDR.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, Simone; Pholsena, Soulivanh; Gao, Jun; Oliveira Cruz, Valeria

    2016-09-01

    Development organizations and academic institutions have expressed the need for increased research to guide the development and implementation of policies to strengthen health systems in low- and middle-income countries. The extent to which evidence-based policies alone can produce changes in health systems remains a point of debate; other factors, such as a country's political climate and the level of actor engagement, have been identified as influential variables in effective policy development and implementation. In response to this debate, this article contends that the success of health sector reform depends largely on policy learning-the degree to which research recommendations saturate a given political environment in order to successfully inform the ideas, opinions and perceived interests of relevant actors. Using a stakeholder analysis approach to analyze the case of health sector reform in Lao PDR, we examine the ways that actors' understanding and interests affect the success of reform-and how attitudes towards reform can be shaped by exposure to policy research and international health policy priorities. The stakeholder analysis was conducted by the WHO during the early stages of health sector reform in Lao PDR, with the purpose of providing the Ministry of Health with concrete recommendations for increasing actor involvement and strengthening stakeholder support. We found that dissemination of research findings to a broad array of actors and the inclusion of diverse stakeholder groups in policy design and implementation increases the probability of a sustainable and successful health sector reform. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Democratic Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apple, Michael W., Ed.; Beane, James A., Ed.

    This book illustrates how educators in four U.S. communities committed themselves to preparing students for the democratic way of life. In four narratives, educators directly involved in four different school-reform efforts describe how they initiated demographic practices in their educational settings. The four schools serve as reminders that…

  5. Educational reform and the public: Two case studies of Poland and Saskatchewan (Canada)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaproń, Danuta; Stephan, Werner

    1991-09-01

    The involvement of the public in educational reform processes in modern democratic societies primarily serves the purpose of politically legitimizing the reform agenda. This study examines the rationales implicitly or explicitly submitted to the public to explain why educational reforms in the two countries should be endorsed. Although differences in the political culture caution against a hasty comparison of the two case studies, a number of politico-economic similarities allow for a valid juxtaposition. In Poland the context of socio-political and economic renewal prompted the reformers to emphasize the human-capital model which heightened public awareness and participation in the debate surrounding the reform. Public involvement in Saskatchewan was negatively affected for mainly two reasons. First, the government evidently manipulated public input by various means and thereby appears to have predetermined the outcome. Second, the rationale for the reform, based on a free-market model, tightened the linkage between the needs of the labour market and the mandate of the schools. As a result, public interest and participation was greatly diminished.

  6. Excavating silences and tensions of agency|passivity in science education reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rivera Maulucci, Maria S.

    2010-12-01

    I reflect on studies by Rodriguez and Carlone, Haun-Frank, and Kimmel to emphasize the ways in which they excavate silences in the science education literature related to linguistic and cultural diversity and situating the problem of reform in teachers rather than contextual factors, such as traditional schooling discourses and forces that serve to marginalize science. I propose that the current push for top-down reform and accountability diminishes opportunities for receptivity, learning with and from students in order to transform teachers' practices and promote equity in science education. I discuss tensions of agency and passivity in science education reform and argue that attention to authentic caring constitutes another silence in the science education literature. I conclude that the current policy context positions teachers and science education researchers as tempered radicals struggling against opp(reg)ressive reforms and that there is a need for more studies to excavate these and other silences.

  7. Conceptualizing Teaching to the Test under Standards-Based Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welsh, Megan E.; Eastwood, Melissa; D'Agostino, Jerome V.

    2014-01-01

    Teacher and school accountability systems based on high-stakes tests are ubiquitous throughout the United States and appear to be growing as a catalyst for reform. As a result, educators have increased the proportion of instructional time devoted to test preparation. Although guidelines for what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate test…

  8. Reforming options for hydrogen production from fossil fuels for PEM fuel cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ersoz, Atilla; Olgun, Hayati [TUBITAK Marmara Research Center, Institute of Energy, Gebze, 41470 Kocaeli (Turkey); Ozdogan, Sibel [Marmara University Faculty of Engineering, Goztepe, 81040 Istanbul (Turkey)

    2006-03-09

    PEM fuel cell systems are considered as a sustainable option for the future transport sector in the future. There is great interest in converting current hydrocarbon based transportation fuels into hydrogen rich gases acceptable by PEM fuel cells on-board of vehicles. In this paper, we compare the results of our simulation studies for 100kW PEM fuel cell systems utilizing three different major reforming technologies, namely steam reforming (SREF), partial oxidation (POX) and autothermal reforming (ATR). Natural gas, gasoline and diesel are the selected hydrocarbon fuels. It is desired to investigate the effect of the selected fuel reforming options on the overall fuel cell system efficiency, which depends on the fuel processing, PEM fuel cell and auxiliary system efficiencies. The Aspen-HYSYS 3.1 code has been used for simulation purposes. Process parameters of fuel preparation steps have been determined considering the limitations set by the catalysts and hydrocarbons involved. Results indicate that fuel properties, fuel processing system and its operation parameters, and PEM fuel cell characteristics all affect the overall system efficiencies. Steam reforming appears as the most efficient fuel preparation option for all investigated fuels. Natural gas with steam reforming shows the highest fuel cell system efficiency. Good heat integration within the fuel cell system is absolutely necessary to achieve acceptable overall system efficiencies. (author)

  9. Reforming options for hydrogen production from fossil fuels for PEM fuel cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ersoz, Atilla; Olgun, Hayati; Ozdogan, Sibel

    PEM fuel cell systems are considered as a sustainable option for the future transport sector in the future. There is great interest in converting current hydrocarbon based transportation fuels into hydrogen rich gases acceptable by PEM fuel cells on-board of vehicles. In this paper, we compare the results of our simulation studies for 100 kW PEM fuel cell systems utilizing three different major reforming technologies, namely steam reforming (SREF), partial oxidation (POX) and autothermal reforming (ATR). Natural gas, gasoline and diesel are the selected hydrocarbon fuels. It is desired to investigate the effect of the selected fuel reforming options on the overall fuel cell system efficiency, which depends on the fuel processing, PEM fuel cell and auxiliary system efficiencies. The Aspen-HYSYS 3.1 code has been used for simulation purposes. Process parameters of fuel preparation steps have been determined considering the limitations set by the catalysts and hydrocarbons involved. Results indicate that fuel properties, fuel processing system and its operation parameters, and PEM fuel cell characteristics all affect the overall system efficiencies. Steam reforming appears as the most efficient fuel preparation option for all investigated fuels. Natural gas with steam reforming shows the highest fuel cell system efficiency. Good heat integration within the fuel cell system is absolutely necessary to achieve acceptable overall system efficiencies.

  10. Enacting Curriculum Reform through Lesson Study: A Case Study of Mathematics Teacher Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni Shuilleabhain, Aoibhinn; Seery, Aidan

    2018-01-01

    Based in a time of major curriculum reform, this article reports on a qualitative case study of teacher professional development (PD) in the Republic of Ireland (ROI). Five mathematics teachers in an Irish secondary school were introduced to and participated in successive cycles of school-based lesson study (LS) over the course of one academic…

  11. Telecom Reform

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Telecom Reform: Principles, Policies and Regulatory Practices, provides a comprehensive and definitive review and assessment of the unfolding telecom reform process, and its implications for information society development. It is an invaluable resource and authoritative reference on telecom reform...... and information infrastructure issues - for people in government, academia, industry and the consulting community. This book addresses the process of policy and regulatory reform in telecom that is now in its formative stage. It draws on detailed knowledge of industry development and regulatory experience......, as well as expertise in the new technologies, industries, economics, policy development, and law to present and critique the principles, policies and regulatory practices associated with telecom reform. Twenty six international experts address thirty two topics that are essential to successful telecom...

  12. Preconditions for Sustainable Changes in Didactics Applying Self-Directed Learning in the General Education School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazlauskiene, Ausra; Gaucaite, Ramute; Poceviciene, Rasa

    2016-01-01

    Implementation of the result-oriented (self-)education paradigm in the general education school requires sustainable changes in didactics not only on the strategic document plane but also in educational practice. However, its implementation in practice is complicated. The success of the interaction between theory and practice largely depends on…

  13. A District-Wide Approach to Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Practices in the Boston Public Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, Colin; Issa, Mwalimu Donkor

    2018-01-01

    Boston Public Schools' system-wide professional development on culturally and linguistically sustaining practices (CLSP) creates consistent expectations for educators to address their biases, build relationships with students and parents, and improve instruction--and gives them the tools to do so. In this article, the authors touch on changes at…

  14. Good governance and budget reform in Lesotho Public Hospitals: performance, root causes and reality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vian, Taryn; Bicknell, William J

    2014-09-01

    Lesotho has been implementing financial management reforms, including performance-based budgeting (PBB) since 2005 in an effort to increase accountability, transparency and effectiveness in governance, yet little is known about how these efforts are affecting the health sector. Supported by several development partners and $24 million in external resources, the PBB reform is intended to strengthen government capacity to manage aid funds directly and to target assistance to pressing social priorities. This study designed and tested a methodology for measuring implementation progress for PBB reform in the hospital sector in Lesotho. We found that despite some efforts on the national level to promote and support reform implementation, staff at the hospital level were largely unaware of the purpose of the reform and had made almost no progress in transforming institutions and systems to fully realize reform goals. Problems can be traced to a complex reform design, inadequate personnel and capacity to implement, professional boundaries between financial and clinical personnel and weak leadership. The Lesotho reform experience suggests that less complex designs for budget reform, better adapted to the context and realities of health sectors in developing countries, may be needed to improve governance. It also highlights the importance of measuring reform implementation at the sectoral level. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2013; all rights reserved.

  15. Reforms in Education: The Need for Re-Engineering Teacher Education for Sustainable Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ofoego, O. C.; Ebebe, I. E.

    2016-01-01

    The paper is concerned with reforms in Education and the need for re-engineering Teacher education in Nigeria for better professionalism and National Development. In the process, key concepts like Teacher Education and professionalism were explained. A brief review of the state of Teacher Education and Development in Nigeria revealed the…

  16. Toward a 21st-century health care system: Recommendations for health care reform

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    K. Arrow (Kenneth); A. Auerbach (Alan); J. Bertko (John); L.P. Casalino (Lawrence Peter); F.J. Crosson (Francis); A. Enthoven (Alain); E. Falcone; R.C. Feldman; V.R. Fuchs (Victor); A.M. Garber (Alan); M.R. Gold (Marthe Rachel); D.A. Goldman; G.K. Hadfield (Gillian); M.A. Hall (Mark Ann); R.I. Horwitz (Ralph); M. Hooven; P.D. Jacobson (Peter); T.S. Jost (Timothy Stoltzfus); L.J. Kotlikoff; J. Levin (Jonathan); S. Levine (Sharon); R. Levy; K. Linscott; H.S. Luft; R. Mashal; D. McFadden (Daniel); D. Mechanic (David); D. Meltzer (David); J.P. Newhouse (Joseph); R.G. Noll (Roger); J.B. Pietzsch (Jan Benjamin); P. Pizzo (Philip); R.D. Reischauer (Robert); S. Rosenbaum (Sara); W. Sage (William); L.D. Schaeffer (Leonard Daniel); E. Sheen; B.N. Silber (Bernie Michael); J. Skinner (Jonathan Robert); S.M. Shortell (Stephen); S.O. Thier (Samuel); S. Tunis (Sean); L. Wulsin Jr.; P. Yock (Paul); G.B. Nun; S. Bryan (Stirling); O. Luxenburg (Osnat); W.P.M.M. van de Ven (Wynand); J. Cooper (Jim)

    2009-01-01

    textabstractThe coverage, cost, and quality problems of the U.S. health care system are evident. Sustainable health care reform must go beyond financing expanded access to care to substantially changing the organization and delivery of care. The FRESH-Thinking Project (www.fresh-thinking.org) held a

  17. Making Good Choices: A Guide for Schools and Districts. Revised Edition. [with CD-ROM].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferguson, Maria

    This guide was designed to help schools develop effective programs in comprehensive school reform (CSR). It emphasizes that a school's CSR approach should be based on its needs, keeping in mind that one model may not provide every aspect of a school's comprehensive reform effort. Even so, a CSR model that meets the U.S. Department of Education's…

  18. Connecting the Disconnected: Scholar Activists and Education Reform in Post-Katrina New Orleans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cook, Daniella Ann

    2014-01-01

    When Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans on August 29, 2005, the failure of the levees resulted in the largest single human-made disaster in the United States. In addition to the physical devastation of the city, the landscape of public schools in New Orleans was permanently altered, as was the national dialogue about school reform in the…

  19. New Directions in Education? A Critique of Contemporary Policy Reforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skourdoumbis, Andrew

    2016-01-01

    This paper draws on facets of Foucault's theoretical resources to critique current education policy reform from within the Australian State of Victoria, namely the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development's (DEECD) discussion paper "New directions for school leadership and the teaching profession." Implicit in the reform…

  20. Teacher Agency in Educational Reform: Lessons from Social Networks Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Datnow, Amanda

    2012-01-01

    This article provides a context for understanding how social networks among teachers support or constrain school improvement in terms of instructional practice, professional development, and educational reform. It comments on the articles in this special issue, summarizing their contributions to the field. This analysis reveals several important…

  1. Educational Development and Reformation in Malaysia: Past, Present, and Future.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmad, Rahimah Haji

    1998-01-01

    Discusses educational development in Malaysia, focusing on curriculum changes, issues, and future perspectives. Discusses the development of values education, its importance in the curriculum, and the government's efforts to mold a united nation with Malaysian values. Current reforms target tertiary education. The school curriculum has not been…

  2. Leadership Capacity--A Key to Sustaining Lasting Improvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Henry S.

    2009-01-01

    Studies on school change indicate that schools successful in sustaining school improvement build capacity for leadership within the organization (Harris & Lambert, 2003). Reliance on the leadership of the principal alone is no longer viable if schools are to improve and sustain improvement. Leadership capacity is about creating conditions…

  3. Steepest Ascent Tariff Reform

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Raimondos-Møller, Pascalis; Woodland, Alan

    2014-01-01

    . In undertaking this task, and by focusing on tariff reforms, we introduce the concept of a steepest ascent policy reform, which is a locally optimal reform in the sense that it achieves the highest marginal gain in utility of any feasible local reform. We argue that this reform presents itself as a natural......The policy reform literature is primarily concerned with the construction of reforms that yield welfare gains. By contrast, this paper’s contribution is to develop a theoretical concept for which the focus is upon the sizes of welfare gains accruing from policy reforms rather than upon their signs...... benchmark for the evaluation of the welfare effectiveness of other popular tariff reforms such as the proportional tariff reduction and the concertina rules, since it provides the maximal welfare gain of all possible local reforms. We derive properties of the steepest ascent tariff reform, construct...

  4. Dysfunction and Educational Reform in Morocco

    OpenAIRE

    Llorent Bedmar, Vicente

    2015-01-01

    Since 1956, the year in Morocco achieved independence, until now, the school system has been the subject of many discussions and controversies in the most varied areas of the country. We provide data on the educational situation. We analyze the reforms from a critical perspective, ending with final proposals. We concluded by acknowledging the efforts made in recent years in the Moroccan education sector, although there is still a considerable number of clearly important aspects of improvement.

  5. Bureaucracy and the Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seeley, David

    This paper briefly reviews how New York City has developed its bureaucratic school structures, the pathologies that have developed within them, and some remedies that can help to change them into structures that will improve city schools. Some historians claimed that reformers purposely created bureaucratic school systems to provide a docile pool…

  6. Quality reform and "the learning pre-school child" in the making

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krejsler, John B.

    2012-01-01

    The article argues that Early Childhood Education & Care (ECEC) is being redesigned based on quality reform discourse with references to global knowledge economy across Nordic countries and the EU. This takes place in policy processes that extend from transnational agents like the OECD and EU...... to national governments, local municipalities and ECEC institutions. Drawing on theoretical insights from Foucauldian genealogy, Laclau and others, the article explores how these policy processes reconfigure what counts as quality in ECEC in a Danish context. It is substantiated how the Danish government...... promotes governance structures among municipalities and professionals that pull ECEC into comprehensive educational strategies. This process draws on policy advice from the OECD and EU. Quality reform thus changes in fundamental ways the organisation and content in ECEC. In discourse, learning displaces...

  7. A sustainability framework for mobile technology integration in schools: The case of resourceconstrained environments in South Africa

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Mabila, J

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The application of mobile technology integration in schools has been widely researched. However, only a few studies have extensively examined the sustainability of mobile technology integration in resource-constrained environments. Diverse contexts...

  8. The Role of Leadership Capacity in Sustaining the School Improvement Initiative of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports

    Science.gov (United States)

    Combs, Christine; Martin, Barbara N.

    2011-01-01

    This article examines what occurred within schools successfully implementing and sustaining Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports through the lens of leadership capacity. Leadership capacity, a broad-based, skillful participation in leadership, promotes the capabilities of many organizational members to lead. Researchers used quantitative analysis…

  9. A Discipline-Based Professional Development Faculty: A Case for Multiple-Site Collaborative Reform in the Disciplines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hudson-Ross, Sally

    1998-01-01

    Describes a partnership among English-education faculty members and secondary English teachers, arguing that a multisite, discipline-based professional-development faculty provides an alternative for secondary-level Professional Development School principles-in-action. The paper discusses reform, departmentalization of high school and college…

  10. Academic Differentiation, School Achievement and School Violence in the USA and South Korea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akiba, Motoko; Han, Seunghee

    2007-01-01

    Whilst school violence is a major public concern and a focus of educational reforms both in the USA and South Korea, few studies have comparatively examined the rates of school violence and school factors associated with them. Analysing nationally-representative data from eighth graders, their mathematics teachers and principals in 150 South…

  11. Negotiating science and engineering: an exploratory case study of a reform-minded science teacher

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guzey, S. Selcen; Ring-Whalen, Elizabeth A.

    2018-05-01

    Engineering has been slowly integrated into K-12 science classrooms in the United States as the result of recent science education reforms. Such changes in science teaching require that a science teacher is confident with and committed to content, practices, language, and cultures related to both science and engineering. However, from the perspective of the science teacher, this would require not only the development of knowledge and pedagogies associated with engineering, but also the construction of new identities operating within the reforms and within the context of their school. In this study, a middle school science teacher was observed and interviewed over a period of nine months to explore his experiences as he adopted new values, discourses, and practices and constructed his identity as a reform-minded science teacher. Our findings revealed that, as the teacher attempted to become a reform-minded science teacher, he constantly negotiated his professional identities - a dynamic process that created conflicts in his classroom practices. Several differences were observed between the teacher's science and engineering instruction: hands-on activities, depth and detail of content, language use, and the way the teacher positioned himself and his students with respect to science and engineering. Implications for science teacher professional development are discussed.

  12. Balancing the Readiness Equation in Early Childhood Education Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Christopher P.

    2010-01-01

    As policy-makers continue to implement early childhood education reforms that frame the field as a mechanism that is to ready children for elementary school success, questions arise as to how the multiple variables in the readiness equation, such as the child, family, and program, are affected by these policies. The instrumental case study…

  13. A Critical Analysis of The Holmes Group's Proposals for Reforming Teacher Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawley, Willis D.

    1986-01-01

    The Holmes Group proposals for reforming teacher education are evaluated by looking at the effects on teacher knowledge and competence, attraction and retention of talented teachers, organization of schools and the teaching profession, and cost effectiveness. (MT)

  14. Is ‘Sustainable Development' the core of ‘Education for SustainableDevelopment'?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Breiting, Søren

    2007-01-01

    What is the core of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and how to avoid that ESD becomes everything good in school and in reality not more than a new terminology without much innovative power for education?......What is the core of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and how to avoid that ESD becomes everything good in school and in reality not more than a new terminology without much innovative power for education?...

  15. National Assessment and the Opportunity to Learn in Educational Reform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snyder, Conrad Wesley, Jr.; Mereku, Kofi D.; Amedahe, Francis K.; Etsey, Kofui; Adu, John

    2013-01-01

    Over two decades, national assessments in Ghana have revealed generally poor performances across curriculum-based tests for primary school (Grades 1-6). Various reform agendas have been applied to the education system, sometimes with isolated success, but the overall performances remained stable and low. Surveying teacher mentors in schools…

  16. Perspectives: parity--prelude to a fifth cycle of reform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldman, Howard H

    2002-09-01

    Based on 2000 Carl Taube Lecture at the NIMH Mental Health Economics Meeting. This perspective article examines the relationship between a policy of parity in financing mental health services and the future of reform in service delivery. Applying theories of static and dynamic efficiency to an understanding of parity and the evolution of mental health services, drawing upon Burton Weisbrod s concept of the health care quadrilemma . Each of four cycles of reform in mental health services have contended with issues of static and dynamic efficiency. Each cycle was associated with static efficiency in the management and financing of services, and each was associated with a set of new treatment technologies intended to improve dynamic efficiency. Each reform proved ultimately unsuccessful primarily because of the failure of the treatment technologies to prevent future patient chronicity or to achieve sustained recovery. Recent advances in treatment technology and management of care can permit an unprecedented level of efficiency consistent with a policy of improved access to mainstream health and social welfare resources, including insurance coverage. This policy of so-called financing parity can improve current mental health service delivery, but it may also portend a future fifth cycle of reform. If new technologies continue to advance as full technologies - simple to deliver and producing true recovery - and mainstream resources are made available, then the specialty mental health services may contract dramatically in favor of effective care and treatment of mental illness in primary care and other mainstream settings. Predicting the future of health care is speculative, but it may be easier using the Weisbrod formulation to understand the process of mental health reform. Over-reliance on administrative techniques for building static efficiency and false optimism about dynamic efficiency from new technology have stymied previous reforms. All the same, a fifth cycle

  17. Non-catalytic recuperative reformer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khinkis, Mark J.; Kozlov, Aleksandr P.; Kurek, Harry

    2015-12-22

    A non-catalytic recuperative reformer has a flue gas flow path for conducting hot flue gas from a thermal process and a reforming mixture flow path for conducting a reforming mixture. At least a portion of the reforming mixture flow path is embedded in the flue gas flow path to permit heat transfer from the hot flue gas to the reforming mixture. The reforming mixture flow path contains substantially no material commonly used as a catalyst for reforming hydrocarbon fuel (e.g., nickel oxide, platinum group elements or rhenium), but instead the reforming mixture is reformed into a higher calorific fuel via reactions due to the heat transfer and residence time. In a preferred embodiment, extended surfaces of metal material such as stainless steel or metal alloy that are high in nickel content are included within at least a portion of the reforming mixture flow path.

  18. School effectiveness and school improvement : Sustaining links

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Creemers, B.P.M.; Reezigt, G.J.

    1997-01-01

    Ideally, school effectiveness research and school improvement might have a relationship with a surplus value for both. In reality, this relationship is often troublesome. Some problems can be attributed to the intrinsic differences between effectiveness and improvement, such as different missions.

  19. Modeling, Simulation and Optimization of Hydrogen Production Process from Glycerol using Steam Reforming

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Jeongpil; Cho, Sunghyun; Kim, Tae-Ok; Shin, Dongil; Lee, Seunghwan; Moon, Dong Ju

    2014-01-01

    For improved sustainability of the biorefinery industry, biorefinery-byproduct glycerol is being investigated as an alternate source for hydrogen production. This research designs and optimizes a hydrogen-production process for small hydrogen stations using steam reforming of purified glycerol as the main reaction, replacing existing processes relying on steam methane reforming. Modeling, simulation and optimization using a commercial process simulator are performed for the proposed hydrogen production process from glycerol. The mixture of glycerol and steam are used for making syngas in the reforming process. Then hydrogen are produced from carbon monoxide and steam through the water-gas shift reaction. Finally, hydrogen is separated from carbon dioxide using PSA. This study shows higher yield than former U.S.. DOE and Linde studies. Economic evaluations are performed for optimal planning of constructing domestic hydrogen energy infrastructure based on the proposed glycerol-based hydrogen station

  20. Collaborative Leadership and School Improvement: Understanding the Impact on School Capacity and Student Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hallinger, Philip; Heck, Ronald H.

    2010-01-01

    Fifty years of theory and research offer increasing levels of support for the assertion that principal leadership makes a difference in the quality of schooling, school development, and student learning. In the current context of global education reform, however, recent inquiries have focused on identifying how teams of school leaders contribute…