This paper provides a picture of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), primarily Europe and North America. The paper's main objective is to present an overview of the major policies and programs in these countries, and to classify them by their most salient…

Considers the origins and historical development of videotex over three decades, comparing various nationally sponsored and private systems in Europe and North America. Discusses problems, including the determination of transmission channels, display devices, standards, marketing strategies, and social, political, and economic elements in the…

Compares national higher education quality assessment systems in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, focusing particularly on the balance between internal and external societal needs in the systems' design and organization. Results indicate that systems are highly adjusted to each country's specific governance strategies, resulting in very…

Currently in the United States there is considerable interest in developing a system of examinations that is substantially different from the large-scale testing programs presently in use in this country. These new exams would involve a different form of assessment than current tests and would also enable greater local control over the…

A study was conducted (1) to describe the specific services of seven major career education information and technical assistance systems, including (but not limited to) content of each system, services offered, clients served, procedures for use, cost for each service, service area (geographic), response formats, response time, and utility of…

This discussion of the development of information technology in developing nations is based on case studies of seven Asian countries. The experiences of the countries are compared in terms of the infrastructure development, organizational processes, applications, human resources development, and public awareness. (CLB)

A comparative research project is being implemented to describe how curriculum guidelines are developed and applied in Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, and to compare the underlying structures and strategies that influence and determine curriculum work and curriculum-making at different levels of decision making and enactment.…

The Southeast Center for Teaching Quality (The Center) has conducted a study of the costs of high quality Teacher Preparation on behalf of the Regional Education Laboratory at SERVE and at the request of the Alabama State Department of Education. In light of the recommendations issued by Alabama's Task Force to Improve Educator Preparation and the…

In 2005, an estimated 48 million children aged 0-18 years--12 percent of all children in sub-Saharan Africa--were orphans, and that number is expected to rise to 53 million by 2010. One quarter of all orphans are orphaned because of AIDS, and about 2.6 million children are currently infected with HIV. Untreated, most children born with HIV will…

A PILOT STUDY PREPARED FOR THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE COMPARES ADULT EDUCATOR STATUS, RECRUITMENT, AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING IN FRANCE, FLANDERS (BELGIUM), WEST GERMANY, THE NETHERLANDS, NORWAY, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM. MAJOR CONCERNS INCLUDE SALARIES AND BENEFITS, QUALIFICATIONS, INSERVICE TRAINING, SPONSORING BODIES, ATTITUDES TOWARD FORMAL STAFF…

Curriculum developers have a responsibility to fully understand national goals and to translate them into educational programs that will equip citizens to realize these goals. This topic is discussed in this manual for a basic training course in systematic curriculum development, designed for students in developing nations. A brief description of…

An OECD review of educational policies in Canada is described. How the review proceeded, who were involved, and what the examiners stressed in their report are detailed, along with the history and procedures of reviews of national education policies and the reflections of a member of the examining team. (Author/MLW)

The attractiveness of some European education policies and the current push toward national standards of academic achievement have converged recently in proposals for national educational testing in the United States. This paper examines the origins and status of student examination policies in 12 countries of the European Community. A major…

Structural convergence theory seeks to determine whether as nations industrialize they move toward common ways of organizing, arranging, and defining the institutional subsystems in their social structures. A related concern is whether the characteristics of these institutional subsystems themselves promote or retard convergence. National…

In describing the role of Soviet libraries in the satisfaction of information needs of specialists, I.K. Kirpicheva has provided a comprehensive picture of the extensive system for the State System Scientific and Technical Information (SSSTI) in support of the accelerated development of Soviet science and technology. Information needs arising at…