Using as an example the development of the comprehensive school concept in the Netherlands, this paper explores the strategy for educational innovation in a centralized national educational system, the role of educational research and evaluation in educational innovation, the impact of research on policy-making, and the strengths and weaknesses of…

The comprehensive-versus-selective school issue is primarily a socio-politico-economic rather than pedagogic problem. The International Project for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) had as its primary objective to relate certain social, economic and pedagogic characteristics of the different systems to the outcomes of instruction in…