This occasional paper of the Centre for Education Policy and Practice outlines how the National School Improvement Tool, developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) in collaboration with the Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment is being used in Australian schools. The Tool is grounded in international…

This paper uses data from the National Pupil Database to investigate the differences in "performance" across the range of science courses available following the 2006 Key Stage 4 (KS4) science reforms in England. This is a value-added exploration (from Key Stage 3 [KS3] to KS4) aimed not at the student or the school level, but rather at…

Education in rural Scottish schools has changed rapidly over the past 15 years. These changes include the implementation of national curriculum and assessment guidelines, increased parental influence and a shift from local authority based management to more locally based schemes. During the 1990s, research in the field focused largely on learning…

This two-part report, through the analysis of a number of experimental attempts to answer two basic questions: What form has the change in the teacher's role taken? What policy should be adopted to foster this change? Part 1 is a general report that covers the major themes which emerged from the case studies outlined in part 2 and from discussions…

Of the three change strategies for educational improvement which are currently being supported with substantial sums of money, only the most recent, research-based development, can bring about real national improvement in educational practice. "Local innovation," although it will always be our best source of new ideas, fails as an effective…

The chairman of the National Commission on Allied Health Education, an independent body, discusses a study to be made by the Commission of the growth in the allied health field and changes in allied health education that will be necessary in the next decade. He notes the issues to be addressed, task forces to work on the problems, and the…

This bulletin briefly describes research activities in the field of curriculum development for comprehensive and upper secondary schools in Finland. The comprehensive schools, established by law in 1963, offer a uniform curriculum to all Finnish students for the first nine years of school. After attending the comprehensive school, students may…

Research plays a necessary and highly valued role in the process of educational reform which has been modifying Sweden's educational system since the 1950's. The fixed resources available to universities for research and the flexible resources allocated to universities and other agencies by four major funding organizations are described in this…

The author explains the role and financing of educational research and development (R&D) in Sweden, as it operates under the central education authority, the National Board of Education. She discusses a government report on R&D effects and considers the potential impact on research of current trends toward decentralization in education.…

Many organizations, school districts, and state departments of education are posting useful materials on the Internet for anyone interested in Goals 2000, world-class standards, and school restructuring. This digest identifies key Internet offerings related to Goals 2000 and world-class standards. Pointers to each of these offerings can be found…

The Developmental Economic Education Program (DEEP) was launched in 1964 by the Joint Council on Economic Education as an experimental program in three school districts. By 1989 there were 1,836 school districts enrolled in DEEP, covering some 39 percent of the precollege student population. This book tells the story of DEEP, an effort to improve…

An account of recent developments in the training of adult educators and adult education research in Hungary is presented. A review of the literature is also presented. The overall tasks of adult education are considered to be: (1) mass development of general education among adults, (2) development of specialized knowledge, (3) literary and…

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.…

Countries of Central and Eastern Europe already developing model standards in the framework of restructuring their education systems have been chosen to develop model standards for other countries. To compare the standards being developed in these countries, a system of indicators must be developed. The most important indicators are as follows:…

In Latin American education systems the inspectorate is an administrative level linking the central national educational administration to the local operations level. Traditionally the inspector's function has been to enforce fulfillment of pedagogical and administrative norms at the local level and to transmit pertinent information on achievement…