Many factors influence students' experiences in upper secondary education and beyond, including upper secondary curricula, programme design and support for students. But a good transition from earlier levels of education is the first, essential step in a successful journey through upper secondary education and into further education and/or…

In the 2014-15 school year, 47 states are administering high school assessments to gauge students' mastery of college and career readiness standards in English language arts (ELA) and math. These new assessments represent a departure from prior high school exams that measured acquisition of high school (or lower) content but provided no actionable…

Taking the students' perspective, Education Policy Outlook 2018: Putting Student Learning at the Centre analyses the evolution of key education priorities and key education policies in 43 education systems. It compares more recent developments in education policy ecosystems (mainly between 2015 and 2017) with various education policies adopted…

Reform of vocational education and training (VET) in Europe is complex, especially at a time of economic crisis. Cedefop raises awareness and provides analysis and advice to policy-makers at European level and in Member States to help them decide on policies and actions. Cedefop's work supports the European policy agenda for VET and lifelong…

Cedefop's work programme 2014 constitutes an ambitious attempt to preserve its core activities, respond to new requests and ensure previous quality standards while respecting resource constraints. Nevertheless, it also reflects the risk that the Centre's ability to deliver its mission and increasing demands may be affected by further budgetary…

The "Policy to Performance Toolkit" is designed to provide state adult education staff and key stakeholders with guidance and tools to use in developing, implementing, and monitoring state policies and their associated practices that support an effective state adult basic education (ABE) to postsecondary education and training transition…

This article examines school removals and transitions among nine special education students. First, the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the local school discipline policy and special education contexts are discussed. Next, drawing from participants' narrative accounts, the ways in which policy mandates and contextual…

In Australia, eligible long day care services may apply for support at the state level to assist with the transition of children from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds into childcare settings. For staff in childcare services, this support comes in the form of a cultural support worker (CSW). The primary role of a CSW is to build…

The purpose of the Research and Mapping for MCEECDYA Project: Student Academic Engagement was to examine the characteristics of schools with a low Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) from all jurisdictions that were identified to be making a difference to student academic and to identify the key drivers and characteristics of…

As state and national policymakers look for ways to improve the rigor of the high school curriculum and enhance student readiness for college, many are turning their attention to increasing course requirements in core academic high school subjects. Existing research shows that students who take high-level course sequences learn more in high school…

Increased student access to higher education institutions has been associated with the recent proliferation of higher education opportunities throughout the world. Various countries have undertaken numerous initiatives to increase access, such as the Netherlands with its involvement in the Bologna Process and the United States with Achieve Inc.'s…

In this collected edition, globalization and its consequences on vocational education systems are described and, at the same time, combined with the question of whether new phenomena of inclusion but also of exclusion are produced. Inclusion and exclusion are differentiations that predominate in all kinds of (vocational education) systems,…

Illinois Shifting Gears is a multilevel initiative that has simultaneously created bridge programs in the field and altered state policy to facilitate the creation of more programs in the future. These efforts have informed each other, giving policymakers the opportunity to interact with practitioners, troubleshoot bridge programs, and make…

In Germany, a remarkable number of young people leave school with the qualification required for entrance to higher education ("Abitur") but do not actually go on to university. Instead, these young people--known in German as "Abiturienten"--start an apprenticeship within what is known in Germany as the "Dual-System".…

In this article, the author observes how policymakers have approached P-16 reform in a less-constructive fashion--one given to faddism and quick fixes. The author suggests that the problem with P-16 reforms does not lie with how policymakers and advocates have found sensible ways to make the policy work, but rather with the way reformers,…