Background: Chile's national school-based mental health program, "Skills for Life" (SFL), has demonstrated effectiveness in improving behavioral and academic outcomes in first- through third-grade students. The current study assessed the feasibility and outcomes of SFL's program for sixth- through eighth-grade students. Methods: We…

Despite great attention and numerous efforts across countries to reduce school dropout, it remains a persistent challenge. One such initiative, named New Possibilities, launched by the Norwegian Ministry in 2010, was a nationwide, flexible program aimed at providing intensive training to poor achievers during the last months of 10th grade, before…

The National Assessment Program -- Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in Australia is a series of literacy and numeracy tests that are used for purposes of school comparison. This paper argues that a key question for this use lies in whether or not this is a reasonable, or valid, use of the test data. Using Kane's argumentative approach to validity,…

Education is at the core of South Africa's national development. The National Development Plan recognizes the potential of education to transform individuals and drive attainment of other development goals. The country's higher education system is characterized by low participation and high attrition. This presents challenges for the attainment of…

The National Service Training Program (NSTP) of the Philippines is a form of service learning which is defined as the integration of community services to instruction in order to strengthen the civic and community responsibilities of the students. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the NSTP for the students, its…

This study compares the judgments that teachers make on their students' mathematics achievement with results taken from Australia's National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). Using a sample of 2144 students, drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), the study develops two regression models: one with teacher…

This paper investigates the validity of a national, standards-based teacher evaluation programme by examining the relationship between teachers' evaluation results and their students' learning progress. We used census achievement data that assessed the same cohort of students at the end of 8th and 10th grade. We applied multilevel modelling and…

Technology has already become an indispensable part of our lives, and nations around the world see schools as the main agents to prepare their youth for a technology-filled future, and invest important amounts of funding to provide hardware to schools, students and teachers. The Turkish Ministry of National Education is in the midst of the FATIH…

The big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) was evaluated with 4,461 seventh to ninth graders in Singapore where a national policy of ability streaming is implemented. Consistent with the BFLPE, when prior achievement was controlled, students in the high-ability stream had lower English and mathematics self-concepts (ESCs and MSCs) and those in the…

Teachers are now experiencing the age of quantitative test-driven assessment, in which there is little weight accorded to teacher-based judgement about student progress. In the Australian context, the NAPLaN test has become a driving force in school and teacher accountability. The language of NAPLaN is one of bands and numerical scores and…

Using research conducted by the federal government's own finance department, social policy groups released the report, "Paying for Canada: Perspectives on Public Finance and National Programs." It showed that deliberate government policy to reduce taxation levels for some of the most economically advantaged groups in Canada had resulted…

The evaluation at Italian Primary and Lower Secondary school levels in Italy is mainly defined by the continuous assessment performed by teachers. It is based on both the oral and written pupils' outputs, on the fulfilment of school projects and on the assignment and carrying out of homeworks. It may be both a formative assessment and/or a…

There is an extensive structure of formal student assessment in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Although the structures in each of these countries were similar when they were initially introduced two decades ago, they have increasingly diverged over the last decade. This national description outlines the development of statutory assessment…

In Spain the evaluation of the education system is viewed as an essential element in order to improve the quality of education, since it constitutes a valuable instrument for the monitoring and assessment of both the functioning and the results of the education system, as well as for the improvement of the processes delivering these results. The…

Pupil assessment procedures and methods in Greece are set and "standardized" externally by the central authorities as defined in the legislative framework, the National Curriculum guidelines and teachers' manuals, while implementation is internal to the schools. The focus of primary schools is on formative assessment, while the lower…