Recent studies reveal that developing countries cannot achieve good governance in higher education by merely borrowing structures from advanced systems because the globally advocated "one-best-way" approach often ignores levels of institutional capacity in developing countries. This study suggests institutional capacity as a core…

This chapter explores the systemic factors that help and/or hinder change and innovation across school systems, with a focus on evidence and examples from England. It sets out an innovation framework, adapted from (Leadbeater, C. and Wong, A., Learning from the Extremes, Cisco, San Jose, CA, 2010), as a means of comparing examples of innovation…

This chapter aims to illustrate how Indonesian higher education (HE) has struggled to compete in the globalised world, as evidenced by the country's below-average performance in global university rankings and the Global Innovation Index, despite the significant support from the government to improve Indonesia's capacity for knowledge production.…

This article examines organizational change in national ministries responsible for higher education in light of public sector reforms. The article suggests an analytical framework based on authority/autonomy and capacity developments, paying special attention to the creation of agencies. Empirically, this is exemplified by two cases: the Austrian…

Districts are relying on school autonomy to help schools differentiate educational programming for students and improve low-performing schools, yet we know little about how schools use autonomy in practice. Drawing on school case study and principal survey data from the Los Angeles Unified School District, we find variation in perceived school…

As previous research has not addressed the relationship between university autonomy and university rankings within countries where the state control model is used, this study explores universities' strategies to achieve top university rankings in accordance with their autonomous rights and financial as well as political support. Specifically, this…

We conducted a qualitative study in four countries of the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region and explored the Early Childhood Education (ECE) policy landscape with an emphasis on the challenges and opportunities decentralization has presented for the provision of services. We content-analyzed ECE policies and documents to map national approaches…

The "Principles & Standards for Quality Charter School Authorizing," first established in 2004, reflect the lessons learned by experienced authorizers. This foundational resource for National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) has been used to guide authorizing practices across the country and is referenced in state…

New "autonomy initiatives" aim to increase schools' decision-making authority as a strategy to leverage school improvement. These policies build on lessons of previous reforms such as site-based management in ways that bode well for their success. However, how are these policies actually faring in implementation? The authors addressed that…