Recent governments in Ecuador (2007-17) have achieved impressive improvements in education. Enrollments increased significantly, and Ecuador's learning gains on regional tests from 2006 to 2013 were among the largest in the region. Ecuador's recent PISA performance provides further confirmation of genuine progress in raising student learning. A…

Case study of educational planning in Trinidad and Tobago focuses on "Report of the National Task Force on Education" (1994), known locally as the White Paper on Education or Keller Report. Examines how the White Paper captures current theory and practice in educational planning, its chances of successful implementation, and role of the…

An open letter after September 11, 2001, reflects on education's role in promoting tolerance and peace. Further discussion focuses on liberal versus neoliberal ideology; the expansion and democratization of public education in the 20th century, guided by liberal public policy concerning the state's responsibility for social welfare and the public…

A government is a complex system of competing factions that adopts a decentralization policy when the dominant group sees current government structures or procedures as an obstacle to the realization of group interests. Case studies of educational decentralization in Peru, Chile, and Mexico demonstrate that the "state" tends to share…

Examines the national educational assessment systems of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay to explore the role of politics and state-polity relations in shaping the design, implementation, and impact of national assessment systems. Discusses the rapid global diffusion of national assessment systems and the impact of centralized versus decentralized…

Case study of expansion of South Korean education at three educational levels, 1945-88, examines influences of state and class structural characteristics by analyzing the state's role in shaping policies to expand or limit education to meet political and economic objectives rather than class interests. An analytical model compares results to those…

Reviews major trends in comparative-education research in the Arab states. Reviews studies categorized by "comparative context" (cross-Arab, state-specific, Arab versus non-Arab) at the system, school, or classroom level. Argues that research has largely neglected the conflictual dynamic between state policies and civil society, focusing…

Examines educational policy formation in Sao Paulo, 1989-92, under the leadership of Paulo Freire. Explores theoretical and policy controversies surrounding the diminishing role of the state in Latin America, the impact of social movements on educational policymaking, and the limits and possibilities of democratic-socialist perspectives in…

Concentrates on political organizations and educational demands of Japan's burakumin, a group persistently isolated and discriminated against. Directs attention to recent political struggles carried out by burakumin and their representative organizations through "dowa education" (assimilation or liberation education). Examines…

Examines the extent to which corporatist political theory explains recent educational reforms in Norway (strong corporatist state) and the United Kingdom (weak corporatist state). Focuses on shifts toward centralized or decentralized control; public versus private sponsorship of schools; and teacher autonomy and school-based management. Contains…

Provides an overview of the policy, since the 1950s, of regionalization in Swedish higher education. Identifies three key decision-making processes during the period and investigates each with respect to the role of analysis in politics. Summarizes findings and discusses their implications. (MH)

Provides historical and theoretical context for this theme issue on education in Latin America. Discusses reorganization in state models and state-society relationships since the 1930s, the systematic withdrawal of public resources from education due to neoliberalism and internationally imposed "structural adjustment" policies, effects…

Inspired by idealistic beliefs in the state's benign, just nature, women seeking to influence public policies on gender issues have tended to rely on gentle persuasion. Similarly, feminists have failed to realize the true importance of schools as the state's ideological agents supporting the status quo and requiring major transformation of power…

In this essay, the author explores the nationalization and secularization of the Iraqi educational system during the period between the two world wars, while demonstrating how various intellectuals championed pluralist educational models. Iraqi social and intellectual history has focused on education as an important prism reflecting approaches to…