In order to design effective instruction and feedback for synthesis writing on both writing processes and products, a clear insight into synthesis writing processes underlying a high-quality synthesis text is crucial. That is why this study, as one of the first, examines the use of sources during synthesis writing processes, and its effect on text…

Governments recognise that careers guidance, underpinned by accurate labour market information, can help learners make post-secondary education choices that match their interests, aptitudes and abilities, and lead to rewarding employment. For this reason, they have invested in building linked education/employment information systems and other…

This paper analyses how three European countries produce and use data within a specific educational policy field, that of school leaving and graduation. It compares how stakeholders in England, Finland and the Netherlands know what happens to the leavers from schools and universities. Through gathering evidence about the methodological…

This paper addresses if, and to what extent, the current working methods of the Dutch Inspectorate of Education affect the governance of school boards in schools for primary education. A key facet of the working method is the inspection meeting with the school board. Drawing upon a large quantitative study (n = 244) we are able to identify some…

Schools in many different countries are increasingly expected to use data for school improvement. However, schools struggle with the implementation of data use, because building human capacity around data use in education has not received enough attention. Educators urgently need to develop data literacy skills for being able to use data. For…

Although data-based decision making can lead to improved student achievement, data are often not used effectively in schools. This paper therefore focuses on conditions for effective data use. We studied the extent to which school organizational characteristics, data characteristics, user characteristics, and collaboration influenced data use for…

Using data in a professional learning community is a promising form of professional development. In this study, we followed a data team of teacher educators, who systematically tried to improve the education of student teachers (by decreasing first year drop-out). By conducting a single case study, we investigated the data team participants'…

In a context where schools are held more and more accountable for the education they provide, data-based decision making has become increasingly important. This book brings together scholars from several countries to examine data-based decision making. Data-based decision making in this book refers to making decisions based on a broad range of…

This 2012 mba.com Prospective Students Survey Report explores the motivations, behaviors, program choices, and intended career outcomes of individuals who expressed a desire to further their education in a graduate business program. More than 16,000 prospective business school students who registered on mba.com shared their opinions, preferences,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a project to digitise maps at the Royal Tropical Institute, or Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen (KIT), of The Netherlands. KIT has an extensive collection of maps and nautical charts of (sub-) tropical regions, including general maps and topographical map series, city maps, thematic maps and…

At the end of secondary education in The Netherlands, students have to pass a final examination, consisting of an internal school-based assessment and an external national assessment. According to the Dutch inspectorate, to ensure the quality of final examinations, the discrepancy between both assessments must be less than 0.5 points (on a scale…

This document assesses the specific character of the research systems in the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Belgium in light of their institutional mechanisms and the way they function. The five articles presented concern international dimensions - national traditions and research policies; university research in a teaching oriented…

A cognitive study examined expertise in managerial problem solving. Research questions asked what types of managerial knowledge do experts and novices use in representing and solving problems, and how do knowledge types develop over time? The 115 participants were divided into 9 levels of expertise: first through fourth year students in the…

This book describes the design and evaluation of a computer-based information system for secondary schools in The Netherlands. It reports on three studies: (1) a pilot study; (2) the SCHOLIS project, which designed a computer-assisted system for school administration; and (3) the evaluation of the implementation of a computer-assisted Absentee…

Educational policy research is discussed as it concerns the utilization and programming of research. Following a brief review of the development of the educational research system, Part 1 discusses the following utilization concerns: the gap between research and policymakers; the relationship of organizational setting to utilization (comparing…