Data reporting in the Australian education system produces deficit-based comparisons of academic achievement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Since 2009, data from the National Assessment Program -- Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) have been used by the Australian government to allow it to report on 'Closing the Gap' policy. These…

Oslo Accords have stringently underscored that both rivalries, the Palestinians and the Israelis, must abstain from incitement to terror and violence. Their educational systems, consequently, have to refrain from convulsive, fundamentalist, and heinous skirmishes leading to stalled reconciliation. History school textbooks are deemed, from both…

This paper problematizes the interplay between curriculum textbooks and national identity constructions. Drawing on data from Bangladesh's school-textbooks, and students' and teachers' perspectives, the study identifies factors shaping Bangladesh's national identity in the textbook discourses and discusses students' experiences of these in an…

While researchers agree that note passing is predominantly an activity engaged in by girls, there has been relatively little consideration of why this is the case. In this article, I argue that gendered expectations about the appropriate characters of boys and girls in Vietnam are incorporated into the disciplinary framework of schools, and that…

In usual understandings of learning, youths' development in classrooms is portrayed as a move from being a novice to an expert. However, findings of the present anthropologically framed study support us to argue that learning, rather, can be characterized as youths' simultaneous occupation of novice and expert roles. We refer to this simultaneous…

In 2013, the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) published the first-ever report on English language learners (ELLs) enrolled in member districts, reporting on a range of indicators in addition to ELL enrollment and languages spoken by such students. This report updates most of the data presented in the 2013 Council ELL report, shedding light…

The National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)--is conducted through standardized tests that are administered to all Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9. It was implemented in 2008 by the same Labor government that introduced My School (www.myschool.edu.au). Enjoying bipartisan political support and popular with the public…

In this article, two in-service English teachers and two preservice English teachers, who participated in a shared mentoring relationship during the student-teaching semester, share their experiences, conflicts, and how they were resolved. The authors provide first-person narratives of all four teachers and suggestions for improving mentoring…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Focus on Dropout Factories: Associated Press Article Spotlights Low-Performing High Schools, Draws Criticism from Many School…

The Swedish school system comprises: (1) Pre-primary school (Forskola), typical age 1-5; (2) Preschool class in the compulsory school (Grundskola) typical age 6 (participation voluntary); (3) Compulsory school, typical age 7-16, grades 1-9, and (4) Upper secondary school, 17 programmes (4 mainly academic, 13 vocational), typical age 16-19, grades…

In New York, state-level policymakers have invested considerable political and economic capital in new tests as both a measure of accountability and as a vehicle for increased educational standards. In this study, we look at how 9th and 10th grade global history teachers are making sense of the first administration of a new 10th grade global…

This document outlines the framework and assessment design for the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Over the past 50 years, IEA has conducted comparative research studies focusing on educational policies, practices, and…

Work-based education (WBE), including traditional vocational education and other career-focused programs, was an important curricular component in American schools for most of the 20th century. The 1990s was a period of substantial change for work-based education (WBE). Spurred on by a concern about the international competitiveness of the…