This chapter focuses on Education and Training 2020 (ET 2020), a significant European policy framework that provides an integrated approach to education and training. The chapter identifies the main governance mechanisms and policy instruments used by the European Union (EU) institutions within ET 2020 that lead to increased domestic policy…

While 21st century skills are getting increasing traction in both academia and the professional world, a big challenge today is that there has been no consensus on the unified conceptual framework to define and measure 21st century skills. This consensus is indispensable for understanding, teaching and assessing these skills. Additionally, few…

All students deserve to attend programs and institutions that meet high quality standards. But different program goals, investments of time, and eligibility criteria make it difficult to set specific standards that will apply equally well to all types of programs and institutions. This report sets out principles for developing an accountability…

English learners (ELs) are among the fastest-growing populations of students in our nation's public schools. This diverse subgroup of approximately 4.5 million students brings important cultural and linguistic assets to the public education system, but also faces a greater likelihood of lower graduation rates, academic achievement, and college…

Education has a long-standing practice of turning worthwhile learning goals into lists of bits. One might even say that this practice is the original sin in curriculum design: take a complex whole, divide it into small pieces, string those together in a rigid sequence of instruction and testing, and call completion of this sequence…

Across the United States, a wide cross-section of administrators and teachers are learning the ins and outs of setting, assessing, and scoring student learning objectives (SLOs). An SLO is a set of goals that measures an educator's progress in achieving student growth targets. SLOs are particularly helpful for teachers in nontested subjects and…

The "Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education" reports cite the critical role of professional societies in undergraduate life science education and, since 2008, have called for the increased involvement of professional societies in support of undergraduate education. Our study explored the level of support being provided by…

A national qualifications framework (NQF) is an instrument used to classify a country's qualifications at different levels. Each level is defined by a set of learning outcomes expected at that level. NQFs can be useful tools in education and training reforms and are vital reference points for lifelong learning and comparing qualifications across…

This virtual conference is part of a larger consultation process through which UNESCO will consult with practitioners and researchers; representatives of key stakeholder groupings such as employers' federations, trade unions and youth organizations; other international agencies and Member States in order to draft a new Revised Recommendation that…

The purpose of this article is to introduce a new statistic to capture the ratio of equitable student outcomes given equitable inputs. Given the fact that finance structures should be aligned to outcome standards according to judicial interpretation, a ratio of outputs to inputs, or "equity ratio," is introduced to discern if conclusions can be…

According to the author, last year they set out to apply the four-step approach that they found in research from the University of Kentucky to design a unit for their language arts curriculum. They identified the appropriate standards, figured out what skills they would teach in conformance with the standards and what outcomes were expected, and…

This is an exciting time to be in science education. New science standards are being developed by a group of science educators from across the country, working with 26 states in a process managed by Achieve, Inc., a non-profit education reform organization. The development of the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) promises to be the most…

Learning Forward introduces new Standards for Professional Learning. This is the third iteration of standards outlining the characteristics of professional learning that lead to effective teaching practices, supportive leadership, and improved student results. The standards are not a prescription for how education leaders and public officials…

This report is made up of seven chapters relating to Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) performance level setting (PLS). Chapter one describes the goals of the PARCC program, content standards measured by PARCC, PARCC performance levels, and components of the PARCC system. Chapter two discusses the goals of…

The "Global Inventory of Regional and National Qualifications Frameworks," the result of collaborative work between the European Training Foundation (ETF), the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization] and UIL [UNESCO Institute for…