The aim of this study is to examine Finnish students' school engagement profiles in the light of the data collected in the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) in 2003. Even though Finnish students' cognitive achievement has proved excellent in various international assessments, their school engagement has not been flattering. The…

Recent analyses challenge common wisdom regarding the superiority of private schools relative to public schools, raising questions about the role of school processes and climate in shaping achievement in different types of schools. While holding demographic factors constant, this multilevel analysis of National Assessment of Educational Progress…

With the increased focus on issues of diversity and multiculturalism in the United States and abroad, educators and clinicians have become more and more concerned about the feasibility and validity of their assessment instruments and practices for children and adults from nonWhite backgrounds. Many researchers emphasize that when working with…

This edition of the PPIC Statewide Survey is the third in a series of surveys funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation focusing on education in California. This survey is intended to raise public awareness, inform decisionmakers, and stimulate public discussions about a variety of education issues facing the state. Findings are based on…

From 1979 to 2002, Afghanistan was in a near constant state of war and exhibited some of the lowest levels of development in the world. While local conflicts and Taliban remnants continue to challenge Afghanistan's reconstruction and stabilization, significant progress has been made since the 2001 U.S. led invasion and subsequent fall of the…

In 2004, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Educational Quality Improvement Program 2 (EQUIP2) began investigating community-based schools as a mechanism for reaching the underserved populations. The team identified nine models that successfully organized schooling in regions least served by the formal education…

A recent study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that high-skill jobs that require advanced learning will make up almost half of all job growth in the United States by 2014. Present trends indicate that there will be a dearth of adequately educated workers to fill these new jobs: as a result of changing demographics, rising costs and…

Distance education has become an important policy option for educational planners in developing countries. In the context of Nigeria, increasing population, growing national demand for education, dwindling financial resources, increasing fiscal constraints, and therefore narrowing of access to education led to the emergence of Open University in…

The efficiency of schools diverges dramatically across countries in the OECD and can also vary markedly within countries. These differences in levels of efficiency can be traced to policy and institutional settings. As such, moving to best practice could boost educational attainment and reduce pressure on budgetary resources. This paper assesses…

This report offers an examination of the impact of Nebraska Reading First on comprehension across the first three years of implementation in the state. Grade level performance is defined as performance at or above the 40th percentile using grade level standards. Within each grade level section reading comprehension achievement is shown for all…

Now as Congress and the Bush administration consider the five-year reauthorization of the law, they have the opportunity to address some of NCLB's important problems of commission and omission. The goal of closing the huge achievement gap is laudable and must be addressed effectively. The NCLB seeks to develop and implement a new federal and state…

Today's special education teachers are expected to be able to give all students access to the general education curriculum (McLaughlin & Thurlow, 2003). This responsibility can be particularly challenging given the wide range of ages, ability levels, and needs of the students they teach (Huefner, 2000). This paper describes results of a thorough…

Holding public schools accountable for students' academic achievement is the centerpiece of educational reform policies in the United States (U.S.). Two dominant accountability frameworks are standards-driven and market-driven. A significant challenge associated with these 2 frameworks is how to include children with disabilities. We assert that…

Attention shifted in recent years from design and implementation to use and usefulness of quality assurance. Scientific studies focus increasingly on quality assurance's impact on curricula and individual teachers. Which factors influence follow-up activities and what is their relation to improvement of education? One factor that we single out is…

In 2006 Vietnam had experienced more than two decades of reform. However, while the reforms have transformed the entire Vietnamese economy and opened the country to globalization, the education system is still very much under the Vietnamese Communist Party's control. The schoolbooks are published under close supervision of the authorities. The…