Provides an overview of the Israeli standards-based curriculum for the teaching of English in Israeli schools. Includes the standards for the four domains of language learning and the standards and benchmarks for one of the domains: social interaction. (Author/VWL)

Describes how state higher education governing boards can use benchmarking to provide direction for colleges and universities. Provides an in-depth example and indicators used by selected state higher education boards. (EV)

Clinical interviews with eight preservice elementary teachers elicited their understanding of pest-related benchmarks. Those with out-of-school experience were better able to articulate their understanding. Many were unable to make connections between scientific, societal and technological concepts. (Contains 39 references.) (SK)

There is significant public policy concern that teacher salaries in the United States are insufficient to make teaching in public schools financially attractive; consequently, there are not enough high-quality teachers. This concern has been particularly acute of late for two reasons. First, new empirical research shows teacher quality to be the…

There is increasing interest in understanding and describing the links between education and "social cohesion". However, the theoretical and empirical base for understanding these links is limited. There is also a shortage of practical tools for education policy-makers and planners, to help them assess the impact of policies and…

During workshops held in March and April of 2005, Michigan educators got a lesson in how to benchmark their work against promising practices in higher-performing schools with similar socioeconomic profiles. Teams of teachers, educational supervisors, and principals from 13 elementary and middle schools that had been struggling to make adequate…

The primary purpose of this study was to assess whether the relation between curriculum-based measurement (CBM) and specific reading skills changes as a function of grade. In addition, this study sought to identify cutscores that correspond with benchmark performance on a variety of reading subskills at Grades 1 through 4. Participants were…

In a globalized economy, the meaning of the word "community" has changed. No businessperson today can afford to ignore what is happening outside his or her hometown. The same goes for community college executives. No community can generate economic growth without business growth. Businesses need factors of production, such as labor, capital,…

This article presents the conclusion of a study that examines the discrepancies and correspondence between theory and practice in seven European countries. This article presents answers to the following research issues: (1) Discrepancies between existing quality concepts implied in the current international indicator publications and actual…

Managing quality processes become critically important for higher education institutions generally, but especially for institutions involved in open and distance learning. In Australia, managers of centers responsible for open and distance learning have identified two frameworks that potentially offer ways of conceiving of the application of…

Purpose: Because of the ever-expanding commercialization and marketing of higher education, a need now exists to apply the concepts of business process improvement to colleges and universities. Aims to explore this issue. Design/methodology/approach: An open-ended qualitative questionnaire was developed, administered to 18 public and private…

Because there is no commonly accepted view of what makes for good writing, automated essay scoring (AES) ideally should be able to accommodate different theoretical positions, certainly at the level of state standards but also perhaps among teachers at the classroom level. This paper presents a practical approach and an interactive computer…

For the past ten years, researchers at the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis (CHEPA) have spoken with students, teachers, counselors, administrators and family members about what is most helpful in preparing students for college. The majority of CHEPA's research has been conducted at urban, low-income schools serving high proportions of…

The primary purpose of the study was to identify successful electronic and manufacturing engineering programs at two-year colleges that Northeast Community College (a pseudonym) programs can be benched marked against. The project examined two-year college programs for increased enrollment and the number of graduates for the academic years 2000 to…

This report examines the availability and quality of predictive validity data for a selection of benchmark assessments identified by state and district personnel as in use within Mid-Atlantic Region jurisdictions. Based on a review of practices within the school districts in the region, this report details the benchmark assessments being used, in…