Comparison of management in further education colleges in Britain, Regionale Opleidingen Centra in the Netherlands, and lycees professionnels in France found they operate in different administrative and cultural contexts but are affected by similar pressures and issues, particularly in three areas: managers' role in education, management of…

The Executive Director, Education, for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, describes several shortcomings of large comprehensive high schools. Argues that small schools, be they public, private, or charter, offer a viable alternative to the problems of large schools if they have right essentials such as strong leadership and autonomy.…

Briefly examines trends and changes in Latin American education policies in 1990s and provides overview of related articles. Examines various education reforms seeking to advance system accountability and promotion of school autonomy; identifies strategies used to implement these goals. Concludes reforms had "very limited positive…

This article describes the process of theoretical reflection that preceded the development and empirical verification of a model of "effective school improvement". The focus is on basic mechanisms that could be seen as underlying "getting things in motion" and change in education systems. Four mechanisms are distinguished:…

An exchange of flexibility for accountability placed the responsibility for being accountable at the campus level. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.)

Foster anchors his analysis of educational leadership by situating the function of schooling as bureaucratic control over individuals. Within the context of schools as a systemic, rule-bearing institution, Foster challenges the work of educational leaders. Are educational leaders virtuous and free or are they mere agents of the state? Foster pits…

The introduction of subject benchmarking led to fears of increased external intervention in the activities of universities and a more restrictive view of institutional autonomy, accompanied by an undermining of the academic profession, particularly through the perceived threat of the introduction of a national curriculum for higher education. For…

This article explores the ways in which policy-makers in Arizona, Michigan and Georgia understood the charter concept when adopting charter legislation. Drawing on literature on policy formation, the paper traces both the creation of the charter law in each state, and the underlying rationales that led policy-makers to support the legislation. The…

In this article, the author describes how the quest for external funding has dominated academic science and argues that today's scientists should think about pledging allegiance to traditional academic values. Enthusiasm for the pre-Cold War model of the university can probably not be justified in utilitarian terms or explained as a consequence of…

In recent years, the predominance of the nation-state as the sole arbiter of curricular matters has eroded. New actors and organizations, especially local schools, have acquired greater discretion over the definition of school subjects and curricular emphases. This study investigates whether and how different patterns of educational governance…

This article discusses Iraq's Ministry of Education's freedom to call the shots a year after a U.S. led coalition took charge of rebuilding their school system. The U.S. Agency for International Development has rejected requests by the press for the monitoring and evaluation documents on Creative Associates International. The Coalition Provisional…

This article focuses on methods of funding allocation and quality assurance as prominent levers of change in higher education reform today. It is their interplay which forms the main components of coordination frameworks. The arguments for more market or new forms of state intervention can only be understood in the context of such a framework.…

Within and beyond Africa, it is the public sector much more than the private sector that is the scene of strikes and other forms of disorder, conflict and difficulty. Yet the private sector can be much affected by the public problems. Effects may be simultaneously positive for the private sector and deleterious for the public sector. Although a…

Partnerships among schools, families, and community organizations can reconnect urban schools to their communities and improve results for young people and their families. This report provides an overview of Casey's investment philosophy and strategies, and its approach to defining and documenting grantmaking results. The report highlights the…

State and district school leaders across the U.S. have long sought ways to create success for children attending schools where too many have failed for far too long. A new approach to solving this old problem is called "starting fresh." By beginning anew with the freedom to do things vastly different, a real opportunity is created to…