This paper is based on the experience of working alongside new practitioners with the role of learning mentor as they engage in a national training programme. It considers the issues raised by evaluation at a range of times within and beyond the training. The main factors that emerge from the data focus on the role of inspiration, creativity,…

The direction quality assurance and its ancillary practices is taking in the transformation process in South Africa is discussed in this article. The article argues that it is incorrect to suggest that the higher education system has been captured by managerialism. While efficiency is an important driver of the system, the imperatives of redress…

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) serves more than 29 million children each day, but there is little information on the characteristics of those children. This study reports new estimates of NSLP participant characteristics using two national surveys: the 2001 Panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and the 1999-2002…

In 2004, the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) served an average of 29 million lunches daily, at a Federal cost of $7.6 billion. Schools are reimbursed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) according to the number of each type of meal served. FNS administrative data do not include information on the…

This article distinguishes research--the discovery of new knowledge--from innovation, which is understood to be the transformation of practice in a community or the incorporation of existing knowledge into economic activity. From a survey of roles served by vocational education institutions in a number of OECD countries the paper argues that…

This report describes the "Year of the Lifetime Reader" campaign, which focused on family literacy. The report has a threefold purpose: to review the events, projects, and activities that took place across the country; to stimulate thinking on how to make future campaigns even more effective; and to make available the ideas that have…

The utility of modified item response theory (IRT) models in small sample testing applications was studied. The modified IRT models were modifications of the one- and two-parameter logistic models. One-, two-, and three-parameter models were also studied. Test data were from 4 years of a national certification examination for persons desiring…

This manual endorses and adopts the sector-assessment approach for planning and managing the allocation of educational resources. Chapter 1 presents the manual's goals. Chapter 2 describes the manual's content and information sources, explains the term "sector assessment," identifies the groups that benefit from recommendations made by…

America is faced with making systemic changes in education that will insure continuance of her leadership role in the 21st century. In an effort to make changes toward the aforementioned reforms, the federal government has charged 16 participating Federal agencies with achieving goals that will ensure that all students learn to use their minds…

This brochure argues for consistency in how disabilities are named in national data collection programs. It notes that currently many students with disabilities are excluded from national data collection programs and, when they are included, there is extreme variability in the disability classification assigned to them. Nineteen different national…

Several programs have been instituted in China over the past 30 years in order to slow the birth rate. The population, set at 1,008,175,288 people by a 1982 census, is by far the largest of any nation. A 10-year family planning program, begun in 1957, caused the birth rate to drop considerably through the mid-1960's. In 1971, "wan xi…

This preliminary report describes the work to date of the Task Group on Computer/Communication protocols for Bibliographic Data Interchange, which was formed in 1980 to develop a set of protocol standards to facilitate communication between heterogeneous library and information systems within the framework of Open Systems Interconnection (OSI). A…

While costs are increasing and revenues from endowment earnings and gifts decreasing, private and public institutions are being forced to cut spending. The author outlines a national program of competitive fellowship awards designed to help meet these problems and to sustain the quality of higher education. (Editor/JT)

Noting the major objectives of India's Fifth Five Year Plan, including emphasis on cultivation of moral and spiritual values in students, the author discusses India's situation in comparison with the development of other nations and analyzes the question of when or how individual enlightenment affects large groups of people or the development of a…

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol discusses a series of speeches by the Minister of State designed to initiate a "great debate" about British universities. Issues include "more graduates in desirable subjects for less money," manpower planning, the right balance between universities and polytechnics,…