In this article I revisit and extend arguments made in 1996 and 1997 about the relationship between globalisation, the state and education policy. I was particularly concerned then to see how a small but strong state, Singapore, was responding in the education arena to globalisation. I also wished to draw attention to the literature on the high…

This article reviews the processes, issues and dilemmas involved in evaluation research undertaken in the context of changing and evolving government policy in education. The article is grounded in an evaluation of the National Partnership Project (NPP), the team conducted on behalf of England's Teacher Training Agency (TTA) in 2004-2005. It will…

During periods of high unemployment, many workers exhaust their unemployment insurance (UI) benefits before regaining employment. To help alleviate this problem, Congress created the extended benefits (EB) program, expanding the number of weeks of benefits available to UI recipients in high unemployment states. The EB program operates by…

Neil Southwell states that he was, himself, a persistent truant from school. He returned to education as a mature student via an access course and he now lectures in education studies at the University of Northampton. He is currently researching into truancy, its causes and its management and brings to his work an unusual but highly illuminating…

In this article, the author describes what it takes to become a good teacher and what the system could do to develop good teachers. The author explains that good teachers chronicle their years by the number of flawed programs survived. The author notes that good teachers need to learn self-reliance. To achieve this, they need breathing room, and…

This article focuses on the idea of the educable adult subject in Sweden and the ways this idea has re-emerged in different practices during the twentieth century. It's a policy analysis where official documents from the twentieth century and early twenty-first century concerned with adult education in Sweden are analysed based on the Foucauldian…

People with alcohol or other drug disease face public and private policies that restrict their access to appropriate health care, employment, and public benefits, discouraging them from seeking treatment, robbing them of hope for recovery, and costing society millions of dollars. Join Together, a project of Boston University School of Public…

This report primarily addresses the question, "What are the net benefits associated with targeted early childhood investments in Texas?" The expected benefits and costs of targeted early childhood investments are estimated and projected for an illustrative cohort of Texas infants: children 0-1 year old living in families with annual…

To protect children from material it considers harmful, Family Friendly Libraries (FFL) seeks to limit access to information in public libraries. This article describes the conflict between the FFL and the American Library Association (ALA). Provides an overview of censorship and U.S. legislative history, presents the FFL position and the ALA…

Applies Foucault's idea of governmentality to an understanding of education policy in South Africa. Argues that studying policy through the lens of governmentality theory allows for the consideration of the autonomous effects of rationalities of government on shaping the possibilities of policy. Also argues that educational change can be…

Discusses how, criticized from the left and the right, class-rank admissions programs in three states (California, Texas, and Florida) seem to be having less of an impact than advertised, with elite campuses much less diverse than they were with affirmative action. (EV)

Presents an overview of recent South African educational policy developments occurring before and after the 1994 democratic elections. Examines the reform potential of the policy context, the principles that guide policy selection, and policy agenda for action. Suggests key issues for developing norms and standards for the system. Contains 10…

Presents a critical commentary on "Toward an Aristocracy of Everyone" by Parker and Zumeta in the same issue. Comments on the strengths and weaknesses of proposals for public policy curricula in high schools, especially as they are able to contribute to citizenship education. Parker and Zumeta respond to these observations. (DSK)

Constructed a child care subsidy tax investment model to investigate the contribution to families' self-sufficiency and to government cost-effectiveness of child care subsidies. Concluded that subsidies act both to keep families from ever needing welfare and to help move families from welfare to work, and that while reaching these goals, the…

Although the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 advocated the use of "least restrictive alternatives," the U.S. Sentencing Commission has devised guidelines that authorize prison for all felony convictions. Demonstrates that a large number of cases in the federal caseload from 1992-93 that were considered ineligible for nonincarcerative…