There is significant interest in reforming retirement plans for public school employees, particularly in light of current market conditions. This paper presents an overview of the various types of state regulation of public pension plans that affect possibilities for reform. Several states have legal protections that effectively prevent a state…

Reforms in American public education have not resolved the wide academic performance gap between students attending schools in poor, large, urban centers versus schools in wealthier areas. Aggregate performance outcomes on state achievement tests reveal that some school districts consistently outperform others, a few fluctuate over time but are…

This paper discusses issues related to the teaching and assessment of 21st century skills and competencies in OECD countries drawing on the findings of a questionnaire study and other relevant background material such as white papers or curriculum documents. Although all OECD countries were invited to participate in the questionnaire survey,…

There have been calls to increase the autonomy of higher education institutions in Europe for a number of years. They have been counterbalanced by demands for increasing accountability and a European quality assurance system. In London in 2007, the European ministers of education decided to implement a European register of accredited quality…

The National curriculum assessment (NCA) in Wales has evolved from common foundations into a system that is now distinct from that in England. The influence of the political and social milieu of Wales can be seen both in the distinctive features that have been in place from the outset and in the more radical changes introduced since 2002. In this…

"Civil defence pedagogies" normalise continuous emergency through educational channels such as school, community and adult education. Using critical whiteness studies, and critiques of white supremacy from critical race theory, as a conceptual base, the protection of whiteness, and particularly the white middle-class family, is considered to be…

Youth crime is a serious social problem, as is the high proportion of young offenders in the juvenile justice system who have mental disorders. A recent policy innovation applies the theory of therapeutic jurisprudence and diverts youth with mental disorders to treatment in lieu of further court processing. The expansion of mental health diversion…

In this discussion of recent key disability-related decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court (1995-2004), we (a) assess whether the Court has supported or undermined certain core concepts of disability policy and (b) examine how the Court balances the comparative rights of those with and those without disabilities. In cases involving employment…

One of the most confrontational issues before American school boards and administrators is the effort by some Christian fundamentalists to have their views on life and its origins taught in science classes as a scientifically valid alternative to biological evolution. The issue continues to plague science education, suggesting that few school…

This paper provides a postcolonial policy analysis of the "Education Sector Development Plan: 2000-2005 and Beyond" in the small Caribbean island nation of St Lucia. The specific focus is upon the nature of the lifelong learning policy as incorporated in the Plan. This is shown to be a globalised policy discourse. Drawing on a number of…

Over the past decade, the standards movement has come a long way, though the push for accountability has meant different things in different places. In this article, the author reports the effects of standards-based education in student achievement and the improvement of public schools. Though states had already begun setting clear and challenging…

This article asserts that just as Senator Phil Graham of Texas encouraged his colleagues to "dance with the gal you brung," while exhorting them to vote one way or another on some volatile issue, so too has career and technical education (CTE) over the past 20 years. The author evaluates the ideologically based economic and educational policies of…

This paper calls for an alternative view of educational policy, a departure from the macroperspective currently dominating policy analysis. The latter perspective tends to focus on policy development and implementation issues of politics and control, compliance and measurement, and relationship structures and influences among groups and actors.…

The State of the States 2004 report summarizes the laws affecting students, particularly, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) prepared this State of the States 2004 report to continue the comprehensive collection of data and…

Existing indoor air quality (IAQ) policies for schools reflect the variety of institutional, political, social, and economic contexts that exist within individual states. The purpose of this report is to provide a better understanding of the types of policy strategies used by states in addressing general indoor air quality problems. The policies…