Background: The Education Commission (EC) of Hong Kong, the advisory body set up by the government on the overall development of education in Hong Kong, began developing a policy of education reform in 1998 and published its blueprint in 2000. In 2006, the EC published its fourth official report on the progress of the reform--"Progress Report…

Public school districts in the Mississippi (MS) Delta are under severe pressure to make rapid and adaptable changes in response to the federal legislation No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the MS Plan for Student Achievement: Assessment, Accreditation, and Accountability. These reform Acts require higher student performance standards and new…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 established foreign languages as a core curricular content area; however, instructional emphasis continues to be placed on curricular areas that factor into state educational accountability programs. The present study explored whether foreign language study of first-year Grade 3 foreign language students who…

This study analyzed the spatial distribution of gender differentials in Mathematics and Language Arts on national assessments of educational achievement in the primary school system of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The findings indicate statistically significant medium-sized differences favouring females on Language Arts primarily in the…

Many countries have invested heavily in facilities and teacher training for the infusion of information technology (IT) into various school subjects. The background besetting this innovation and how far learning has improved thereby are important concerns for the education sector. They are examined here with respect to Hong Kong, which is a mixed…

The notion of lifelong learning has become a mantra within educational policies. However these have been strongly critiqued for reflecting an understanding of learning that privileges the economic benefits of participation in formal education. In UK contexts, the importance attached to widening participation in higher education is one…

Researchers have been challenged to find school-level characteristics that make a difference in student achievement. This study focused on a diverse sample of 24 middle schools to examine differences between schools rated Exemplary, Recognized, Academically Acceptable, and Academically Unacceptable on four performance indicator dimensions:…

Articles about accreditation have moved to the front pages of newspapers, and the supposed shortcomings of accreditation have become the subject of national reports and federal legislation and regulations. All this attention reflects a shift in the role accreditation is now being expected to play as an agent of public accountability for higher…

In Uganda, the implementation of universal primary education (UPE) in 1997 and universal secondary education (USE) in 2005 have led educational policy makers, teachers, parents, and students to seek creative solutions to the problem of ensuring educational quality as schools incorporate 4 million more students. Some Ugandans worry about…

The authors profile developments in the globalization of Indian higher education, with an emphasis on emerging globally compatible institutional infrastructures. In recent decades, there has been an enormous amount of brain drain: the exodus of the brightest professionals and students to other countries. The article argues that the implementation…

Specialized public high schools of science, mathematics, and technology are commonly viewed as the "crown jewel" of their respective school districts and, many times, of their respective states. These schools are intended to coalesce the most academically talented, science-focused students in each district or state and typically draw excellent…

This technical brief describes the large-scale assessment measures and practices used in the jurisdictions served by the Pacific Regional Educational Laboratory. The need for effective large-scale assessment was identified as a major priority for improving student achievement in the Pacific Region jurisdictions: American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, the…

The purpose of this study is to describe the No Child Left Behind requirements for state standards and assessment systems. It examined official documents and peer review decision letters and included interviews with state assessment directors in the Central Region to highlight the challenges states face in developing and implementing approved…

Many states, and the United States as a whole, are doing a better job than they were two years ago of preparing students for college and expanding access to higher education, according to a national report card on higher education released last week. But the country continues to slip behind other nations on measures of enrollment and degree…

This article presents a detailed description of the powerful and necessary role which technology can play in the information-age paradigm of education described in the four articles comprising this series. This article calls for a learning management system (LMS), a comprehensive and integrated application of technology to the learning process,…