The new comparative research in this volume explores the global flow of competence-based education, curricular policy, and frameworks for instructional practice. Taking critical perspectives, the chapters trace the pathways through which educators and policy actors adopted and reshaped competence-based education as promoted by the OECD, the World…

Costa Rican education, although fairly successful compared to other Third World or Latin American countries, has serious problems needing action, including (1) large discrepancies between educational ideals and the realities of urban privilege, with regard to access and quality, and (2) a rote, narrow, superficial, impractical education. Other…

Beginning with a capsule history of United States education reform efforts and an examination of the American "myth" of the apolitical nature of education, this paper explores the political bases of education policy. Reviewing the literature on educational politics with a particular concern for recent curriculum reform efforts at the state level,…