The rapid growth in the number of post-secondary institutions in Saudi Arabia over the last few years necessitated the creation of a government agency for accreditation and quality assurance. The National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment was established in 2004 for this purpose. Between 2005 and 2008, it developed a new…

Every year, the ministry writes to the public post-secondary institutions outlining operating budget allocations, service delivery targets and priority issues. The letters are a component of ministry planning, as identified in the accountability framework. Goals and objectives are identified in the annual ministry service plan. Each institution…

Background/Context: This study examines the extent of reform in preparation programs in school leadership in six states employing a comprehensive, whole-state intervention design. Although no studies of these or other comprehensive reform designs are available, there is a rich context surrounding preparation reform work that informed our…

This edition of the eBulletin highlights the issues of raising standards, ensuring access to rigorous curricula and assessments, and ensuring that every child is both work and college ready upon graduation. With the increased emphasis placed on these issues in recent years through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the American…

In both purpose and practice, general education in American higher education has experienced several recurring debates and national revivals. In a world with constantly evolving technology, students need a strong general education to be flexible and adaptable to the changes of the world. General education is an important component and requirement…

Debates over the use of college rankings are often framed in binaries: ardent advocates versus outright rejectionists, rankers versus rankees. But the American higher education landscape is complex, and so too should be discussions of rankings. Moreover, the policymaking process is simultaneously intricate and predictable--information is processed…

Throughout the world, interest in gauging learning outcomes at all levels of education has grown considerably over the past decade. In higher education, measuring "learning outcomes" is viewed by many stakeholders as a relatively new method to judge the "value added" of colleges and universities. The potential to accurately…

The College of Education Assessment Infrastructure Survey was developed and administered to 1011 institutions over a 12-month period ending April 2007. The survey examined the capacity of university-based teacher preparation programs to respond to the growing and increasingly complex data management requirements that accompanies assessment and…

Every year, the ministry writes to the public post-secondary institutions outlining operating budget allocations, service delivery targets and priority issues. The letters are a component of ministry planning, as identified in the accountability framework. Goals and objectives are identified in the annual ministry service plan. Each institution…

Most of the nation's eighth graders aspire to college. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them will not realize their ambition to complete their higher education and gain some advantage in the job market. In this article, the author contends that the connections between high schools and higher-education institutions are still not what they should…

Many education reporters are drawn to the beat because of its complexity and rich variety. Few topics provide such a wealth of political, business, human interest, breaking news, feature, and investigative stories. A reporter's day can start in a classroom with 4-year-olds struggling to learn to read, and end at a school board meeting with…

This "Third Annual Report Card" looks at improvements in the cradle-to-career educational pipeline, the areas where Boston has made modest progress but still has a great deal of work to do, and the places where observers have failed to see the gains that are needed to ensure that Boston is a city of opportunity for all. This report card…

The education system in California today is unable to meet the needs of the state's economy or the expectations of its citizens. From school finance to ensuring the quality of teaching, from assessment and accountability to preparing students for college and careers, education policy today in California often works against the best interests of…

There is a teacher retention crisis in the United States. The purpose of this paper is to answer the following questions: What contributes to teachers leaving the field? How has "No Child Left Behind" affected teacher retention? What can be done to retain good teachers? What impact do school administrators have on teacher retention?…

This policy analysis was produced for the Wyoming Department of Administration and Information by MPR Associates, Inc. Its purpose was to examine federal and state policy related to career and technical education (CTE) to determine whether existing policy (in the form of statutes, rules, regulations, and guidance) could either promote or impede…