Whether to adopt national standards and tests has long been a subject of lively debate in the United States. With 47 states now participating in the Common Core State Standards Initiative, and a commitment from Education Secretary Arne Duncan to allocate hundreds of millions in stimulus funds to the development of common tests, the country is…

The international competitiveness of national higher education systems is an important political issue in many countries. These politics drive some governments to reform their systems by borrowing elements from societies with systems thought to be superior. These authors argue that a simple transfer of isolated elements from one higher education…

The Federal Republic of Germany has identified the conservation and the protection of the environment as a major challenge of the 1990s. Environmental education is further identified as an important part of anticipatory environmental policy. The document is separated into two parts. The first part presents the aims, content, and organizational…

This article discusses the process for the production of online finding aids with BASYS-Fox system and it describes the scope of application of EAD in the Bundesarchiv. In 2000, the project "Presentation of Online Finding Aids with the EAD system" was started at Bundesarchiv. The project was promoted by the German Science Foundation…

Presents structural data that characterizes the German information market. Highlights include an analysis of end-users, intermediaries, and information brokers; trends in corporate information resources management; success factors in information provision processes; federal and state government support; and a future outlook. (Author/AEF)

This paper on multimedia in German libraries begins with an introduction to multimedia. Initiatives of the federal government and in the Laender (federal states) are then described, including: a 1997 symposium organized by the university library of Goettingen that presented several multimedia models developed in universities; the multimedia…

The United States has no systematic procedure to help secondary students transition from school to employment. That lack most adversely affects poor and minority students. The article examines successful school to work transitioning in Japan and Germany and notes that businesses and governments must recognize their responsibilities in preparing…

Germany's national planning for incorporation of computer technology into higher education is discussed, including guidelines for computer investments (particularly future policy concerning personal and high-performance computers), the role of computer centers, and provisions and incentives for software production and supply. (MSE)

The German education system has recently come under fire with the publication of various international studies on student performance (OECD 2000; 2003). And in the first national "Education Report" (Bildungsbericht) published in October 2003 (Avenarius et al. 2003), the German ministers of education point out serious deficiencies in the…

This report updates 1979 studies of European practice in catering training and education. Section 1 provides background. Section 2 describes the structure of West German federal and state government and their respective responsibilities for vocational education and training, including the dual system of apprentice training and the role played in…

This book offers a comparative and historical account of the rise of special education over the twentieth century in the United States and Germany. This institutional analysis demonstrates how categorical boundaries, professional groups, social movements, education and social policies shaped the schooling of children and youth with disabilities.…

A study examined how the cross-national differences in the social contract among managers, unions, and government influenced adjustment strategies in steel. The restructuring process in eight major steel-producing countries was studied to determine who bore the costs of restructuring--employers, employees, or government--and which industrial…

This report is a primer on the multifaceted issues that state legislators are likely to confront under the rubric of human resource development. Chapter 1 proposes a philosophy: enabling every citizen to become a productive member of the 21st century economy is in a state's best interest both socially and fiscally. Chapter 2 focuses on the premium…

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the individual states have exclusive responsibility for publicly run education, which includes vocational schools. Responsibility for vocational training on the job rests exclusively with the federal government. The roots of vocational training are in medieval apprenticeship training and religious and industrial…

The dual job training system in Germany is an essential market parameter of the country's economy and a part of the country's growth policy. By improving human capital (by providing training in high-tech sectors) it will also help safeguard Germany's future as a major industrial nation. Training primarily takes place in handicraft and industrial…