This book is intended as an introduction to the management of quality assurance and enhancement in higher education, particularly in England. The text focuses on the relationship between institutional quality assurance and the auditing authority of the British Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. The chapters of part 1, "The Quality…

This monograph focuses on the research on online learning. It is oriented toward exploring the specific intricacies of learning over the Web. Some very good studies of online learning using the Web are reviewed. The chapters are: (1) "The Explosion of Distance Education"; (2) "The Significance of 'No Significance'"; (3) "Research Basics"; (4)…

Public education suffers from a lack of public confidence. Strategies that public school decision-makers can use to turn around public opinion is the focus of this book. Decision-makers should use some of the marketing techniques learned from the private sector to "sell" the schools to the client system (the citizens being asked to support…

This guide describes the 'eyes, yardsticks, and noses' that will help communities consider goals for mathematics education, evaluate curricula, and plan a successful adoption process. This guide focuses on the 13 programs supported by the K-12 Mathematics Curriculum Center, though many of the ideas discussed are not specific to these particular…

How academic programs might go about making evaluation more useful, thus making critical reflection more likely, is the central purpose of this book. The chapters are: (1) "The Concept of Academic Quality"; (2) "Motivation for Quality Work"; (3) "Evaluating Quality in Academic Programs"; (4) "Creating the Engaged Department"; (5) "Negotiating…

"Despite the Odds" poses an important question: How can we account for successful policy reform initiatives when the political cards are stacked against change? Theories of politics usually predict that reform initiatives will be unsuccessful when powerful groups are opposed to change and institutions are biased against it. This book,…

While the high cost of education draws headlines, the cost of not educating America's children goes largely ignored. "The Price We Pay" remedies this oversight by highlighting the private and public costs of inadequate education. In this volume, leading scholars from a broad range of fields--including economics, education, demography,…

In this book, the author uses his experiences as a parent, teacher, and school board member to explore what has gone wrong with education and how to make it right. He takes the reader inside classrooms, locker rooms, school board meetings, and parent-teacher conferences to discover how children are being educated--or, more often than not,…

The second edition of "Professional Issues in Therapeutic Recreation: On Competence and Outcomes" is greatly expanded to include a wider variety of introductory materials and updates on current professional issues. The second edition represents a timely review of the state of affairs in the profession of therapeutic recreation. This book contains…

Ambivalent feelings about achievement and success which affect the career choices of women are caused by the kind of educational experiences prevalent in the United States today. The distinction between sexes is recognized by children at age 2 and by kindergarten, girls show dependency in achievement-related situations. During their elementary…

The chapters in this collection explore the concept of benchmarking as it is being used and developed in higher education (HE). Case studies and reviews show how universities in the United Kingdom are using benchmarking to aid in self-regulation and self-improvement. The chapters are: (1) "Introduction to Benchmarking" (Norman Jackson…

This book reports on a study of the implementation of the 1995 Mathematics Curriculum Framework conducted by the Massachusetts Teachers Association's Center for Educational Quality and Professional Development (CEQ). It examines whether schools and districts provide students with the curriculum and instruction necessary to succeed on the…

This volume of transformed research utilizes an activist approach to examine the notion that nothing is apolitical. Research projects themselves are critically examined for power orientations, even as they are used to address curricular problems and educational or societal issues. Philosophical perspectives that have facilitated an understanding…

When the first edition of "The Educational System of the United Kingdom" was published in 1991, higher education in the United Kingdom was immersed in an era of significant change. The 1991 report, which focused on changes to the UK system from 1976, recognized that major reform was set to continue into the twenty-first century. This has…

The current reform movement in education is investigated in this book through analysis of the many reports on the state of the nation's schools collectively called the excellence reports. Five areas of investigation are focused upon in this volume: (1) an overview of what the excellence reports say; (2) a consideration of the social, political,…