Theoretical background for researching student learning, engagement, and collaboration through the development of electronic portfolios is described in this article. After providing an overview of the limited research on portfolios in education, the author discusses the accepted definitions, multiple purposes, and conflicting theoretical paradigms…

One of the best ways to avoid being poor as an adult is to obtain a good education. Individuals with higher academic achievement and more years of schooling earn more than those with lower levels of human capital. This is not surprising given that we believe that schooling makes people more productive, allowing them to command higher wages in the…

Education policy in sub-Saharan Africa is predicated on human capital assumptions and therefore promotes the expansion of formal education as a way to promote economic growth. As a result, formal education is valued primarily as a private consumer good, a form of cultural capital that allows some to get ahead and stay ahead, rather than as a…

There is a childhood saying about a confused dog who thinks he sees a possum in a tree. The problem is that the possum is actually in a different tree so the dog barks up the wrong tree. American education is constantly playing both dog and possum. Sometimes they are the prey, and sometimes they are just confused about what and where the prey is.…

The International Symposium of Career Development and Public Policy 2006 is the third international forum of senior government policy makers and experts in the field of career development. It focuses on the connections between career development and workforce development. It is committed to shaping the future by examining and articulating the…

The Third International Symposium on Career Development and Public Policy was entitled "Shaping the future: Connecting career development and work development." Papers were provided by 16 nations and organisations, and this article synthesises these papers. The country teams were asked to select and address two or three of six themes: (1) human…

Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) are unique institutions of postsecondary education. They serve specific Native American communities that have unique social and cultural ways of relating to each other, while they also provide valuable links to the mainstream society. In arguably the richest nation in the world, many Native Americans remain…

This paper describes the relationship between the Thai education system and the changing economy by synthesizing existing research, focusing on several important research issues, and reviewing available policy options. Section 2 summarizes anticipated changes in the economy and patterns of labor demand, including current and prospective skill…

Instead of relying on largely unsuccessful partnerships between business and education, business needs to force its own agenda to help the U.S. regain competitive advantage in world economy. This article advocates free market choice; restructuring schools; professionalized, accountable teacher corps; higher academic standards; traditional values;…

Offers background information on cost-per-hire. Includes reflections offered by human resources officials who discuss how they calculate this statistic and how they use it. Explains difficulties associated with calculating cost-per-hire, provides a sample worksheet, and uses a case study to show how this cost might be lowered. (RJM)

Assesses the effects of human capital and social capital (social interaction that facilitates productive activity) on the probability of a student dropping out of high school using the High School and Beyond data set. The effects of human and social capital in combination significantly reduced the odds of dropout. (KS)

The Australian Commonwealth government's desire to create a national policy for teacher education must be seen in the context of broader economic restructuring, which has assumed a metapolicy status and subsumed all policy domains. This brand of corporate federalism is commendable only as the Hawke Labor government's alternative to privatization.…

The ingredients that underpin economic growth are well-known and generally accepted; population growth, physical capital, financial capital and human capital all play a part in creating long term differences in the wealth of nations. There remains, however, considerable debate about the ideal recipe for economic growth. Recently, Statistics Canada…

George Packer, a New Yorker staff writer, points to the danger of clarity, observing that seemingly simple and tough-minded words blow out as much smoke as the jargon of the Pentagon of decades past. Nowhere is this smoke thicker and trickier than in the lingo the corporate-politico-media squad uses when talking about public schools. At first…

Student aid policy around the developed world depends to varying degrees on the idea that the cost of post-secondary education needs to be subsidized. Despite the fact that governments around the world are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to support and widen participation in higher education, policymakers pay surprisingly little attention…