The purpose of this paper is to present an exploration on the response of parents of two rural multigrade schools facing the homeschooling activities in the context of pandemics. To frame a comparative perspective some conceptual work was done about new rurality and family structure before interviewing parents of both schools about distribution of…

On 26 and 27 September 2014, 43 students from the "Profesor Isidro Burgos" Rural Normal School in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, Mexico, disappeared, and six people died. In this article, I analyse the event as the result of long-term historical processes, from the perspective of the social mobilisation that caused the students' disappearance on…

This report on "Responsive School Systems" constitutes the second of three thematic comparative reports bringing together findings from the OECD's School Resources Review. Evolving educational objectives, changing student needs and demographic developments require school systems to be highly responsive to new patterns of demand and adapt…

This article analyses the changing role of the principal in Mexico, during a period, 1921-1934, in which the configurations sustaining and surrounding schooling were profoundly transformed. It compares the experience of three "directores" working in towns that differed in their expectations and relationship to state and federal…

This article explores distinctive features of a 5-year international education development project set in rural northern Peru (PROMEB, the "Proyecto de Mejoramiento de la Educacion Basica"). Grounded within a partnership between teacher educators from Peru, Mexico and Canada, and rural Peruvian teachers, students and their communities,…

In this article the authors examine evidence pertaining to the implementation of a national programme of school-based decentralization, the Quality Schools Programme ("Programa de Escuelas de Calidad"). The main argument of this article is that high levels of inequality in the institutional capacity of different schools and in the…

This paper examines the impact on student learning of the Programa para Abatir el Rezago Educativo (PARE), which aimed to improve the quality and efficiency of primary education in four Mexican states by increasing school resources. PARE was implemented in the states of Oaxaca, Guerrero, Chiapas, and Hidalgo, which have the highest incidence of…

Discusses supervised correspondence education for both teachers and students to complement conventional classrooms and expand secondary curriculum for rural schools. Recommends needs assessment; checking availability of needed materials; sharing material among schools; course scheduling to assure students of regualar supervision and assistance;…

Explores the conflicting cultural perspectives associated with studying English, drawing on two studies of Mexican students. P. Ryan (1994) studied the perceptions of culture related to language learning for six college teachers and their urban students. N. Francis (1994) studied the perceptions of rural bilingual (Spanish/Nahuatl) elementary…

This double issue of "The Evaluation Exchange" focuses on one of the central components of complementary learning: family involvement. As outlined in the Theory & Practice article, investments in family involvement are important across ages and settings and through the co-constructed efforts and shared responsibilities of many…