The Irish national discourse on curriculum and assessment reform at the Junior Cycle level has been fraught with controversy in the past two years. The introduction of the new curriculum and assessment framework in 2012 by the then Minister of Education, Ruairi Quinn has led to significant media coverage and teacher union response. In this paper,…

The integration of decision-making competence or comparable constructs into science education has been strongly enforced during the last twenty years. Germany captured the tendency with the introduction of national standards for science education that included a domain that refers to decision-making competence. This domain--"evaluation and…

In view of recent legislation to introduce the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency in Australia, greater emphasis is being placed on the notion of standards in higher education. A standards-based audit or assessment implies that institutions need to demonstrate performance or achievement against a set of explicit thresholds. This…

The second edition of the "Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics" was published by the Council for Economic Education in 2010. The authors examine the process for revising these precollege content standards and highlight several changes that appear in the new document. They also review the impact the standards have had on precollege…

Does the Common Core State Standards' focus on informational text mean that teachers must teach fiberglass installation manuals and the minutes of National Reserve Board meetings? No, responds literacy expert Timothy Shanahan. "I've pored over the lists of exemplary texts suggested by the standards, and I've not been able to…

This module draws parallels between conditions in North Korea and the work of school leaders, as defined in the 2008 ISLLC Standards. It is intended to demonstrate to educational leadership preparation programs how seemingly unrelated contexts may be utilized to capture students' attention, hopefully with the result of enhancing their…

This article addresses teaching for skill and knowledge competency in high school based on the National Standards and grade-level outcomes. The outcomes guide teachers away from a curriculum that emphasizes competition through team sports, which appeals to just the highly-skilled and competitive students, toward one that is inclusive of all skill…

Only 35 percent of U.S. 8th graders were identified as proficient in math by the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). According to the most recent calculations available, the United States stands at the 32nd rank in math among nations in the industrialized world. In reading, the U.S. ranks 17th in the world (see "Are U.S.…

This study reviews 20 years (1990-2010) of scholarly literature on parent involvement related to Latino parents. Parent involvement behaviors of Latino parents were identified and analyzed according to the dimensions of culture theoretical framework--specifically, the dimension of individualism-collectivism (Hofstede, 1984, 1997; Triandis, 1995;…

Visual literacy is essential for 21st century learners. Across the higher education curriculum, students are being asked to use and produce images and visual media in their academic work, and they must be prepared to do so. The Association of College and Research Libraries has published the "Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher…

After many previous failed attempts to reach illiterate adults, the award-winning South African "Kha Ri Gude" mass literacy campaign, launched in 2008, undertook to ensure that learners seized the opportunity to learn--for many adults, this was a "last chance". Written from an insider perspective by the campaign's founding…

The nature and value of "professionalism" has long been contested by both producers and consumers of policy. Most recently, governments have rewritten and redefined professionalism as compliance with externally imposed "standards." This has been achieved by silencing the voices of those who inhabit the professional field of…

This article discusses the everyday politics surrounding research on a controversial government policy. The research in question is the Research, Analysis and Insight into National Standards (RAINS) project on National Standards in New Zealand primary schools being undertaken by the author. This three-year study was funded by the New Zealand…

With a new emphasis on the inclusion of engineering content and practices in technology education, attention has focused on what engineering content should be taught and assessed in technology education. The National Academy of Engineering (2010) proposed three general principles for K-12 engineering education in "Standards for K-12…

This paper draws upon two research projects to evaluate a decade of reform concerning the professionalisation of further education teachers, and discusses future prospects under the new coalition government. It suggests that policy initiatives to regulate further education (FE) teachers have taken place within an industrial or occupational…