Attempts to reform higher education in Russia are experiencing confusion and contradictions when it comes to establishing outcomes and student competencies. A lack of clarity and unnecessarily complicated agendas are combined with lack of resources and adequately prepared instructors to create a situation of uncertainty. The result will be a…

This study examines how the contemporary European policy debate addresses the further development of the quality of teacher educators. A classification framework based on the literature on professionalism was used to compare European and Member State policy actions and measures on the quality of teacher educators through an analysis of seven…

The Common Core standards released in 2010 for English language arts and mathematics have already been adopted by dozens of states. Just how much change do these new standards represent, and what is the nature of that change? In this article, the Common Core standards are compared with current state standards and assessments and with standards in…

Finland has performed, as one of the first Bologna countries, a national evaluation of the outcomes of the implementation of the Bologna process. The evaluation was organized by the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council and performed by an independent expert group during 2010. In general, the reform was conceived as a significant development…

This paper considers the nature of teacher professionalism in England today, tracing how it has changed and developed according to the impact of government policy and the introduction of standards for teachers. It examines the recently published Teachers' Standards with their emphasis on classroom practice together with the requirement for…

Policy can be a useful tool for effecting change, but policy analysis, which shapes policy development, has been underused in music education research. This paper demonstrates how Bardach's (2000) Eightfold Path can be used to develop solutions to problems in music education. Some have argued that school music programs do not prepare students to…

Subject-matter experts reviewed the content, rigor, and clarity of the first public drafts of the "Common Core" standards released in September 2009 by the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) of the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers. Using the same criteria, the same experts also…

As of January 2012, more than 850,000 active foreign students were in the United States enrolled at over 10,000 U.S. schools. ICE, within DHS, is responsible for managing SEVP and certifying schools to accept foreign students. GAO was asked to review ICE's fraud prevention and detection procedures for SEVP. This report examines the extent to which…

Two well-known major frameworks to measure teacher performance and determine what a teacher should know and be able to do are undoubtedly the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and Charlotte Danielson's Framework for teaching. Charlotte Danielson has four major domains and National Board Certification (NBPTS) has five major core…

This article uses an institutional framework to analyze the political context of the next reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The authors analyze three relevant factors in the institutional environment: the role of traditional party politics, including theories of divided versus unified party government; the entrance of…

Much ado has been made about setting high standards over the past year. Current conversations about creating a common national standard largely focus on the substantive curriculum to be taught at various grade levels. Even more important is each state's expectations for student performance with respect to the curriculum, as expressed through its…

The possibilities of the school are not unlimited. For this reason, in order to answer the question of what the existing resources ought to be used for there is always the problem of the choice of goals of the school's educational activity. Different schools have different possibilities when it comes to achieving the desired results of educational…

Purpose: This article explores the relative influence over schoolwide policy and leadership activities of teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Interest centers on teacher leadership activities and perceived influence over schoolwide policy and decision making. In particular, the study asks whether National…

Using the National Standards' 5 C's as a framework, the authors examine student success in Spanish community service-learning at making connections across academic disciplines, to information and viewpoints that they encounter in the community, and to concrete social action. We use data from students, instructors, and community partners involved…

The use of Indigenous languages has been declining over the period of non-Aboriginal settlement in Australia as a result of repressive policies, both explicit and implicit. The National Policy on Languages (Lo Bianco, 1987) was the high point of language policy in Australia, given its national scope and status and its attempt to encompass all…