This report discusses issues involved in the debate over whether the United States should have national education standards, what must be considered in creating such standards, what problems must be addressed, and what trade-offs might be required among conflicting objectives. The first section provides a short summary of developments in education…

As Australia is moving towards a national curriculum there are also activities to nationalise teacher education. This involves various departments of state and federal governments, third-party bodies funded by government such as the Curriculum Corporation and Teaching Australia, and non-government organisations such as the Business Council of…

A cost-effectiveness analysis of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) program suggests that Board certification is less cost-effective than a range of alternative approaches for raising student achievement, including comprehensive school reform, class size reduction, a 10% increase in per pupil expenditure, the use of…

Both the public and private higher education sectors in Oman are undergoing rapid change in the number and type of local and foreign degrees offered. The Sultanate is developing a comprehensive quality assurance system to ensure the educational appropriateness of all degrees awarded in Oman. This paper examines the collaboration between the…

The expectation for schools to continually improve outcomes for students underscores the importance of tapping teacher leaders' contributions in school improvement and renewal efforts. As National Board (NB) certification has become a common feature of state and district policies to improve teaching and learning, it is worthwhile to explore how…

The construct of dispositions is defined in national standards, and colleges of education are required to assess candidate dispositions to meet accreditation requirements. Similarly, there is a need to review teacher dispositions in making hiring decisions about teachers, although this need may not yet be realized. Measurement is virtually…

This is the second publication in the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) Project Plus series. Project Plus aims to inform questions of policy and practice by synthesising findings of educational interest from projects funded by the TLRI. This Project Plus focuses on literacy in the early childhood education (ECE) and school…

This article addresses the gradual introduction of arrangements for validation of non-formal and informal learning in Europe. While the debate on how to identify, assess and recognise learning achievements acquired outside formal education and training institutions has been going on for several decades, we can now observe that these approaches are…

From 2007 to 2008, CILT (Centre for Information for Language Teachers) developed a set of National Occupational Standards for Intercultural Working in the UK. This paper reports on three questions arising from the development project: how these standards are distinctive from others, how they realise intercultural competence and how they meet…

School counseling in Turkey and the United States has progressed on different historical paths. The two countries also have distinct cultures. This article reviews the historical development of the profession in both countries and specifically examines efforts to develop and implement broad national models based on a comprehensive developmental…

What is meant by the term "standards"? This article will use the definition of the National Academy of Sciences for their workshop on Assessing the Role of K-12 Academic Standards, "generally used to refer to both content standards, which describe material that students should be expected to learn, and performance standards, which…

The results of the Romanian pupils on international tests PISA and TIMSS in Mathematics are below the average. These poor results have many explications. In this article we compare the Mathematics problems given on these international tests with those given on national tests in Romania.

This article seeks to explore the influence of the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) in England in supporting aspirant heads to make the transition to headship. It draws upon a sample of NPQH graduates confirming their perceived readiness for headship prior to the commencement of their NPQH programme. A questionnaire survey…

The paper seeks to determine whether programmes of initial teacher education (ITE) can contribute to the development of beginning teachers' inclusive attitudes, values and practices. The majority of ITE programmes are based on government prescribed competence or standards frameworks, which are underpinned by Codes of Professional Values. It is…

In response to concerns over the need for a scientifically literate workforce, increasing the STEM pipeline, and aging science standards documents, the scientific and science education communities are embarking on the development of a new conceptual framework for science, led by the National Research Council (NRC), and aligned next generation…