Over the last almost two decades, high-stakes testing has become increasingly central to New York's schools. In the 1990s, the State Department of Education began requiring that secondary students pass five standardized exams to graduate. In 2002, the federal No Child Left Behind Act required students in grades three through eight to take math and…

The Local Management of Schools part of Britain's Education Reform Act (1988) is conceptually similar to recent innovations in the structure of other local government services. The continuing incorporation of education within the local government framework has resulted in the education welfare tradition's erosion through compulsory competitive…

Considers the impact of recent legislation on local inspectorates' role in monitoring educational quality and fostering school improvement in Britain. Compares and contrasts approaches of successive Labour and Conservative governments, explores inconsistent demands on inspectors, analyzes accountability/improvement tensions, and suggests a…