In this paper, we explore the evolution of the Indian State's role in governance, and the implications this has for goal setting. We find that the Indian government's activist role in governance marked a change from the colonial period. This, we suggest, was not due to changes in the relative influence of different stakeholder groups. It was…

Because higher education serves both public and private interests, the way it is conceived and financed is contested politically, appearing in different forms in different societies. What is public and private in education is a political--social construct, subject to various political forces, primarily interpreted through the prism of the state.…

Reviews educational reforms being made in an era of economic restructuring, including those driven by competitiveness, those made in response to reduced public funding for education, and those made to improve education's role in social mobility and equalization. Suggests an alternative model based on newly industrialized Asian countries. (SK)

This study uses rich empirical data from Brazil to assess how a government program (PDE) that decentralizes school management decisions changes what goes on in schools and how these changes affect student outcomes. It appears that the PDE resulted in some improvements in management and learning materials, but little change in other areas including…

Argues that economic constraints for educational planners and the political/ideological context in which educational decisions are made have changed despite the demand for educational expansion with reduced spending. Suggests development of new strategies to increase public spending and improve educational quality. (Author/TRS)

Studied the relative effectiveness and efficiency of private and public schools in Chile, which instituted a national voucher plan in 1980 using national achievement figures and financial data. Nonreligious voucher schools are marginally less effective than public schools in predicting academic achievement in fourth grade; Catholic voucher schools…

This report summarizes what is known about educational improvement in Latin America and provides objectives and strategies to guide the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in supporting primary and secondary education in Latin America and the Caribbean over the next decade. It is based on six background papers as well as a review of the lessons…