Drawing on theoretical and empirical research concerning the relationship between academic work and student learning, this article explores the following questions: What skills are required to execute the academic tasks teachers assign on a daily basis? How do teachers and administrators interpret the task demands represented in instructional…

This election factsheet highlights the following points: (1) Academies receive their funding directly from the government, rather than through local authorities like other state funded schools; (2) There are two types: converter academies (those previously with "good" or "outstanding" Ofsted grades that have converted to…

This memorandum presents results from the Center on Standards and Assessment Implementation's (CSAI) scan of growth models proposed in Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) waivers, with a focus on U.S. states' and territories' differentiation of students who participate in special education programs.

States are uniquely positioned to provide feedback to teacher preparation programs (TPPs) on the effectiveness of the teachers they train, and to provide information about the quality of TPPs to the public. States have been building the significant data capacity to reliably and securely link teachers with their students' achievement and growth…

As researchers, decision-makers, and practitioners focus on continuous improvement in education, local-level change is gaining importance. Yet, many local school improvement efforts fail to be fully implemented. Even those that are fully implemented often fail to sustain improvements because the schools are embedded in systems that face multiple…

The "Quality Practice Project" (QPP) is the National Association of Charter School Authorizers' (NACSA's) multi-year research initiative to identify what high-performing authorizers do to achieve stellar student and public interest outcomes. Participants and researchers collaboratively investigated the perspectives and practices of…

The use made of evaluation output is crucial for understanding the position and effectiveness of evaluation systems. This article examines the development of evaluation in the Italian university system from the 1990s onwards where serious problems have been and continue to be addressed in the use of evaluation output to improve academic activities…

In spite of Tea Party criticism, union skepticism, and anti-testing outcries, the campaign to implement Common Core State Standards (otherwise known as Common Core) has achieved phenomenal success in statehouses across the country. Since 2011, 45 states have raised their standards for student proficiency in reading and math, with the greatest…

Private higher education is growing, especially in developing and transitioning countries. Rapid growth frequently comes with concerns about quality. This article explores challenges and opportunities for higher education quality among private universities in Bangladesh. By presenting a vertical case study that explores interactions among actors…

Given increasing emphasis on assessment and accountability across the globe in higher education, it is clear that individual institutions must take action and provide evidence in response to these concerns. This article provides an example of how one university has developed a central office for assessment, facilitated the development of an…

Education is overloaded with programs and data. The growth of digital power has aided and abetted the spread of accountability-driven data--Adequate Yearly Progress, test results for every child in every grade, Common Core standards, formative and summative assessments. Technology accelerates the onslaught of data. All this information goes for…

When it comes to state education accountability systems, times are changing fast. This is clearer than ever with the advent of not only waivers from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) but also the multitude of state accountability index systems and "A through F" school-grading systems rolling out across the country. The multiple measures of…

This article brings together critical perspectives on a broad range of issues that emerge from a reading of the National Policy on Education 2016. The issues vary from accountability to transdisciplinarity and from the marginalization of transgender people to value education. Such a complex task of critiquing this policy document cannot be…

This article seeks to determine whether 2 common management strategies, representative bureaucracy and personnel stability, can be used in combination with each other in order to improve educational policy outcomes for Latinos. Using data from Texas school districts from 1994 to 2010 and a cross-sectional longitudinal research design, I find that…

Across the Middle East and North Africa region the quality of education has been highlighted as an issue of concern by the World Bank, in particular the less than positive impact on economic development. Also, it has been found that improvement initiatives often fail if they are transferred from the Western world without the consideration of local…