The argument for national curriculum standards sounds simple: set high standards, make all schools meet them, and watch American students achieve at high levels. It is straightforward and compelling, and it is driving a sea change in American education policy. Unfortunately, setting high standards and getting American students to hit them is…

"Title III Accountability and District Improvement Efforts: A Closer Look" (2010) summarizes findings from interviews with six Title III Directors and nine Title III district-level directors in the spring of 2009. States and districts were selected in order to collect information from some entities with a long history of serving English…

"Title III Policy: State of the States" (2010) discusses state implementation of the Title III accountability requirements based on phone interviews with six state Title III Directors in the spring of 2009, interviews with six experts and university-based researchers who work on education for English Learners, and based on earlier data…

In both purpose and practice, general education in American higher education has experienced several recurring debates and national revivals. In a world with constantly evolving technology, students need a strong general education to be flexible and adaptable to the changes of the world. General education is an important component and requirement…

This paper reports on findings from a large sample survey in the states of India that account for two thirds of the children out of school. It then examines the feasibility of the central government's goals to ensure all children complete 5 years of school by 2007, and 8 years by 2010. These goals--more ambitious than the global EFA goals--are…

The Oregon Statewide Report Card is an annual publication required by law (ORS 329.115), which reports on the state of public schools and their progress towards the goals of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century. The purpose of the Oregon Report Card is to monitor trends among school districts and Oregon's progress toward achieving the…

This study investigates the leadership strategies of successful principals. Previous research has indicated that principals who are successful engage in multiple practices to meet the needs of changing educational settings. For example, the "International Successful School Principal Project" (ISSPP) identified a core set of basic…

This Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth (MCEETYA) four-year plan outlines the key strategies and initiatives Australian governments will undertake in each of these eight areas to support the achievement of the educational goals for young Australians and will be reviewed and updated as needed. The plan is aligned with…

Every year, the ministry writes to the public post-secondary institutions outlining operating budget allocations, service delivery targets and priority issues. The letters are a component of ministry planning, as identified in the accountability framework. Goals and objectives are identified in the annual ministry service plan. Each institution…

The centerpiece of former Governor Elliot Spitzer's education reform agenda was a set of performance agreements between the state and designated needy school districts. Known as Contracts for Excellence, or C4E, these agreements would eventually be linked to over a quarter of the new state aid proposed in the governor's first budget. C4E districts…

Agreeing on what the major goals of art education should be is particularly important in an era of national school reform and accountability. The need to be accountable and to provide data that supports that accountability is evident, although not always provided. Without clear and measurable goals, art education cannot be made accountable in…

The Singapore government has put forward a comprehensive restructuring program of university education since the 1990s. Public universities in Singapore are going to be developed as world-class universities through a series of university education policies and reforms. This article reviews major developments of university education policies and…

This paper presents the U.S. Department of Education's Fiscal Year (FY) "2010 Annual Performance Report" (APR). This report provides detailed information on: (1) the status of strategic goals, and (2) the outcomes of the strategic performance measures identified in the Department's "FY 2007-2012 Strategic Plan" and updated previously in the "FY…

Congress has the opportunity to move forward on education reform by reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, to ensure all children achieve their greatest potential. Unfortunately, it has yet to find the will to do so, to the detriment of American students and schools. ESEA is the largest and most significant federal…

This "Third Annual Report Card" looks at improvements in the cradle-to-career educational pipeline, the areas where Boston has made modest progress but still has a great deal of work to do, and the places where observers have failed to see the gains that are needed to ensure that Boston is a city of opportunity for all. This report card…