The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) is committed to providing the highest quality of education to its students. One way to provide a quality education is with an effective curriculum that reflects high standards and expectations. Thus, DoDEA has developed rigorous content standards aligned with national guidelines and standards.…

The use of Indigenous languages has been declining over the period of non-Aboriginal settlement in Australia as a result of repressive policies, both explicit and implicit. The National Policy on Languages (Lo Bianco, 1987) was the high point of language policy in Australia, given its national scope and status and its attempt to encompass all…

Following a report by a Parliamentary Committee, the Higher Education Funding Council for England is consulting the sector about a strengthened national quality assurance system, with an enhanced role for information about quality and a closer focus on academic standards. This article provides a critical review of the main proposals.

Educational reform represents a long-term focus of Australian governments. National policy documents have emphasised quality education for all and improved teacher quality for over 30 years. The gaps in achievement among various groups of learners represent a problem for an education system seeking to achieve national quality benchmarks,…

This study examined the factors associated with childcare staff members' readiness to implement quality standards in early childhood settings in Ireland. To coincide with a new government policy that provides every three-year-old child with access to a free preschool year, a framework designed to improve the quality of early childhood care and…

Over the objection of officials at the statistical wing of the U.S. Department of Education, the independent body that sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has approved a policy that significantly narrows the grounds for excluding students with disabilities and English-language learners (ELLs) from the exams.…

The improvement of teacher education in Russia to make it more appropriate to current conditions must involve changes in both techniques and the presentation-of-self of the teacher. The development of the schoolteacher as the carrier of socially and professionally significant abilities is a key task of pedagogical education today, one that is…

The national goal of increasing postsecondary credentials, to improve both equity and economic competitiveness, requires a fresh look at how to recognize learning in noncredit workforce education and training. The credit hour has long been the standard academic currency in postsecondary education. Despite its weakness as a measure of learning, in…

This paper first provides a critic of the implementation of compulsory national assessment protocols internationally, and then nationally through a review of the implementation process used for the introduction of National Standards in New Zealand, and National Testing in Norwegian mainstream schools. It then reviews the impact of these two…

The recommendations from the Bercow Review of services for children with speech, language and communication needs (DCSF, 2008a) have significant implications for the training of pre-service teachers who will be expected to be more able to meet the needs of such children. This article explores the potential within the Standards for Qualified…

Today there is an accelerating trend towards qualifications frameworks as an instrument to develop, classify and recognise formal learning across the African continent, as is also the case across most of Europe, Australasia and the Asia-Pacific region. As more and more countries and regions across the world develop qualifications frameworks to…

The U.S. Department of Education's proposed guidelines for awarding $4 billion in Race to the Top Fund money send a strong message that any state hoping to land a competitive grant should expect to allow student test scores to be used in decisions about teacher compensation and evaluation. The draft plans outlined by department officials last…

This issue brief was written to assist state policymakers in better understanding how social and emotional learning (SEL) can help students to be college and career ready. The brief provides a short description of what SEL is, why it is needed, and what it looks like in practice. In addition, examples of standards that support SEL at the federal…

This article analyses one of the most important aspects of the journey towards the vision of a European Higher Education Area, namely the development of a "new architecture" in which compatible qualifications frameworks are one of the main building blocks. The overall question addressed concerns how and whether signatory countries of the…

This article examines the implications of recent and proposed changes to the college-based training of practitioners in early childhood education (ECE). These changes will change the length of courses by shortening them and, therefore, the depth of teaching that students will experience on a college-based course. The links between level of…