Recent studies of the relationship between teacher preparation pathways and student achievement have resulted in similar statistics but contradictory conclusions. These studies as a group have several limits: they sometimes focus on student-level indicators when many policy decisions are made with indicators at the school-level or above, are…

"Education Matters" is the monthly newsletter of the Association of American Educators (AAE), an organization dedicated to advancing the American teaching profession through personal growth, professional development, teacher advocacy and protection. This issue of the newsletter includes: (1) Quality Counts: Doesn't It? (Kate Walsh and…

The intention of this article is to present the way in which a proposal was put forward for a national basic curriculum for the lower level of secondary education in Guatemala, within a general curricular reform of the education system. In this process, the International Bureau of Education and UNESCO's national office in the country provided…

Many teachers of students with mild disabilities experience difficulty writing IEPs, and they lack a foundation in the regular education curriculum of academic skills and sequences associated with each grade level. This book was designed to provide this foundation. Presented in the form of scope and sequence charts that can be used as objectives…

Achieving full compliance with the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal legislation poses major challenges for most of the nation's states. Structured, open-ended interviews were conducted with ranking representatives from a number of so-called high-readiness states: California, Florida, New York, South Carolina,…

This article offers an analysis of recent development in primary education, in particular the prevailing climate of performativity and new initiatives on creativity. Since 1989 education has been dominated by the performativity discourse accompanied by the obsession with evidence: of children's learning; of teachers' performance; and of student…

Drawing on interview data derived from two case studies of teachers in their first year in the profession, this article examines the difficulties that confront new teachers as they move from a Postgraduate Certificate in Education course into their first teaching post. It questions the value of those discursive practices, promulgated by the…

This brief summarizes findings from several research articles that focus on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). This work focuses on three key questions: Who applies for and becomes National Board certified? Where do National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) teach? Are they more effective than other teachers? The…

At the present juncture, South Africa is one of the few countries that do not require a compulsory and specific qualification for principalship. This particular need has been part of a discussion among educational leaders for the past thirty to forty years. Despite all the laudable efforts to redesign the landscape of Educational Leadership and…

The looming expiration of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has prompted a flood of commission reports, studies, and punditry. Virtually all of those analyses have assumed that the law should and will be reauthorized, disagreeing only over how it should be revised. They have accepted the law's premises without argument: that…

Background: In this article we address some of the challenges posed by the development of national assessment systems and discuss the need for high quality information on trends in attainment; support for school improvement processes and ways in which learning should be enhanced through valid assessment. Purpose: Key elements are explored,…

This article presents an overview of the education system in Malaysia and highlights some issues pertaining to higher education. In addition, this article also looks at some issues specific to the teaching and learning of mathematics both at school and in the universities. Some data on students' achievements in mathematics examination at public…

In the last decade there has been a whirlwind of change in policies affecting social studies education. Among the most noteworthy changes have been a national commission on social studies, subject-centered national standards, statewide high-stakes testing, school restructuring, and performance assessment. All of these changes have ramifications…

During the past 12 years there was a sudden and unexpected consensus held by U.S. Congressmen and Presidents that students in U.S. public schools were learning less than they should. Moreover, the conservatives and liberals agreed that the proper policy response to this public problem was to raise education standards. Recent years brought five…

Explores reasons for the mismatch between Australian government policy and funding for vocational education and training and occupations not in industries defended by national standards, which receive no funding. Suggests the need for redefinition of terms and training pathways as well as recognition of prior learning. (SK)