The U.S. Department of Education is proposing high hurdles for school districts and nonprofit groups that want a piece of the $650 million Investing in Innovation grant program, including evidence of past success in helping students most in need and significant financial commitments from the private sector. The grants, which are meant to expand…

This research focuses on the adaptation strategies of students from an innovative elementary school run as a community of learners who have been involuntarily "thrown into" competitive, credentialism-based high schools. We apply the anthropologist John Ogbu's comparative historico-ecological framework of "minority" to the innovative school…

In 2009 Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system, in common with so many other areas of public policy and the economy, was preoccupied by the effects of the global economic downturn and, like other sectors, sought to reposition itself to deal with the economic fallout, while anticipating its role in the recovery. Yet, as…

This report seeks to address critical issues such as these by synthesising the evidence on innovations in more market-driven education systems. The analysis draws on data from over 20 OECD and non-OECD countries, including both developed nations that seek to move beyond established systems of state-run schools, and developing nations where formal…

Over the last two decades, Ireland has proactively marketed its educated workforce, its favourable corporate tax rates, membership of the European common market, and other advantages, to multinational technology corporations. The resulting foreign direct investment in high-tech manufacturing operations has driven a booming Irish economy that has…

This paper reports on a research study which attempted to determine whether competition could generate the same enthusiasm in the classroom (for learning) as it does on the playing field (in sports). Ninth grade world cultures students at Concord-Carlisle High School, Concord, Massachusetts were led to believe that they were competing in an…

Examines the "evaluative state" that is, public management-based evaluation systems--in the context of experiences in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, and suggests that further research is needed to examine problems in the evaluative state itself, in how market competition impacts upon it, and how academic oligarchies influence the…

Reviews research literature that defines cooperative learning and substantiates many educational benefits to be derived from it. Outlines eight selected cooperative learning methods. Reports that research shows cooperative learning methods improve students' academic achievement, self-esteem, and social skills. Also suggests that cooperative…

This volume contains papers submitted to the 11th Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES), held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 14-17 May 2013, and papers submitted to the 1st International Distance Partner Conference, organized by the International Research Centre "Scientific Cooperation,"…