Examines truancy characteristics, effective attendance policies, and workable attendance enforcement and remediation programs. One school district threatens habitual truants' parents with court action leading to fines and jail sentences. A worthy goal is encouraging both students and parents to take compulsory education statutes seriously. (MLH)

Recent data from one British school district are analyzed to illustrate that despite some changes that could have had a levelling effect, staying on at secondary school beyond minimum leaving age still varies widely between districts and between schools in the same district. (Author/CT)

Discussed are the pros and cons of compulsory school attendance: the impact on the state, the parent, and the child; judicial rulings; and options for providing alternative and flexible learning experiences. (KC)

This paper examines the contribution of parents' education and children's gender on parental expectations of their children's future education and the role of parental perceptions of their child's competencies in the formation of their expectations. A group of university and vocationally educated parents (N = 418) were asked to estimate the…

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…

PRYO, the Swedish acronym for Praktiske Yrkesorientering, translates into English as Practical Work Orientation. PRYO was the result of action taken by the Swedish legislature, excluding educational researchers for the most part, in which compulsory school attendance was extended from seven to nine years to further equalize Swedish education while…

Questions current importance given in post-compulsory literature to curriculum planning models. Analyzes post-16 secondary data sources in Scotland and case study of a local school and college in Fife. Implementation of "Higher Still" provides policy backdrop to the research. Makes case for conceptualizing curriculum reform within a…

The dimensionality of school marks in compulsory schools was examined using databases (BACE72 and BACE73) on 200,000 Swedes born in 1972 and 1973 who had received a school-leaving certificate. Marks for 17 subject areas were analyzed for multidimensionality, and gender differences in ranked abilities were noted. Factors affecting achievement were…

It is an underlying principle of Australian Education Review (AER) 54 that active efforts should be made to cultivate the latent bilingual potential within Australia's wider population and that this should be linked to major improvements in the quality of language teaching in schools. A combined approach of this kind will require investment in…

This publication contains a brief description of secondary education in Estonia. The first section provides an overview of the societal and political context in which the educational system exists. The second section discusses current educational issues, including policy formation, finance, the school role in the community, administration and…

This document was prepared in response to a comparative study tour undertaken as part of the European Communities Commission's Community Education Programme. It describes the educational structures of Belgium, Denmark, the Federal Republic of German, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxemborg, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Each country's…

As the secondary school has become an agent of mass education, it has been beset by complex problems, particularly in the identification of its educational role and its purposes as a social institution. Key features of the identity crisis in Australian secondary schools are described. (MLW)

Based on studies carried out on qualitative data an instrument was constructed for investigating how larger numbers of students handle graphics. This test, consisting of 18 pages, each with its own graphic display(s) and a set of tasks, was distributed to 363 students, 15-16 years of age, from five different schools. The format of the questions…

A review of material on driver education in Illinois was conducted to support the recommendation that the state mandate for driver education be removed. Examination of the historical background and the components of the mandate suggested that there were three major goals for driver education: traffic accident reduction, provision of driver…

Results of a study of 61 voluntary and 84 mandatory participants in the General Educational Development program failed to indicate a statistically significant difference in academic achievement when the participation in literacy programs was either mandatory or voluntary. The findings support mandatory literacy programs in corrections. (Author)