The contrasting careers of two government-sponsored commissions of inquiry in the late 1960s are the focus of this paper, which examines what can be learnt from them about the impact, or lack of impact, of such bodies on policy making. The Wootton Report on cannabis, published in 1968, had its recommendations rejected by the government that had…

Many layers of education governance press upon U.S. schools, so we separated state actors into those internal to and those external to the system. In the process, we unpacked the traditional state-local dichotomy. Using interview data (n = 45) from six case-study states, we analyzed local leaders', state-internal actors', and state-external…

By combining an overall vision for the use of data, a commitment to protecting student privacy and data integrity, and supportive legislation, Georgia emerged as a leader in the effective use of student data. But it easily could have gone another way. None of the three elements could be taken for granted when Georgia set out to develop its state…

The starting point of this article is the relation between teaching quality and expectations by different governance actors in higher education. Managing a department in a public university is, to a large extent, about the coordination of governance actors, involving government authorities as well as the university and the faculty. Internally, the…

Turning around persistently low-performing K-12 schools and districts has been an elusive goal despite prioritization at the highest levels of government. In recent years, the U.S. Department of Education encouraged states to adopt tiered accountability systems, like the Massachusetts model, which allows state takeover of districts in cases of…

Moldova's public expenditures on education as a share of GDP and total public sector spending are higher than in most countries in the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Moldova's challenges to improve the quality and efficiency of education provision need to be addressed in a context of…

Frederick M. Hess and Michael Q. McShane have gathered a diverse group of scholars to examine the shifting federal role in education across the presidential administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. While the administrations were vastly different, one thing remained constant: an ongoing and significant expansion of the federal role in…

China has adopted an unbalanced policy for economic development to improve its domestic economy and international competitiveness for more than three decades. During this process, rural education has undergone a series of reforms. With reference to compulsory education, this article argues that rural education in China is a pragmatic instrument…

In the context of increased international competition and financial austerity, an economic development mission has become an important strategic and policy issue for European higher education. This paper aims to contribute to knowledge regarding universities' engagement with the external environment and its impact on internal governance and…

This paper investigates the problems and promises of teachers' agency associated with Bolivia's current "decolonising" education reform. The Avelino Siñani Elizardo Pérez (ASEP) education reform is part of a counter-hegemonic and anti-neoliberal policy that aims to advance the political project of the government of Evo Morales, with…

This paper discusses the education context and English teaching and learning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The paper is organised into five main sections. The first section offers a brief glance at the social, religious, economic, and political context in KSA. The second section provides an overview of the education system in KSA, which…

Educational accountability policy rests heavily on the assessments used to influence teaching, learning, and school improvement. A long-debated aspect of assessment use, consequential validity, plays an important role in public interpretation of assessment use whether for individual students or for state policy. The purpose of this survey study…

The authors describe the theoretical preparation provided to students in advance of a limited-duration experiential learning experience in Washington DC in a Master's level course for students in Business or Public Administration. The students consider theoretical perspectives from economics, political science, and public administration with…

This dissertation explores the significance of the bargaining power of the players involved in the wage decisions for teachers in Brazil, namely the teacher unions and the municipal governments. The dissertation is divided in two parts, which together form a broad analysis of the labor market for public school teachers in Brazil and the underlying…

The report provides a portrait of science and engineering (S&E) higher education in the United States, including trends over time and comparisons with other nations. S&E fields, as defined in this report, include astronomy, chemistry, physics, atmospheric sciences, earth sciences, ocean sciences, mathematics and statistics, computer…