The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Programme of International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is put forward as a landmark development in the lifelong monitoring and international comparison of education. The first round of PIAAC's Survey of Adult Skills compared performance in literacy, numeracy and…

This study explores how the decentralization law of 1991 in the Philippines has provided the conditions for the interface of higher education and politics by virtue of Local Government Units (LGUs) establishment of Local Colleges and Universities (LCUs). Anchored on educational politics framework, it specifically looks at the experience of Mandaue…

Discusses various aspects of community work in Australia: national context, consensus politics, early community work, literature and training, current trends in Australian community work, localist programs, and community work politics. (CT)

Investigates variations in poverty at the county level by looking at gender and family structure in Appalachia. Discusses the interrelationships among regional economy, race, and gender as they relate to poverty rates. Concludes that poverty in Appalachia is not immediately reducible to the obvious socio-demographic factors. (KO)

Local school boards have traditionally carried most of the responsibility for providing public education. But now, as a result of a complex set of economic and demographic factors, new schemes are needed for providing education, such as the consolidation of small districts into ever-larger ones. (KH)

Changes in national demographics have altered how we define community. The community may be a geographic area of home life, a place for coming together voluntarily, or an association of people with similar interests and values. New communities must develop their own infrastructures and capacities for sustaining themselves. (SLD)

Discusses the effects of technological change and demographic shifts on the future of public libraries. Topics include displacement through disintermediation (replacing professional librarians with automated systems), the voucher movement, impact of new media on publishing, new information aggregators, cheaper computing equipment and Internet…

To mark New England Board of Higher Education's (NEBHE) 50th anniversary year, "Connection" invited a small group of visionary commentators to submit short "statements" on the future of New England's economic and civic development, tomorrow's technologies and the changing shape of higher education. This article includes the…