Chile has followed the international trend of implementing a standards-based reform, with the particularity of encompassing both academic and non-academic outcomes. Drawing on interview data from four school cases in Santiago, Chile, this study examines the role of attitudes in reform enactment, analyzing whether and how school actors' attitudes…

The main aim of the present study was to analyze the causes, outcomes, and strategies of performance-based budgeting in the Iranian higher education system. To this end, a qualitative approach based on the grounded theory was used. In order to collect reliable data, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with two groups of experts who…

Examining rhetoric is important to understanding educational policymaking. This study focuses on rhetoric on one educational policy, performance-based funding (PBF) for higher education. In contrast to previous research on PBF, we analyze rhetoric in both states that implemented the policy and those that opted out. We employ a sequential…

As state governments seek to improve the performance of institutions of K-12 and higher education, they often adopt educational policies that have similar names but different characteristics across states and with variations over time within states. Yet quantitative analyses generally examine the absence or presence of an educational policy…

The Rhode Island Education Policy Primer provides an overview of how public education operates in Rhode Island. The Introduction offers context on the inequitable origins of Rhode Island's public school system, as well as the role that activism has played in expanding educational opportunities. The At a Glance section provides a quick look at…

Minnesota needs drastically different and better approaches to learning in order to meet the needs of all students, and the challenges of the 21st century. That will require a move to more student-centered learning--that is, learning that is built on a foundation of strong relationships, responsive to basic needs, driven by students, respectful of…

In the United States, as public demands for quality teachers have escalated, there has been a corresponding increase in national policy efforts to tie the standards of student success to teacher preparation, licensing, and evaluation. This conceptual paper examines how national authorities used specific policy tools to usurp the state's…

Teachers make a difference. Everyone--students, parents, teachers, principals and even casual observers--have always known this. But how much of a difference teachers make has only recently been estimated. Teachers are arguably the most important school factor affecting student achievement but, especially important for the purposes of this paper,…

This booklet examines performance-based education accountability systems in the United States. It defines the four components of these accountability systems--standards and assessments, multiple indicators, rewards, and sanctions--and discusses which ones are found in each state and whether or not they appear in law or regulation. All four…

In times of budget shortfalls and ever increasing demand for transparency and accountability for use of tax dollars in the public sector, it is clear that the use and influence of performance measurement has increased. "Performance measurement" is a "fairly inclusive term that may refer to the routine measurement of program inputs,…

The background of practice and ideology that led to the national curriculum and national assessment in England and Wales is traced, along with the development of national assessment policy. The breakdown, which has resulted in teachers who refuse to conduct the prescribed testing, is described. (SLD)

This study looks at the interview responses of teachers and administrators in five secondary schools in Ontario (Canada) to government-initiated accountability strategies. Several questions were posed: (1) What were the perceived effects of these strategies? (2) What motives did teachers and administrators ascribe to the government for introducing…

In 1991 Arizona embarked on a program to change schools and make them more accountable for educational achievement. The instrument of reform was an assessment program known as the Arizona Student Assessment Program (ASAP), the most notable feature of which was a performance assessment that was added to an already extensive battery of…

Since the 1980s there have been several attempts in the United States to depart from the single-salary schedule in place since the 1920s and to apply performance-related or merit pay (PRP) to teachers, assessed either at the school level or individually. Meanwhile, in England, a performance-management process is now being implemented that is also…

Six documents were reviewed and recommendations relevant to the work of the Advisory Committee on Testing in Chapter 1 were summarized. A brief description of a framework for discussing different uses of assessment is followed by specific recommendations from each of the following sources: (1) "Working Paper: Reauthorization of the…